The 3 Best APIs Your Business Can't Afford to Ignore
With digital adoption growing and businesses spending increasingly more money on digital transformation, the best application programming interfaces (APIs) reduce the complexity of time- and money-intensive projects and processes. That's especially true when it comes to high-level implementations like digital communications — features that could cost an organization tens of millions of dollars and require a trove of specialized expertise just to begin rolling forward. But what are APIs, and which are the best APIs for projects being done by your business?
What Is an API?
APIs are software “building blocks” that developers can easily include within their own applications to get access to complex functionality that they don’t need to code themselves. Communications APIs do this for sophisticated real-time video, voice, and messaging communication flows, and a cloud-based API performs all this work in a global high-scale cloud platform that the API provider runs and which the developer does not need to deploy.
The best APIs are so useful for your projects because they make it easier and cheaper to build complex features into apps, websites, and other frequent digital destinations for your customers and employees.
Top Three APIs Your Organization Should Be Using
Let's break down the top three communications APIs businesses use to aid their digital transformation efforts:
1. Video API
The stats on video adoption say a lot. Our 2021 Global Customer Engagement Report found one-fifth of the people surveyed use video content daily, which shows just what a gold mine video can be in terms of both engagement and employee productivity — provided you have the tools to get it working the way you need. That's where the Video API comes in.
The same tools that provide video communication capabilities to your customers and employees also allow for advanced analytic and conversation capture. This helps you create a more effective product vision, deliver a more targeted client experience, and direct resources to where they are more beneficial.
Video API offers a high degree of interoperability to your business and its end users. Whether your video callers are checking in via a dedicated app, a browser window, or something else altogether, the API allows it to happen without needing to download plugins or make technical configurations.
Combine this functionality with low development costs and a quick time to market, and you have one of the best APIs for the projects your business might be working on or considering.
report
2. Voice API
A Voice API enables the creation of automated and personalized customer interactions with artificial intelligence (AI). Tools like voice bots, guides, and seamless integrations allow you to differentiate your customer experiences while optimizing workflows.
Another benefit is the immense scalability and geographical reach of the API. Automatic speech recognition enables easy-to-use self-service in more than 120 languages. In looking at use cases like our work with Curious Thing, an AI-based tech company, you can understand why global capacity is so important.
"Vonage was the right choice for us because we need to be able to engage with people around the world, and Vonage APIs have allowed us to do things we weren't even sure were possible," said Rik Johnson, the head of intelligent contact solutions for Curious Thing. "The scalability of the Vonage platform has given us near-limitless capacity, and that's just one of the great things about working with this team."
What does that mean in a larger business context? A few things. Because it allows critical voice functionality across a number of modes and devices, a Voice API can bring major flexibility to all sorts of projects. Because it's cloud-based, the services the business pays for can expand and contract as needed automatically, with the business itself only ever paying for exactly what it needs. And because all the communication is via data connections (take advancements like softphones for an example), things like long-distance and international calling become relics of the past, letting businesses grow into the next phase of their digital transformation.
3. Verify API
Attackers. Scammers. Schemers. Fake customers. Between automated attacks and in-person attempts, so many fraudulent activities can happen when businesses don't pay attention to how they're verifying access to their content, products, and services.
A Verify API stands out here. It allows any business to build high-quality two-factor authentication (2FA) into any digital asset that requires it, greatly enhancing security and privacy while cutting down on fraud incidents. When you think about all the aspects that go into a successful 2FA, a lot of moving parts become apparent:
secure, real-time one-time password (OTP) generation
numbers to send those OTPs to users
a network for sending the messages
connections with leading services like WhatsApp
spam suppression and botnet blocking
In all, it's the reason an increasing number of businesses have turned to APIs like ours to handle the heavy lifting of a tricky task like verification. Like our other APIs, Verify API is precisely scalable to your needs, and you ultimately only pay for successful authentications.
Conclusion
The best APIs make the projects your organization is working on better, while also lowering costs and reducing time to market. Full-bore digital transformation is difficult. Instead of building your next-level voice, video, and authentication services yourself, why not save valuable time and resources and let a trusted expert take care of the technical aspects that really matter?
Learn more about how our APIs can engage your customers where they expect you to be: everywhere.
