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The 'quiet' rise The ubiquitous API

Everywhere you look APIs are work-
of the API ing in the background to make our
world simpler, richer and better. APIs
have become the nucleus of digital

By Simon Fairbairn transformation. In the 2020 State of
the API report, Postman stated that
Ingenico, a Worldline company 84.5 percent of those working on digi-
tal transformation initiatives indicat-
e all talk about the power of connection and collaboration, but ed APIs are playing a significant role
mostly we’re referring to the people dimension: the value we in those initiatives. In recent years the
derive from talking, trading, generating ideas and working with term "API" has become common cur-
W others to solve problems. In reality, this isn't important only for rency as organizations and solution
humans; for technology and machines it can be equally so. In years to come, providers seek new ways to be more
the balance could switch as artificial intelligence takes root, machine learning effective and offer better solutions
matures and the interconnected fabric of our technology landscape accelerates. and services through participation in
wider ecosystems. Calls for APIs and
So, nothing fancy here, at least not on the surface, but the application ways to connect have accelerated, in-
programming interface (API) has quietly become a crucial component in our creasing early investment in making
jigsaw. It's the unseen man at the party, quietly connecting guests and smoothing things simple and easy to hook up.
the flow of discourse. With 100 percent growth between 2019 and 2020 and now
over 46 million APIs stored through API platform Postman Collections, the rise Improvements in standards, tool-
has been formidable, according to Michael Bettendorf, Postman editor in chief. ing and documentation have trans-
formed tasks that took weeks and
The many points of integration now in play have fostered a tapestry of richer, considerable manpower into ones
more dynamic technology ecosystems. Think of the numerous points of that need only days and light-touch
connection such as single sign on, data sharing enabled through open banking, development to complete. This has
and for payments, the connections between terminals and retail POS solutions. led to a proliferation of APIs, helping
developers connect to more services
and enabling the rise of business-
es wholly built around APIs—take
REIMAGINE THE ART OF USAEPAY.COM Uber's heavy reliance on connection
to messaging services from Twilio
866-570-2051
TRANSACTION and map services from Google. Close
to half of the 13,500 respondents in
Postman's 2020 API report stated that
E-COMMERCE
RETAIL
M
MOBILEOBILE
investment of time and resources into
APIs will increase over the next 12
months.
For the payments industry, the use of
APIs is vital. Merchants expect data
in play to flow seamlessly to support
their accounting, inventory manage-
ment, market intelligence and fraud
management. With APIs, we open
new horizons and create space for
further innovation. Without these
clever little connectors, our world
would be far less interesting and sig-
nificantly less connected.

Simon Fairbairn is head of professional ser-
vices/EMEA for Ingenico, a Worldline com-
pany. Take a look around the new payments
landscape in this Ingenico white paper with
a special focus on the impacts to consumer
behavior: www.ingenico.com/payment-
landscape-new-normal. To reach Simon,
please email simon.fairbairn@ingenico.com.

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