Adopt Modern APIs for Better Performance
Until about 2015, my company avoided developing software or mobile apps that involved most APIs, with a few exceptions like payment gateways and accounting systems (such as Stripe, Intuit, Sage, and QuickBooks), as well as Google's mapping API. At that time, many APIs were too expensive, too buggy, and often created more problems than they solved.
However, starting in 2016, two significant changes occurred. First, increased competition in the marketplace drove down API licensing costs, making them more accessible to a broader range of businesses. Second, APIs became more stable, reliable, and easier to integrate, thanks to improvements in technology and standardization. This shift resulted in better overall performance and more predictable outcomes, which in turn led to faster deployments and happier stakeholders, both for our end clients and our internal development teams.
Additionally, the growing community of developers and more comprehensive documentation provided by API providers contributed to smoother integration processes. The ease of use and enhanced functionality of modern APIs allowed us to streamline our development workflows, reduce the time spent on troubleshooting, and focus more on innovation and delivering high-quality solutions. As a result, APIs have become an integral part of our development strategy, enabling us to build more robust and feature-rich applications.
Today, we use APIs in every project, extending beyond just B2B and D2C efforts. For example, we recently developed a real estate application that utilizes numerous APIs from FLEXMLS, the national MLS network, along with various payment gateways, financial accounting, and tax APIs. This approach allowed us to significantly reduce development time, lowering costs, and accelerating our go-to-market launch date. The efficiency and reliability of modern APIs have enabled us to deliver high-quality solutions more rapidly and cost-effectively.
