APIs, or application programming interfaces, have become a hugely important component in today’s software-driven technology ecosystem. Put simply, an API allows two or more computer programs to communicate with each other.
Nowadays, web APIs are widespread and are used to exchange data online. As such, API has now become a broad term describing much of the communication on the internet.
Channel companies – whether that’s vendors, distributors, resellers or MSPs – are using APIs to solve various challenges, to create more efficient operations, and to unlock new revenue streams.
In terms of the types of APIs that are widespread across the channel, Adrian Sunderland, CTO, Jola, pointed to provisioning tasks as a key use case.
Sunderland said, “It is very common for the channel to use APIs for both availability checking and for provisioning tasks such as setting up new services. With fixed line broadband and leased line services then availability checking is usually a key first step for a reseller to collect a lead.
“So, they may have a postcode checker box on their website that collects some information about the customer’s location before using an API to provide a list of services that are available all without any human intervention required on the part of the reseller.”
Tony Martino, CEO, Tollring, explained how APIs are central to the company’s portfolio. He said, “At Tollring our products have always been developed with APIs at the forefront of our thinking. We deliver the right information to the right people at the right time – and APIs facilitate this by allowing our users to consume real-time insights however they choose.
“With APIs, we can put an end to complicated journeys where a reseller needs to manually provision services. Billing and provisioning are two major areas we see APIs adding huge value to the channel.
“By leveraging APIs the channel can offer their customers a seamless order-to-provisioning journey as well as empowering their end customer propositions with a more tailored customer portal experience.
“Channel partners are increasingly leveraging APIs to extend their breadth of services whilst maintaining a strong customer experience.”
Alex Fawcett, global senior director of ecosystem at Sage, a provider of digital accounting software. Sage manages a partner ecosystem of 95,000 resellers, MSPs and ISVs globally.
Similarly to Martino’s point of view, Fawcett explained that APIs are core to Sage’s offerings. “The availability of APIs is a core expectation of products and services that operate across the channel. Historically, APIs have allowed core business data to be freed from silos to provide business insight and operational efficiencies.
“The scope of API coverage has increased dramatically over the last few years, to the point where every platform, experience, and product in the channel technology stack is API-enabled.
“This allows for dramatic increases in collaboration and unlocks new value and routes to market for participants in the channel. SMBs are particularly well-placed to capitalise on this trend as technology advances and integration becomes quicker and easier.”
Solutions and efficiencies
The industry stakeholders we spoke to shared various ways in which resellers, MSPs and other channel companies are using APIs.
Martino, from Tollring, pointed to the way in which APIs are opening up unified communications possibilities. He said, “APIs are becoming more widespread particularly amongst more sophisticated channel partners delivering mid-market and enterprise level solutions. They are looking to provide a unified experience across the multiple products and services that their customers are consuming.
“With APIs now viewed as a critical way to consume information, we’re beginning to see solutions that are architected for an API-first approach. Within Tollring, we’re seeing more of our own data being consumed via APIs alongside customers logging into iCall Suite, which is our browser-based, cloud-delivered analytics solution.
“For example, a French retailer using Mitel devices wanted a series of customised dashboards. Tollring consumed its own APIs to deliver specific information to them without it going into the mainstream iCall Suite product. The APIs enabled us to deliver iCall Suite insights to the customer whilst controlling the cost of deployment and delivery.”
Craig Smith, technical account manager, Highlight, said that APIs are essential to opening up data. He explained, “Many in the channel are looking to build their own ecosystem so customers have a single place to visit rather than having to access numerous portals for information. With APIs, they can bring all the information together into their own platform where they can manipulate the data.
“APIs enable the channel to build efficiencies into their processes by removing the manual effort of accessing information. By drawing data via APIs from a connectivity provider or a cloud-based application into their own front-end customer portal, they can clearly show how hardware is performing or identify traffic flows on connectivity. The improved automation and efficiency lead to cost savings and increased profits.
“In addition, having an API is a mark of an organisation’s maturity as a provider of services. It means they’ve gone through this journey and can offer the customer the ability to extract information in the most useful way. It means the provider is not simply shifting a box.
For Sunderland, from Jola, APIs allow the company’s resellers to succeed. “I don’t think it’s an accident that Jola’s largest resellers transact almost exclusively using APIs. Whilst we have arguably the most feature rich mobile connectivity management portal in the form of Mobile Manager, for many resellers they want to pull all that functionality into their own portals.
“We decided right in the beginning that anything we develop into our portals should also be available via an API and that strategy has paid off. Resellers can now perform the full lifecycle management of a mobile SIM card via an API including the initial provisioning, the in-life management and usage monitoring through to changing the tariff on a SIM card or even cancelling it at the end of it’s useful life.”
Harry McKeever, director, Tekton, discussed API usage within the context of billing. He said, “There are massive benefits in efficiency and accuracy to be found using APIs to integrate internal systems and processes, avoiding re-keying data and repetitive tasks.
“When it comes to internal BSS/OSS – such as CRM, accounting, service management, and billing – it’s rare, nigh-impossible to find a one-size-fits-all solution that satisfies all business departments fairly.
“Instead, the best approach is to invest in best of breed systems for teams, before looking at their API capability to knit everything together, adapting processes where APIs are unavailable. What’s more overlooked are external API integrations, for example APIs into supplier networks and systems.
“Beyond the humble postcode address lookup, imagine a customer being able to request a SIM swap or call-bar through the billing portal, then being relayed to the carrier in real-time… Leveraging APIs like this would allow resellers to offer a service delivery and customer experience that truly competes with leading networks.”
Fawcett, from Sage, highlighted the significance of the digitisation of tax administration. “The UK Government’s plans to Make Tax Digital have led to many small businesses that do not have an accountant to adopt the latest digital accounting tools and applications. Resellers, MSPs and other channel partners understand the need for wider adoption of APIs to provide customers with a more seamless experience for finance, compliance, HR and payroll. APIs can help to reduce the time and stress associated with bookkeeping, invoicing and other administrative tasks.
“SMBs in today’s digital-first world use an average of 72 different apps to streamline processes, eliminate errors, and gain real-time insights into their business performance. Resellers have been quick to recognise the demand for simplified API integration. SMBs are now using technologies that were previously only available to large corporations but storing data across multiple apps presents its own set of challenges.
“Customers can use APIs and data integration tools to connect their favourite apps to digital accounting platforms, enabling them to securely transfer data to provide a comprehensive view of business operations. API integration with these platforms is also enabling businesses to receive, process, pay, and reconcile bills and invoices automatically.
“This level of integration and automation is enabling SMBs and accountants to spend less time on administration and more time driving value for their customers and growing their businesses.”
API success
Resellers and MSPs are using APIs successfully across the UK, and there are some best practices that can help guide channel companies to success. Jola’s Sunderland said, “If a reseller makes the move to using APIs, then I think it’s important to think about consistency. Decide which workflows you’re going to automate via APIs and ideally always use that workflow rather than sometimes using the API and sometimes using a GUI.
“The reason is that it’s likely that your API workflow will be keeping data in sync between your internal systems and your suppliers’ systems. So, if you don’t use that workflow consistently you can end up with a situation where your internal systems are out of sync that can lead to billing issues or confusion when it comes to providing support for that service.
Smith, from Highlight, added, “Whilst APIs are widely available from vendors, you cannot simply connect to an API and start using the data. APIs deliver information in a raw text-based format. The channel must therefore know how to collect the data, how to integrate into their own systems, and then, most importantly, transform it into useful insights for their customers.
“That is one of the challenges for the channel. They may want an API, but they may not be at that stage of their software development cycle. It takes time to build internal development skills, it is not something you can just turn on. Not least they need to be able to expose the information externally to a customer, with full security, authentication, and protection around it so that they can assure customers there is no cross contamination of data.
“There are good examples but no best practices since a vendor’s API rarely fits a company’s own specific model. For example, Highlight consumes many APIs from vendors and partners. It takes several development cycles to access the data we need, match the data fields, and then transform it within our system to present it intelligently to customers.
“For one customer we developed an API to feed our data into their own reporting package. It took a number of months to ensure the data was reliable, scalable and robust to ensure the data remained accurate over the coming months and years.
McKeever, from Tekton, said, “The first trap resellers fall into is adopting APIs when manual alternatives are better; why invest time and money in developing a complex, expensive integration for a simple task that only takes 2 minutes per month? The second trap is not appreciating data mastership; understanding which platforms within the ecosystem are the ‘single point of truth’.
“Most APIs are now so comprehensive they expose almost every attribute for every field, making it easy to confuse old and new data. Even basic data fields like customer names and addresses need consideration before planning how they’ll interact. For example, should CRMs really be the system-of-record for existing customer addresses, when customers can update addresses through a self-serve billing portal? In our experience, it’s best to enable each department being the single point of truth for the information they know best.”
Fawcett, from Sage, pinpointed the role of middleware in making some APIs usable. He said, “Resellers and MSPs that offer customisation powered by APIs, where the customer needs bespoke development to meet their needs, are often the most successful. Resellers and referral partners are also now diversifying their offering by building their own intellectual property to complement the vendor products they refer/resell, and in addition to creating bespoke add-ons, are now building apps to be resold.
“Resellers are also using middleware to successfully integrate APIs. Middleware is an independent app that connects a tech partner’s API to a specific company’s API. Such solutions help connect to tech partner apps without in-house integration development. These apps use the businesses’ database and coding structure and can be launched as an independent solution with a different UI or as a modular add-on from within the solution.”
Unlocking APIs
When asked how he expects API usage to change in the next few years, Martino, from Tollring, said, “APIs are becoming democratised as a service and less technical. It will become a no-code way of designing services. A level of technical understanding will be required, but the process will become more common and more resellers and MSPs will start leveraging APIs.
“We’re already seeing integrations with handsets, CRMs, OSS/BSS and other specialised applications that range from quick authentication time savers to complex bespoke reporting. As end customers, resellers and vendors become more familiar with this powerful tool, we’ll start to see many more imaginative solutions that really elevate the way we work.”
Smith, from Highlight, explained his view that middleware will further open up possibilities. He said, “API usage is going to increase over the next few years as the internal expertise about how to manipulate the data improves. There are also more and more middleware tools being developed.
“These tools can take flat file-data from an API, transform it and then deliver it to the internal ecosystem where it can be transformed into a feature rich product that is useful for the customer.
“Middleware providers are a great way for the channel to get started but it is important not to become too reliant. There is a danger that they may hand-off some of the efficiency gains to a third party or there is a risk the middleware provider may go out of business.
“The solution is to focus on building the skills internally so you can take control and then become more creative in how you and your customers can use the data.”
Fawcett, from Sage, added, “API usage is expected to increase within the next few years. Financial services organisations are frequently juggling customer expectations, strategic aspirations, and ongoing regulatory requirements, so it is not surprising that the sector is open to using technology to find new solutions to old problems.
“The channel has a long history of assisting customers in this industry by doing just that. Many processes and activities had already moved online prior to the pandemic, but there is no doubt that the various lockdowns contributed towards accelerating digitalisation and API adoption.
“For example, fintech providers are discovering new vertical market opportunities in the digital accounting space, with the use of APIs. This allows SMBs to integrate payment and banking services into their accounting software, facilitating online payments, reconciling transactions and invoices, and even connecting with banks to manage loans and investments.
“This vertical integration, helped along by APIs, has led to a thriving ecosystem of fintech partners driving service innovation for SMBs. Furthermore, through partnerships, those services can be scaled globally to provide customers with automated processes that combine payments and banking with accounting, finance, and payroll.
“This is creating new opportunities for resellers, MSPs and other channel partners looking to grow their portfolios, increase orders and strike new deals.”
Sunderland, from Jola, agreed with that point of view. He said, “I think API usage will be become even more widespread. The massive adoption of the hyperscale clouds such as Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure is providing really powerful, easy to use and well documented API gateways that simplify the process of interacting with all kinds of different APIs.”
Tekton’s McKeever said, “Mobile and IoT usage is growing, as will the demand for network APIs to control these services. Listening to our customers, we know how managing a large IoT device estate can become unwieldy without the ability to automate SIM changes. Also, with 5G enabling users to rapidly exhaust bundled data, APIs for spend caps are even more important!”
Open APIs
An open API is a publicly available application programming interface that provides developers with programmatic access to a proprietary software application or web service.
When asked his thoughts on an open API approach, and whether this might be beneficial for the Channel, Sage’s Fawcett said, “Open APIs are key to unlocking the API opportunity for SMBs. At their most effective, APIs offer seamless data transfer at little or no cost to the end consumer.
“Cost-conscious SMBs can only truly leverage the power of APIs if they do not substantially increase the total cost of ownership of their technology stack.
“This approach stands to benefit all participants in the channel. Integrated solutions that work together seamlessly lead to happier and stickier customers. Resellers and MSPs can guide customers through the process of integrating and increasing the overall value of their technology investment. The Open API approach may have higher initial costs, but the long-term benefits for the channel are dramatic.”
For Smith, from Highlight, what is important is to ensure it is known who is in control of an API, which can prove difficult within the context of open APIs. He said, “It is important to know who is in control of an API – the customer or the supplier. If the supplier changes the API terminology or field settings in any way, they may not consider that the users’ systems will stop working.
“If any changes are made, it is possible to break the downstream consumption of that data. Unfortunately, the bigger players in the market are likely to make changes to their APIs without giving notice, and you cannot force a big vendor to change it back.
“To prevent this, the channel needs to build-in regular quality checks to ensure the API information hasn’t changed from the upstream provider and it can continue to be delivered to the end customer. This is an added technical burden. You can’t assume the machine-to-machine communication will continue without vital checks and balances.”
McKeever, from Tekton, offered a similar perspective. He said, “Most data we deal with in the channel is private, and we don’t want anyone having a backdoor into confidential information, so public APIs need to be used wisely.
“That said, with the UK’s mass roll-out of new fibre services in preparation for the PSTN switch-off, savvy vendors and resellers are capitalising on huge opportunities with open APIs that expose service availability at given postcodes.”