APIs
Businesses are beginning to understand that if they want to truly communications-enable their business processes, they need to do some of the work themselves. Application programming interfaces (APIs) are the first step in creating bridges between a business's own applications and third-party software programs. Just as more websites and apps are popping up every day, so is the use of APIs, as they are the backbone of digital experiences, and more companies are using them. For example, Sears uses APIs to enable developers to create apps that facilitate product searches and identify store locations. Salesforce.com generates nearly 50 percent of its annual $3 billion in revenue through APIs. Also, businesses of all types are using APIs to integrate their UC applications with their productivity suites. This type of integration enables things such as driving employee presence based off calendars, and offering click-to-dial options within a document.
The use of APIs is important for businesses because they allow programmers to build tools that help people do their jobs more effectively, and that will always be a trend.
2016 Business Communications: Changing the Way We Work
2016 Business Communications: Changing the Way We Work
For 2015, Danny Windham, CEO at Digium, predicted that it would be the year of mobility, integration of communications and user experience. In reviewing last year's predictions, versus what actually happened, some were dead on while others were slower to develop. Many of the same trends of 2015 are shaping up to be continued influencers on business communications and work styles in 2016, while additional trends emerge.
Mobility certainly took a giant leap forward over the past year – and shows no signs of slowing down. The prediction of the ”integration of communications into every aspect of how we run our businesses,” while still one of his core predictions, will be a multi-year evolution. It only began to develop some momentum during the past year, but the desire for integration of communications into and across core business functions continues to drive conversations within organizations of all sizes. Businesses are adopting cloud solutions at a rapid pace, as anticipated, and the use of SIP trunks is still growing. In fact, a recent Infonetics survey found that over three-fourths of North American businesses plan to use SIP trunking by 2016. These previously predicted trends are still big players in the business communications world, but for the purpose of this slideshow, Windham would like to focus on some concepts that are gaining real momentum.
The responsibilities of IT are shifting, workforces are distributing, and exciting things are on the way in the area of communications, enabling business processes through the use of innovations such as Application Program Interface (APIs) and Web Real Time Communications (WebRTC). The way we work is changing and the way we interact with our customers is changing, as 2016 is set to bring another wave of innovation.
