Why Should MarTech Have Control Over API?

Marketing technologies have been on an ever-evolving spree for years. And digitization has been a significant contributor in delineating in such growth. That paired with the diverse demography and expectations of millennial customers have drove organizations to not only engage their customers online but also, to deliver them, seamless CX at every touchpoint. Omnichannel orchestration has come to the fore of marketing technologies and APIs are leading their way to collaboration.

Application Programming Interface (API) has made integration between digital assets and external systems possible. It allows businesses to collaborate and open the doorways to inter communication. Businesses are able to leverage the benefits of varied technological systems and solutions to create, manage and deliver data from centralized source and eventually, deliver cohesive and personalized customer experience across the channels. For this to actualize, it is imperative that APIs support varied systems / platforms viz. websites, chatbots, Alexa, IoT devices, agent portals, B2B portals, partner sites, call centers, etc.

Efficient Control of APIs

Business have been and even today, rely on developers when it comes to API integration. But the truth be told, MarTech teams are at the forefront when dealing with APIs. They are the ones running the show of devising and implementing marketing strategies on the digital space. They chalk out the plans of expansions and collaboration. And they certainly deal with technical abilities day in and day out. For marketing campaigns to be efficient, operationally and technology wise, MarTech teams should not have to go to developers for simple encryption or exposure of data; they should be able to create, manage, encrypt and expose APIs without the assistance from developers.

Understanding APIs

API integration and developer dependency sound like a synchronized symphony to many teams. However, it should not be the case. A lot of APIs should be managed and controlled by the MarTech teams. Let’s understand APIs a little more to discuss that.

• Master Data API – It exposes data from master data. Managing this API does not require technical or coding abilities and developer dependency should take a backseat. MarTech teams should be able to manage the searchable master data via API without requiring the
  assistance from the developer. For instance, if a finance company needs to open a branch, then MatTech teams should be able to go to data, add a branch; and whenever the website requests for branch data, they should be able to view that automatically; Not otherwise, where, a developer goes into database, makes changes and makes it live.
• Data Collector API – Data Collector APIs are used to collect data from internal and external customers like testimonials, feedbacks, grievances, leads, etc. Such APIs should be controlled by MarTech teams as such data is integral to their marketing strategies. They should be able to receive, manage, encrypt, expose the data to implement their strategies.
• Business Logic API – Business Logic APIs are commonly used to optimize data exchange with the app for multiple data collections, validating app user actions to enforce business rules, etc. And this would require intervention of the developers.
• Third Party API – Most common examples of third-party APIs are all social media apps like Facebook, twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, etc. and external portals and apps associated with business interests. MarTech should be able to control such APIs. For example, they should be able to enable or disable a social media or any third-party API to suit their
  marketing strategies.

Why MarTech Should Control APIs?

MarTech have technical abilities to manage and control APIs. They are researching and leading their marketing campaigns in the digital space. One of the most important factors to effectiveness of the campaign is time. Every time a MarTech guy runs to developer for API call for collaboration or data execution, it makes it less time efficient. When MarTech gets to control and manage APIs, it becomes simpler and easier to manage their single source of
truth and deliver seamless communication across the channels.

API Management Tools

API Management tools like SHAFT are MarTech’s tech-pals. They allow MarTech teams gain control of APIs. Most of them require minimum implementation. With optimized User Interface, they allow teams to access information across the systems. SHAFT also has consolidation tools that capture data and generate MIS reports. There are many other API
management tools in the industry like WSO2, Apigee, Wilsoft, etc. However, SHAFT puts business first.

Why Tekno Point’s SHAFT?

At Tekno Point, we put MarTech First instead of technology. While we understand technology is at the base of digital marketing, MarTech teams are the ones who are leading that reign and hence must have full control. With our business first approach, we ensure that collaborations happening at business level are easily manageable by the business teams without having to go to deployment teams over and over again.

API for MarTech is the dawning age businesses will thrive in the years to come and SHAFT
is already making success stories.

Download Whitepaper on API Management for Business and MarTech