Use Application Programming Interfaces (API)

APIs are a way for other processes, software, or services to access analytics code that you have created. It allows you to easily reuse your code in other applications. You can also allow your customers to directly access this functionality through web-based APIs.

An API builds on of encapsulation principle. It is a defined list of supported actions and information that another system can call and retrieve. The calling system does not need to know how the action is performed or the information created and retrieved. The complexity is hidden.

The API defines how to interact with an encapsulated set of analytic processes. It abstracts away the details. It also supports low friction change as the analytics processes can be improved without requiring other systems to alter what they are doing. As long as the API definition is held constant, the other systems will not know the difference.

APIs are a great way to create building blocks for more complex analytics. You can use multiple APIs to build rich, fully-functional analytic applications in a short period of time. It is also far easier to adapt to changing business conditions by reconfiguring the assembled applications to use a different mix of APIs.

A Web API uses the internet to handle the communication between systems. Cloud providers offer this as a managed service. It can help a great deal in handling security and scale. Using this service, you can quickly implement new analytics functionality securely and at scale. The API can be either public or private. Private is only accessible to your internal applications. Public opens it up to systems outside your company.

Cloud providers can even handle usage tracking and billing if you decide to offer the functionality behind your API as a paid service to your customers.