API stands for Application Programming Interface.

And the way I like to think about it is it's sort of

in opposition to a graphical user

interface, which is the website that you use to click around.

And specifically, a graphical user interface

is for a human to talk to a computer.

We care about fonts.

We care about nice color palettes.

But if a computer is talking to a computer,

they don't particularly care about how things look.

All they need to do is to pass data and commands back

between each other.

So that's what an API allows computers to do.

So what's so great about APIs?

Why do we build them?

They allow customers to design workflows

that suit their own business needs

so that the functionality behind an API-- for example,

our 3Play functionality-- are all

exposed to the customers who can then mix and match

those in certain ways however they like.

That allows them to automate repetitive manual tasks,

especially if you have a lot of things that need

to be done at a large scale.

And that led to reduced costs, and labor,

and workflow, and organizational complexity.