Modern CX Essentials That Differentiate Your Consumer Brand
Discover how your consumer-facing company can create a modern CX strategy based on evolving consumer expectations.
8 minute read •Web Services And Platforms
Web Services & Platform Benefits
1
Low-Cost Communications
Web services use standard web protocols, so there’s no need to invest in an expensive intranet to facilitate communications within your organization. You won’t need to purchase a proprietary solution either. Web services use SOAP and HTTP protocols, so they work with your existing internet services.
2
Faster Communication Across the Organization
Web services can be invoked via the HTTP protocol, which means they can be evoked over the internet. The schema for SOAP also provides efficient processing for faster communications.
3
More Efficient Interoperability
One of the key features of Web services is that every application can be written in various programming languages, but they can still communicate with one another via a web service. Clients and servers can send requests via XML instead of other markup languages, leading to easier data exchange between different applications and platforms.
4
Standardized, Reusable Protocol
Every layer of web services uses defined standardized protocols. Because web services aren’t restricted to any single operating system or programming language, you face fewer restrictions.
Web Services Consulting & Deployment with Uvation
Uvation can help your organization deploy web services to optimize your communications, your web strategy, and your computing infrastructure. Our team is experienced in cloud computing solutions and can help you develop applications and platforms which can be accessed and used over the internet via industry-standard protocols.
To find out more about our web services and web platform consulting services, contact Uvation today.
Web Services & Platforms Explained
01
Web Services
A web service can refer to any service offered by one device to another device while communicating over the the internet. In most cases, this is a software or application that makes itself available over the internet to a user using another computer. Anytime you use a cloud-based product, you are using a web service because you are accessing an application via the internet from your computer.
Web services could also refer to a server running on a computing device that listens for and accepts requests via a port over a network. In this case, the web service serves web documents like HTML and XML. When you access a website over the internet, you are pinging a server that serves you the documents that make up the Website—this is a web service.
Web services are instrumental in allowing various applications—and by extension, various devices—to communicate with each other over the internet. One of the most widely recognized providers of web services is Amazon, which serves its customers through Amazon web Services (AWS). Like its competitors, Amazon provides web services like cloud computing services to organizations.
02
Web Platforms
A web platform is a broad term that refers to an assortment of technologies developed using open standards. For businesses, most web platforms you’ll encounter are those that enable you to build, host, and manage a website.
Today’s web platforms bring together a full set of online communication and management systems, enabling you to integrate your web-based business with other essential business applications, such as your customer relationship management (CRM) tool, your social media accounts, and even online stores.
03
Web Services vs. API
Web services are sometimes confused with APIs. They are similar, but there are a few differences. For one, all web services are APIs, but not all APIs are web services. That’s because an application programming interface (API) defines interactions between multiple software applications, they are not always or necessary over the open internet.
Web services also support XML, so they can be used by anyone who understands XML. APIs, however, can be used by anyone who understands JSON. APIs can be used for any style of communication while web services are restricted to REST, SOAP, and XML-RPC for communication. Finally, Web services provide support for HTTP protocol while APIs can support others.
04
Business Uses for Web Services and Web Platforms
There is no limit to the business use cases for web services and web platforms. They can help companies
create online marketplaces for their products or services. They may house some of an organization’s
applications so that they can easily communicate more easily with other businesses. Web services may
support more sophisticated integration capabilities for companies hoping to adopt new technologies or
interface with external partners as well, among other applications.
Key Web Services & Platform Technologies
The following are some important technologies used in web services and web platforms.
SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol)
SOAP is a messaging protocol specification first released stably in 2007. It is an XML-based messaging protocol used to exchange structured information in the implementation of web services via computer networks.
In other words, it provides a way for web services to transport data. SOAP can be used in a variety of messaging systems, but the initial purpose of SOAP was to facilitate remote procedure calls transported via HTTP.
UDDI (Universal Description, Discovery, and Integration)
UDDI specifications define an XML-based registry for businesses to list themselves on the internet. It enables companies to find one another online, so they can conduct online transactions more efficiently and make their systems more interoperable with each other.
The easiest way to think of UDDI is like pages in a telephone book. Businesses can list themselves by their name, location, and the web services they offer, all through a standard specification.
WSDL (Web Services Description Language)
WSDL, or Web Services Description Language, is an XML-based language used to describe the functionalities offered by a web service. It defines the interface and communication protocol for a service, detailing the operations that can be performed, the messages involved in these operations, and their data types. WSDL serves as a contract between the service provider and the service consumer, ensuring that both parties understand the capabilities and limitations of the service and how to interact with it correctly. WSDL can be used to automate the creation of web service client code and provides a standardized way of communicating with web services across different platforms and programming languages
XML (Extensible Markup Language)
This is a markup language and textual data format that defines rules for encoding documents. XML is significant because it is readable by both humans and machines.
XML is defined by free open standards set forth by the World Wide Web Consortium. The purpose of XML is to make it simpler to use the internet, and although it was originally designed for documents, it is also widely used to represent data structures like those used in Web services.
Web Hosting Platforms
Change Web hosting platforms refer to online services that allow individuals and businesses to host their websites on the internet. These platforms provide server space, storage, and internet connectivity for hosted websites, making them accessible to users worldwide.
Users can choose from a variety of hosting plans with different features and resources depending on their needs. Typically, web hosting platforms also offer tools and resources such as website builders, domain registration, email hosting, and security features to help users create and manage their websites more easily. There are numerous web hosting platforms available, each with its own strengths and weaknesses, so users should carefully consider their requirements and do their research before selecting a particular platform
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