Top SDK benefits for developers and businesses
Building a robust tech stack requires careful planning and the right tools to address your company’s unique needs. But implementing a set of technologies that meet your exact demands can take time, drain resources, and compromise security.
A software development kit (SDK) acts as a roadmap, offering solutions to integrate features, speed up development, and mitigate security threats through reliable, tested components. To fully understand SDK benefits for your development team and business, let’s review the definition, components, types, and how SDK works in practice.
What is an SDK?
An SDK is a collection of tools and resources that enables developers to create applications for a platform, operating system, or programming language. It’s a comprehensive toolkit that combines everything a developer needs to build apps — from code samples that streamline development to application programming interfaces (APIs) that allow the software to interact with other platforms.
Cloud-based data storage, hardware manufacturers, operating systems, and open-source projects create SDKs to help developers integrate specific technologies or services into their applications.
Suppose your business wants to connect your document management platform and customer relationship management (CRM) system to centralize your content and facilitate access to customer interactions. Using the document management SDK, your development team can directly bridge the platform’s features, such as secure document storage and retrieval, to your CRM.
SDK components
To build platform integrations, you’ll typically work with the following basic SDK components:
| Component | Definition |
| APIs | Sets of rules and protocols that define how different software systems interact, exchange data, and trigger actions across platforms |
| Libraries | Sets of pre-written code that simplify common tasks, such as multi-factor authentication (MFA), file upload, and push notifications |
| Development tools | Resources like compilers, emulators, and simulators that help developers create, test, and debug applications |
| Documentation tools | Manuals that describe how to use an SDK, including detailed instructions and best practices — according to the Stack Overflow’s survey, API and SDK guides are the documentation source of choice for 90.3% of developers |
| Code samples and templates | Pre-written code snippets and templates that show how to implement specific features, saving developers time and effort |
| Configuration files | Elements used to configure the development environment or define specific settings — for example, cloud app integration and customization preferences |
| Test environments or simulators | Sandbox environments that allow developers to test apps in a controlled setting, simulating the target platform’s behavior |
| User interface (UI) components | Pre-designed assets (such as buttons and menus) that make it easier for development teams to create user-friendly interfaces for applications |
SDK vs. API: What’s the difference?
While an API enables communication between systems, an SDK gives you the resources to develop software that integrates with those systems. To better understand the difference between the terms API and SDK, imagine your company wants to incorporate artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities into image editing software. In this case:
- An API would define how the software sends requests to the AI service for specific tasks, such as detecting objects or editing colors, and receives the corresponding results
- An SDK would provide libraries, sample code, and other resources to guide your team through the entire process — from setting up the development environment to implementing the specific AI features
In short, SDKs and APIs complement each other. An SDK often includes APIs as part of the toolkit to help developers build and implement functionalities more efficiently.
Benefits of software development kits
According to a Codacy survey, 31.55% of software development professionals report lack of time as the major challenge in ensuring code quality. To overcome this constraint, teams need solutions like ready-made code and tools that cut down development time — and that’s where SDKs come in.
Explore four SDK benefits for both developers and businesses.
1. Faster development process
When time is tight, every minute counts. SDK tools and documentation ensure fewer bugs, fewer delays, and a quicker path to delivering the software. Instead of creating features from scratch, teams can focus on customizing components to meet specific business needs. This approach streamlines the entire development cycle, facilitating collaboration and reducing project costs.
2. Simplified integration with third party services
SDKs make it possible to connect complex features like password protection and data backup to an app, enabling developers to add these functionalities efficiently. Whether it’s a communication tool or project management software, SDKs provide pre-built code that developers can copy, paste, and integrate, saving time and minimizing the risk of errors.
3. Enhanced data protection and compliance
In Harness’ State of Developer Experience, 40% of developers reported their organizations don’t enforce good security and governance policies across the software development lifecycle. Well-built SDK frameworks come with built-in security protocols — such as file and folder permissions and encryption — that safeguard apps from potential threats and ensure compliance with data protection regulations.
4. Access to AI and other advanced capabilities
A JetBrains survey shows that 56% of developers are self-taught when it comes to learning about data science, machine learning, or data engineering. Development kits help bridge skills for developers while fostering innovation for businesses. These kits simplify integrating advanced capabilities like AI, machine learning, or data analytics into existing systems, avoiding the need for ground-up development.
Common types of SDKs
SDKs are designed to meet specific needs — an SDK for mobile app development isn’t the same as one for cloud integration, for example.
Common types of SDKs include:
- Web SDKs: Help developers integrate web-specific features like analytics, authentication, and AI content discovery into websites or web apps
- API SDKs: Make it easier for developers to use third party services, like payments, intelligent document processing, or messaging, by simplifying complex functions
- Platform SDKs: Enable developers with the necessary tools and APIs to build applications that run smoothly on specific operating systems, platforms, or devices
- Cloud service SDKs: Provide libraries and tools that simplify integration with cloud platforms, facilitating file sharing, document collaboration, and cloud syncing
- Security SDKs: Offer libraries and utilities for integrating features like data leakage prevention and advanced authentication into apps, protecting data from unauthorized access or breaches
Explore the top enterprise-grade features of secure collaboration tools.
How to use an SDK
When a developer wants to integrate different systems, the first step is to choose the appropriate SDK client, an SDK designed to help connect and communicate with a specific service or platform. The SDK setup typically involves five steps.
- Installation: The developer installs the SDK onto their machine, adding necessary libraries, frameworks, and command-line tools to the system.
- Development environment setup: The SDK connects with a development environment, which can be a local configuration or a cloud-based environment.
- Code writing: Developers then use the programming language and APIs to write the application’s code. The APIs offer a range of functions that interact with the platform’s features.
- Testing and debugging: The SDK platform tools include resources for testing the app’s functionality. Debuggers allow development teams to examine code as it runs, helping them identify and fix issues.
- Deployment: The SDK software offers resources for packaging and deploying it to the target platform. This might involve generating scripts for deployment, creating installation packages, and submitting the app to an app store for distribution.
Leverage the latest generation of SDK tools with Box
Box is an all-in-one Intelligent Content Management platform that combines storage, collaboration tools, workflow automation, advanced AI capabilities, enterprise-grade security and compliance, and more — keeping your content protected and accessible across its entire lifecycle.
The Intelligent Content Cloud allows you to create, edit, and share files with your coworkers and stakeholders anywhere, on any device. You can seamlessly integrate Box with 1,500+ applications, streamlining workflows across departments and making teamwork more efficient.
To make your development teams’ work much easier, Box SDKs provide next-generation tools, rich APIs, and full support to create feature-rich applications. This way, you simplify the integration of AI and other advanced capabilities into your apps, speeding up development and delivering greater user experiences.
Contact us today and enjoy all the SDK benefits of building secure and efficient integrations.
While we maintain our steadfast commitment to offering products and services with best-in-class privacy, security, and compliance, the information provided in this blog post is not intended to constitute legal advice. We strongly encourage prospective and current customers to perform their own due diligence when assessing compliance with applicable laws.