Web services have two types of uses.
Reusable application components
There are things different applications need very often.
Web services can offer application components like currency conversion, weather reports or even language translation as services.
Ideally, there will only be one type of each application component, and anyone can use it in their application.
Connect existing software
Web services help solve the interoperability problem by giving different applications a way to link their data.
Using Web services you can exchange data between different applications and different platforms.