Help, the business wants APIs!

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The glowing promises regarding APIs are not going unnoticed by people in the business. Every product owner who takes his or her activities seriously is interested in applications and data sources that are created so as to be accessible for broader use. But when the ultimate application is found, the question quickly arises: how do we set it up? CIOs and other IT leaders would do well to anticipate the business’ requests and have a ready answer to this unavoidable question.

First of all, it is essential that parties responsible for IT see the necessity of utilizing APIs, so that they give this phenomenon gestalt in collaboration with the business. People must also realize that these days this concept clearly means something different from what it meant in the past.

The so-called ‘application programming interfaces’ have been around as long as IT itself. It is an old name for complicated technical links between specific applications and systems. Conversely, a business API is much more often a broader shared ‘service’, from which internal and external developers, customers and other organizations can benefit. This can involves payment or not, depending on the objective and the model.

Driving forces

The driving forces for embracing APIs and the API economy are legion: they make it possible for companies to modify their business models based on new information and applications and thus to be disruptive: launching and digitizing new products, reaching new customers, operating quicker and more flexibly, starting new partnerships. Think of retailers or eating establishment who want to make it possible for their customers to pay using their own app. Many applications and data streams are combined in a handy way in the tourist industry, as well, so that customers can be better served using mobile services.

When you know for certain that you want to launch or support an API initiative, as the CIO or the party responsible for IT, you choose a solution that helps you as a company. To do this, you must first know what a standard solution for API management is supposed to do. Generally, this involves a number of issues: being able to adequately set up security, create a self-service environment, conduct life cycle and version management and perform analytics. IBM can serve as a trusted API management solution partner, by offering an environment in which all the previously mentioned items are covered.

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