APIs: connection with the customer

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Buy a car, take out a loan or an insurance policy all at one company that doesn’t offer any of these services itself? If your train is delayed, receive a coupon for a discount for ice cream at a shop near the station? While on the road, receive detailed warnings about approaching severe weather, including suggestions for alternative routes? APIs make all this and a great deal more possible. Trend-setting companies understand that APIs are the new channels to the market and that they create endless opportunities for business.

APIs make data and applications available for internal and external developers, customers and other organizations, just to name a few. They prove particularly useful in the front office, the so-called ‘systems of engagement’ (SoE), such as mobile apps and social media, but are also useful based on a link with the traditional ‘systems of record’ (SoR) in the back office. In contrast to traditional APIs, that primarily linked applications in the back office, current application and data connections also seek contact with the outside world.

Self-service

Modern APIs can be managed and secured, based on rules, guidelines and control mechanisms, which specify who has access to available digital assets when and how frequently. Ideally, SoR systems can be accessed via APIs based on self-service, without having to modify anything in the systems themselves. In particular, this principle makes it possible to develop SoE applications at lightning speed, which ultimately leads to new types of activities on a broader scale.

In a certain sense, solutions for API management address the issue of ‘two-speed’ or ‘bi-modal’ IT, with which new smart, effective customer and business-oriented applications (mode 2) can be quickly developed on top of stable, basic IT (mode 1). One condition for this is that it must be possible to approach the SoR systems from the back side. This sometimes requires new business logic, as solutions for the traditional API management fell short here.

Customer perspective

IBM addresses this challenge with IBM API Connect: a simple to use set of possibilities for creating, operating, managing and securing APIs throughout their total life cycle – all in one environment. The solution also offers automated options for rapid access to back office SoR systems, which in many cases were not set up for this. It is also possible to set up a micro-services environment based on IBM API Connect.

All this makes it possible for companies and organizations to quickly construct new use cases – for example a description of the system from the customer or end-user perspective. Social media, online information sources, Internet of things and analytics can all be included. Everything focuses on products and services that surprise the customer and end user. Welcome to the API economy!

Download a test version of IBM API Connect >>>