The use of APIs is a good indicator of an enterprise’s ability to adapt to the digital needs of customers. APIs are at the heart of a business’ ability to develop products faster, seamlessly integrate data systems, and extend their reach to new partners and other value co-creators.Business readiness for digital
You can often tell a business’ API readiness just by looking at their website. If they have an online chat system for customers to reach out, offer email or white paper downloads, have an intuitive, engaging design, and offer some way to contact them via mobile devices, chances are they are at least taking steps towards being digitally ready.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
I’ve always been confused as to why my homeland isn’t actually more of an API world leader. After all, Australia has an ideal environment to see the growth of API-led business and government initiatives:
The distance and the off-kilter time zone mean APIs could help Australian businesses appeal to international audiences at all times of the day and night without having to have an around-the-clock staff employed.
Australian businesses could integrate their services better into a global marketplace by leveraging APIs. There has been a long history of Australia’s skills at assessing international world practice and then implementing the best locally.
Australia’s small population spread across a large land mass means delivering digital government services using APIs could support much more of the population at a lower cost.
On the negative side, Australia has squandered much of its mining economy boom without advancing a digital economy; dragged its heals on implementing a national broadband network, which is now noticeably slower than in my adopted homeland of Spain; and has regularly slipped in annual rankings for innovation and capacity to support tech startup ecosystems.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
At the close of 2016, Gartner Research Director Mark O’Neill presented at both API Strategy and Practice (in Boston) and APIdays Global (in Paris) to share his insights into this year’s API trends. Top on his list was a discussion about how, while everyone talks about building APIs, the much larger impact of APIs is with their consumption. O’Neill predicts that 2017 will see some maturing in product offerings that support businesses with their API consumption.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
In a couple of weeks, I will be attending the API Strategy and Practice conference in Boston. As program chair of the 2015 edition (held in Austin last October), I am excited to see this year’s schedule, led by 2016 program chair (and senior product manager at Capital One DevExchange) Lorinda Brandon. When I attend, and as I talk with participants across the two and a half days, there is one question I will be asking speakers and participants alike: Are microservices killing the API conversation?Let’s look back quickly at what has happened in the last two years:To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Enterprise and startups are moving to cloud-based infrastructure to create an API-enabled value chain for new products and workflows. With this has emerged the idea of serverless infrastructure: running functions and applications completely in cloud-based servers where the hosting provider handles all of the sysadmin requirements.This is a new frontier in how business is leveraging cloud, and it is set to explode, especially amongst system integrators and consultants, as more data from sensors and machines are incorporated and as traditional businesses move even more of their IT infrastructure to the cloud.But to take advantage of this opportunity, businesses need to have their services and data accessible via application programming interfaces (API), which for most businesses is still just an emerging trend.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Mark Boyd