Before you begin your digital transformation journey in earnest, it’s strongly advised that you implement policies and processes for managing each API throughout its lifecycle. While an API-first approach is focused largely on development practices, that’s only half of the equation. Management is the other half, improving efficiency in the beginning and saving you both time and money in the end. “The earlier you incorporate API management into your transformation strategy, the better,” notes Budha. “Not only will it save you time, but it will also allow you to focus on your business logic and long-term roadmap.”
The key aspects of API management
The three core pillars of API management are security, stability and scalability. Together, they form the foundation that supports your standards and compliance policies. By leveraging these three core pillars to create a data management architecture, you allow systems and services to be connected in a way that supports your business logic. Achieving this requires that your whole architecture is observable, especially details pertaining to who is using APIs and how those APIs are being leveraged — feeding this information into an analytics tool can provide crucial insights into bottlenecks, successes and potential opportunities.
“All the capabilities provided by an API management tool are very beneficial when we talk about monetising our services in a scalable, secured, stable and standard manner.”
Debu Sinha Senior Specialist Solutions Architect Databricks Learn more about Debu →
“A good API management software must provide technical capabilities that enable the business to reap the benefits of an API-first approach.”
Sachin Shah CTO Learn more about Sachin →
To support the efforts described above, an API management tool must possess the following characteristics:
Single view
If you need to visit multiple screens and dashboards to manage and monitor your APIs, the process can quickly become overwhelming. A centralised view allows you to govern your policies, document activity and manage all your APIs in one place. This makes the process considerably easier to understand, while drastically reducing the amount of time you must invest.
To make the necessary assessments and keep things secure, you need an API management layer — or at the very least, an API management gateway. API management, therefore, is an essential part of your stack. You cannot think about starting an API journey without first having the management groundwork in place.
Intelligent risk reduction
Many businesses operate in multiple regions, each with its own compliance requirements. The regulatory climate in Indonesia, for instance, differs from that of Australia. An effective API management dashboard will provide an intelligent gateway that allows you to access standards, policies and remediation, regardless of location.
Fully unified
A well-established organisation likely has multiple APIs built according to different sets of standards. For example, Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) is used by many older APIs. Meanwhile, REST, or Representational State Transfer, is used by many modern APIs. With the right API management platform, these standards are irrelevant; it’s easy to monitor, manage and connect your APIs regardless of the standards by which each was built.
Multi-team capabilities
A development team requires different API information than a team of business analysts. Therefore, your API management tool should provide multiple gateways, each with its own set of access controls. This ensures that everyone has access to the required data and prevents anyone from accidentally accessing something they shouldn’t.
Data-driven
The clearer your picture of how your APIs are used, both internally and externally, the better your understanding of what you need to deliver. For customers, this means an improved product and brand experience. For employees, this streamlines and optimises processes and removes workflow barriers. Your API management platform should thus include built-in monitoring and analytics capabilities, ensuring that API-related data doesn’t simply remain unused in a silo, instead of being leveraged to improve business operations and outcomes.
“APIs that are secure, standardised, in compliance, scalable and stable yield better business management and open avenues to target multiple market segments.”
Siddharth Katare Senior Solution Architect HCL Technologies Learn more about Siddharth →
“Once an organisation has decided to add an API layer into their architecture, it is of foremost importance to define the principles of API management.”
Jaykumar Wadhwani Enterprise Architect Salesforce CTO Barclays UK Learn more about Jaykumar →
Key points
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A single view of your API ecosystem is necessary for effective administration.
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API management should improve security and compliance regardless of geographic location.
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API management should operate independently of API standards.
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With finely tuned access controls and analytics, API management enables data-driven decision-making.