10 takeaways you need to know about APIs

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APIs are a trendy topic, which are the subject of heated debates between sales people, IT managers and developers. This agitation within the public space is essentially about open public APIs.

To make a comparison, not having a public API today is like not having a website 20 years ago. Maybe in few years, it will be the same thing with the Metaverse.

However, many companies see public APIs as the least of their concerns. Creating omnichannel solutions, innovating faster than the competition, becoming a mobile company or setting up a hybrid cloud environment are priorities.

?Yet, as we can see within?the?API Thinking Collective, APIs play a central role in all these projects and many others, hence this interest from various and varied actors. This concept of APIs has evolved considerably over time. Today's?APIs are very different from the old ones. I am going to describe to you the 10 most important takeaways you need to know about APIs.

1.??????“API as a product” vision

Considering APIs as business products makes it easier to distinguish between an API-based approach and a traditional approach based on software delivery. For products, you need to ask several key questions:

·????????Who is the target audience??

·????????What does this target audience want to buy?

·????????Under what conditions am I ready to sell??

The terms buy and sell are used voluntarily even though the underlying business models of APIs vary considerably. Whether the return materializes in the form of money or influence, whether it is the consumer or the supplier who pays, the API remains a product.

3.??????Each API needs an “API product owner”

Simply put, an API needs an owner who is responsible for it and who can make decisions. Naturally, humans refuse to possess something they do not fully control (as in the formula ?Only this part is my responsibility?).

Yet you have to assign one owner to each API, but an API product owner can follow several APIs.

That person becomes a decision-maker on issues of productization and sharing. I have already written an article about API Owners, please feel free to read it !

4.??????API instrumentation provides knowledge

Testing early, learning fast, adapting easily – part of the equation is the ability to learn fast, and the best way to learn is to tap into the information available in the business operating system. You can easily access this information through API instrumentation and the use of associated business analytics capabilities that must be part of a 100% functional API middleware platform.

5.??????One client but multiple communication channels

The basic concept of APIs is not new. Today, the difference lies in the fact that modern users (IT consumers and businesses) expect an omnichannel experience that is both social and personal. To be truly personal, this experience must be self-orchestrated, at least to some extent. No company can follow a universal channel process anymore. Self-orchestration inevitably targets micro-applications that, in turn, create a need for specialized APIs. An omnichannel experience involves an ecosystem of people, software and equipment, which again makes specialized APIs necessary.

6.??????Not all APIs are REST

The statement “SOAP is dead; APIs are always REST” is a misconception. Although most modern API's rely on REST/JSON rather than SOAP, there is no evidence that SOAP’s formalism is out of the question. The SOAP protocol is still usable in different ways in communications between machines and formal composition tools. There are good reasons why the industry has developed several liaison protocols. Good designers choose the one that is most appropriate for their purpose : REST or SOAP.

7.??????API versions need to be managed

Not managing API versions is like not changing a baby’s diapers. Inevitably, problems happen, and then it’s up to you to manage them. Affirming that version management is superfluous means letting consumers of an API handle it themselves. As APIs are business products, you need to manage their versions wisely. Limit the multiplication of versions by offering a new official version only in the case of non backwards-compatibility of an update.

8.??????APIs have a hidden side

Without integrity, innovation is fragile. Whether it is a breach of the promise of integrity, disclosure of sensitive information or inappropriate behaviour, the result is largely the same. It only takes a bad experience for someone to take their trust away from you. When you use a third-party API, make sure your company’s integrity is not compromised. The vehicle used – formal contracts with sanctions, clearing mechanisms or relevant assessments of the robustness and security of APIs – is less important than the implementation of appropriate precautionary measures. Don’t forget to include ethical issues in your thinking.

?9.??????Categorisation of APIs

Often, APIs are categorized according to the intended audience, internal (or private), public, regulatory, etc. I propose another categorization. Moreover, when you decide to create an API, choosing which ones to create first can be complicated. A good API must stand out from what already exists.

Asking yourself, “What business situations could I improve, and how can I improve them?” is a good place to start. Find the answers to these two questions and you’ll know which APIs to create first among the following four categories:

• Detection APIs: These APIs help you identify opportunities that involve customers, employees, partners and equipment. They integrate features such as mobile geolocation, sensor surveillance, predictive analysis and human observation.
• Enrichment APIs: these APIs improve the understanding of the situation thanks to historical data from customer relationship management systems (CRM), accounting files, demographic analyses, medical records, etc.
• Perception APIs: These APIs provide a dynamic context of the current situation and let you know what the people you are targeting are thinking. These can be social APIs (people sharing future projects or current interests) or sensor analysis solutions (for the overall state of the system, such as resource consumption or traffic congestion).
• Action APIs: These APIs allow you to act in near real time.

They may include push notifications, instrumented equipment or human task management systems.

10.??Strategies facilitate API control

Strategies are the traditional tools used to codify the intentions of business and IT operations. They therefore condition consistency and integrity. The conditions under which APIs are consumed and managed must be codified in the form of strategies implemented by API platforms. It is important to ensure that these strategies are editable independently of the API logic (such as interface and data mapping). This promotes dynamic change in operating behavior.

?11.??Monetizing your API products

The monetization of your data relies on outsourcing knowledge or functions in a form that makes third parties want to use that data or functions. This monetization can take many forms. The most common example is where the third party pays to use your API. In other cases, you can pay the API consumer in exchange for expanding your business capabilities and strengthening your ecosystem. You can even integrate partners via APIs without any direct payment. The main objectives of monetization are to consolidate your company’s position, change your value chain and increase your influence on the ecosystem.

With this entry point, the success lies in the quality of the planning.

If you can do, and I would advise you to do it, “opportunistic” type testing, the end product must be a set of stable enterprise APIs that a third party can rely on for an extended period of time.

To think about APIs in a data monetization context, here are some tips:

• Objective: The desired result is monetary or based on a non-monetary value, such as the extension of your influence.
• Target audience: The target audience needs to be a third party. Typically, these are external partners and developers (who are not part of your company or are hired by your company). Treating another activity of your business as a partner or third party is not uncommon, especially when the different activities are managed as economically independent entities.
• APIs to be provided: the APIs required to mobilize this group must provide the value you want to sell. This choice deserves a thorough reflection, not only in terms of value provided, but also in terms of the form that stimulates consumption.

·????????Terms and conditions of the?use of APIs: do not forget to include in your reflection the terms and conditions that govern the consumption of APIs (?freemium?, pay-as-you-go or prepaid contract).

• Implementation of APIs: The preparation of data and functions for implementation of APIs has two imperatives: quality and reliability. Some people think that the cost of implementation is the most important criterion, but its role in a strategy for monetizing data is not central. Such a strategy is only sustainable in the long term if API consumers gain value and trust.
• Consumption of third-party APIs: Sometimes you also need to select APIs to consume. Even if you generate value essentially by providing APIs to third parties who consume them, implementing these APIs may require the creation of more comprehensive versions, most often by merging existing APIs with elements that make you unique.

Monetization of data is perhaps the most common entry point you’ve heard of, but it’s not the most common. Currently, the vast majority of API projects are intended for internal uses, even when public API exchanges reach full maturity.

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I hope this article on the 10 takeaways on APIs will help you more in the comprehension of API strategy, feel free to share and comment !

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