We can claim with absolute certainty that API Management has become the main method of digital business transformation.
The API technological concept – a system that allows an application to interact with other applications without knowing their internal functioning in detail – falls short when analyzing the importance that betting on this model could have for a company.
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APIs have a much greater significance from a business standpoint, since they enable the provision of small services of interest to third parties in exchange for money, which means that they can become the main generator of revenue for a company if it focuses all of its efforts on taking advantage of their potential.
This is why the true digital business transformation has much more to do with the way in which they are managed rather than with technological development. Which is the reason why API management is key.
What is API Management?
API can help any developer offer applications that are useful for a particular group of users. But in order to carry out this process, a secure and scalable environment is required, which offers specific functionalities. This is what we know as API Management.
Any company that bets on APIs as a core element of its business requires API Management. It is only though it that it will be able to maintain an adequate control over matters as important as access permissions, the design of monetization mechanisms, potential security breaches or the way in which others use the APIs.
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As a result, API management allows those who publish an API and its users to oversee a great number of important aspects.
When speaking of API management, we are referring to offering developers at least three things:
– An entryway that allows for the monitoring of traffic and the analysis of the way in which APIs are used. Here is where the flow of communications and processes between APIs can be managed.
– A manager, through which APIs are published and edited, and which is used to handle their life cycle.
– A development portal, which offers an API listing and their documentation, as well as statistics, testing systems, etc.
Main purposes of API Management
Let’s continue by defining what API management should be like. We could say that API Management involves three main purposes, which are:
Connected experiences
A good API management platform should be capable of offering a balance between access to the systems, stored data and the functionalities with a reliable back-end system.
Thanks to this, a wide spectrum of interesting goals can be accomplished for all agents, which range from offering APIs to external developers to expand their usefulness and generate new business models, to allowing companies to develop and launch new products for their customers in an agile manner.
Efficient operations
Users of any application demand an increasingly faster and more efficient execution. However, one needs to keep in mind the difficulty that executing the APIs implies in a variety of platforms and different devices, since managing this is very difficult for the company.
Therefore, the API platform should be prepared to offer efficient answers in regard to visibility and control in multiple scenarios.
A company that uses an API platform expects it to facilitate the job of automating processes, maintaining an adequate data flow, managing access to APIs and, overall, for the operations to be performed efficiently, regardless of the circumstances surrounding their operation.
Actionable Intelligence
Security is a basic need, and an API platform should be able to analyze the information and detect suspicious behaviors that may imply a threat, whether stemming from bots or other means.
The strengthening of the security systems will help the company prevent cyber criminals from introducing malware into organizations that work with APIs, thereby offering extra reliability to their customers.
Actionable intelligence therefore provides a safer environment that increases customer engagement.
WSO2 API Manager
One solution that complies with these requirements is WSO2 API Manager. It is an integrated solutions that allows for the publication of APIs, managing their lifecycle, the development of applications, and it offers analytics tools.
Without delving too deep into its features, some of its advantages are:
– An expandable open-source platform, with much documentation and contributions by the community
– Easy decision-making thanks to data provided by the analytics tools
– Flexibility to be implemented both on the cloud and on-site and easy to migrate from one environment to another
– Less need for future investment thanks to the full lifecycle API management
Do you need more information about WSO2 API Manager? If you are interested in this solution, you may contact Chakray’s experts, who will advise you based on your needs.
