By Lucas Tempestini, marketing analyst at Sensedia
Are you a big consumer of the reports of the main consultancies in the world?
We here at Sensedia are, especially the two largest in the world: Forrester and Gartner.
They have sensational materials on various topics, and one of the main topics covered by these consultancies in recent years has been Digital Transformation.
And not only that: everything indicates that the Digital transformation needs APIs. It may seem like a strange statement, or an exaggerated one. For us, it only reflects the moment of the world economy that we live in!
They have sensational materials on various topics, and one of the main topics covered by these consultancies in recent years has been Digital Transformation.
And not only that: everything indicates that the Digital transformation needs APIs. It may seem like a strange statement, or an exaggerated one. For us, it only reflects the moment of the world economy that we live in!
Is your business digital?
If you answered "no" to that question, my goal is to make you think with this article.
I truly believe that every business is digital, regardless of the segment in which it operates. Whether conservative or not, you urgently need to consider that your business is on a transformational journey.
We can divide the resources you have in your company into two:
· Those who are born digital, such as your data, applications, connected devices, etc.
· Those features that weren't born Digital but they invariably have their Digital correspondents, for example Postal Codes, Location via GPS, Bar Codes.
Some companies have not yet faced this reality, and according to Forrester, by 2020 you can become a predator or a digital prey.
No Report “Digital Predator or Digital Prey”, We see that this characterization of the companies depends on the size of the disruption that your segment may suffer in the coming years, with some markets already transformed and others are still crawling in this direction.
Forrester still says, in the article “How APIs Reframe Business Strategy”, That a world in full digital disruption demands creating new business models who need new ways to add value to their offer.
Speaking of which, I always remember Uber, which managed to create practically a new segment by bringing digital partners and incorporating other services into its, complementing its solution and creating a different value vision for the final consumer.
But more than that, creates an ecosystem of integrated digital partners.
Want a great example of Digital Ecosystem? Marketplaces.
The big online retailers found that they could cut costs and add new products to their offering simply by allowing smaller retailers to integrate with the platform and sell their products through it.
It looks like a mall, only totally inserted in the Digital environment.
And so a new business model was born, in which at the end of the day, the main asset is the Traffic instead of products.
Most companies find it difficult to break these paradigms because it is common for the IT Department to be seen as the one that keeps systems running, with an exclusively operational role.
Although, it is necessary for IT to play a fundamental role in business decisions and manage to create new “assets” that can add value to the final consumer and create new ways of seeing the company's offer.
I truly believe that every business is digital, regardless of the segment in which it operates. Whether conservative or not, you urgently need to consider that your business is on a transformational journey.
We can divide the resources you have in your company into two:
· Those who are born digital, such as your data, applications, connected devices, etc.
· Those features that weren't born Digital but they invariably have their Digital correspondents, for example Postal Codes, Location via GPS, Bar Codes.
Some companies have not yet faced this reality, and according to Forrester, by 2020 you can become a predator or a digital prey.
No Report “Digital Predator or Digital Prey”, We see that this characterization of the companies depends on the size of the disruption that your segment may suffer in the coming years, with some markets already transformed and others are still crawling in this direction.
Forrester still says, in the article “How APIs Reframe Business Strategy”, That a world in full digital disruption demands creating new business models who need new ways to add value to their offer.
Speaking of which, I always remember Uber, which managed to create practically a new segment by bringing digital partners and incorporating other services into its, complementing its solution and creating a different value vision for the final consumer.
But more than that, creates an ecosystem of integrated digital partners.
Want a great example of Digital Ecosystem? Marketplaces.
The big online retailers found that they could cut costs and add new products to their offering simply by allowing smaller retailers to integrate with the platform and sell their products through it.
It looks like a mall, only totally inserted in the Digital environment.
And so a new business model was born, in which at the end of the day, the main asset is the Traffic instead of products.
Most companies find it difficult to break these paradigms because it is common for the IT Department to be seen as the one that keeps systems running, with an exclusively operational role.
Although, it is necessary for IT to play a fundamental role in business decisions and manage to create new “assets” that can add value to the final consumer and create new ways of seeing the company's offer.
If someone tells you that SOA is dead, be wary.
SOA is not dead, nor are the APIs a substitute for it.
Countless articles on the Internet already count SOA as old and out of date, but something that all these articles have in common is a rather poor definition of SOA.
According to the Forrester article “Selecting Tools that Enable Agility" much of what is still being done is under the SOA banner.
Service-based strategies are not exactly APIs or SOA, but both. After all, APIs and SOA still share several practices.
Forrester also recommends that conversations about Service Oriented Architecture serve to build strategies that ensure agility in services that are critical to the company's business while APIs can be responsible for taking an agile business model to new contexts, in order to extend your business to seas not yet navigated.
A successful strategy for APIs is essential to ensure agility in your processes, but it must be guided by your company's core business.
Its most valuable digital assets are those related to the core of its offer, its main competence. Obviously you can design APIs for your day-to-day operation, to internal integrations, but don't forget the innovative power of APIs: They will have the greatest impact if they are related to your business.
Gaining agility means saving time, especially those that perform repetitive activities on a daily basis and that can be easily automated or be delegated to APIs.
Drawing a parallel between the Industrial Revolution and Digital Transformation, the end of basic and repetitive activities changes the role played by people. Machines began to replace man in basic activities in the production lines, from the 18th century onwards.
And in the 21st century, we are creating new mechanisms that allow us to focus our efforts on more complex activities, creating resources that will have a direct impact on business models innovators.
Did you realize the disruptive power?
But I repeat: automating and improving simple, everyday processes can help you save money, but this is not where your business strategy will be greatly impacted.
If you want your Architecture and APIs strategy to be successful, it MUST be guided by your business objectives. The CIO must have this orientation to the company's business, but more than that, this journey needs to be part of the daily life of the company's CEO.
Any initiative that has not executive support and commitment it can be seen as superficial, and not be bought by those involved. In the end, even the customer will see no value.
Countless articles on the Internet already count SOA as old and out of date, but something that all these articles have in common is a rather poor definition of SOA.
According to the Forrester article “Selecting Tools that Enable Agility" much of what is still being done is under the SOA banner.
Service-based strategies are not exactly APIs or SOA, but both. After all, APIs and SOA still share several practices.
Forrester also recommends that conversations about Service Oriented Architecture serve to build strategies that ensure agility in services that are critical to the company's business while APIs can be responsible for taking an agile business model to new contexts, in order to extend your business to seas not yet navigated.
A successful strategy for APIs is essential to ensure agility in your processes, but it must be guided by your company's core business.
Its most valuable digital assets are those related to the core of its offer, its main competence. Obviously you can design APIs for your day-to-day operation, to internal integrations, but don't forget the innovative power of APIs: They will have the greatest impact if they are related to your business.
Gaining agility means saving time, especially those that perform repetitive activities on a daily basis and that can be easily automated or be delegated to APIs.
Drawing a parallel between the Industrial Revolution and Digital Transformation, the end of basic and repetitive activities changes the role played by people. Machines began to replace man in basic activities in the production lines, from the 18th century onwards.
And in the 21st century, we are creating new mechanisms that allow us to focus our efforts on more complex activities, creating resources that will have a direct impact on business models innovators.
Did you realize the disruptive power?
But I repeat: automating and improving simple, everyday processes can help you save money, but this is not where your business strategy will be greatly impacted.
If you want your Architecture and APIs strategy to be successful, it MUST be guided by your business objectives. The CIO must have this orientation to the company's business, but more than that, this journey needs to be part of the daily life of the company's CEO.
Any initiative that has not executive support and commitment it can be seen as superficial, and not be bought by those involved. In the end, even the customer will see no value.
Enough of the generic subject: what about YOUR business?
If you've made it this far, now is the time to look at your business and choose the path that your SOA and APIs strategy will take.
There are some paths to API strategies, depending on the objectives sought by the client. We divide it into five use cases:
There are some paths to API strategies, depending on the objectives sought by the client. We divide it into five use cases:
- Agile Architecture;
- Digital Experiences;
- Partners & channels;
- Open Innovation;
- Platform.
As Forrester pointed out in the report “Selecting Tools that Enable Agility”, It is necessary an architecture that allows agile integrations and interactions.
This is where it all starts: we call this concept Agile Architecture.
An agile architecture allows you to visualize API strategies more clearly, and facilitates the work of designing these APIs, but more than that, it allows for rapid changes, MVPs that will impact your business and that can quickly have your results measured.
Then, you must make the decision about which of these cases to address.
Some companies seek to create new digital experiences, many of them linked to Mobile or Social initiatives (or another of the pillars of the SMAC), but obviously this Digital Experience it’s not just about that.
More than Mobile, strategies for Digital Experience aim to create unique experiences for users independent of channels or screens, which has a lot to do with a market trend that has been widely applied in eCommerces, the famous Omnichannel.
If you haven't read our article on how to be a real Omnichannel, this one!.
Other use case widely used in the world of e-commerce is that of Partners & Channels.
Many companies adopt APIs as commercial arms to reach and engage new audiences that had not yet been able to impact through Partnerships or even to integrate solutions with suppliers.
This ensures agility throughout the production chain, improving and simplifying the purchase journey of the final consumer.
Again, Marketplaces serve as a great example, as they are an excellent case of using APIs to create Partnerships and New Channels.
At this point in the championship, you may have noticed that this division is not rigid and exact, but that there are gray areas between them. The last use case is the most comprehensive of all, at the point where some API strategies end up being leverage for other new strategies to emerge.
It's the concept called Platforming or simply, Platform.
Some may view a Marketplace strategy also for cases of Platform, so that shopkeepers end up supporting themselves within that environment.
However, some cases are more specific and focus on creating new products from the API of existing products, see the API of Google Maps, which is available for you to create new products from your maps.
In addition, it is possible to generate revenue from your Platform (in fact, from several of these cases, but in this case, this is quite clear). Google Maps itself does this, starting with a free banner and charging from a certain number of calls to the API.
This strategy is nothing more than positioning itself as a platform for launching new businesses (even if they are not actually yours).
Some initiatives Open Innovation are driven through Open APIs, such as Open Banking and Hackathons around open APIs.
Countless companies already see Hackathons as a tool to promote Innovation, and many of them have the company's APIs as their central theme.
OK, I understand the impact that APIs can have on my business, now what?
It's time to get your gears to spin!
Forrester has a very interesting approach to Service Oriented Architecture projects, which, as we saw in the text, is inextricably linked to its APIs.
In the report “Build SOA Success with a Business-Focused approach to SOA Design and Governance”There is a parallel between agile businesses and their architecture, highlighting 3 steps for you to succeed. Any resemblance to Agile Methods is NOT a coincidence.
First you need to design your SOA and APIs in a generic way, as they say “Mile wide, inch-deep” themselves. You need to give a broad sense of the milestones that need to be achieved, considerations around necessary investments, identify the most important processes for your journey and projects that should be considered for the second stage.
O second step is to execute projects. But as not everything is rosy in this world, these projects will be responsible for maturing and implementing the aspects of your SOA plan and APIs. It is at that moment that you will have the opportunity to execute your planning, preparing to learn from mistakes and validate hypotheses. It is highly recommended that you use practices linked to Agile Methodologies to determine what are the most important aspects of this project and prioritize them.
O third and the last step is perhaps the simplest to describe, but it is certainly the most responsible for its success, LEARN. The projects you execute should teach you a lot about the plan you drew in the beginning, and then go back to the drawing board, make adjustments, improve and allow yourself to see that in fact some of the initial premises were wrong and that there is still time to adjust the sails as the wind blows.
Finally, dig a little deeper into your initial plan and go back to step 1!
Forrester has a very interesting approach to Service Oriented Architecture projects, which, as we saw in the text, is inextricably linked to its APIs.
In the report “Build SOA Success with a Business-Focused approach to SOA Design and Governance”There is a parallel between agile businesses and their architecture, highlighting 3 steps for you to succeed. Any resemblance to Agile Methods is NOT a coincidence.
First you need to design your SOA and APIs in a generic way, as they say “Mile wide, inch-deep” themselves. You need to give a broad sense of the milestones that need to be achieved, considerations around necessary investments, identify the most important processes for your journey and projects that should be considered for the second stage.
O second step is to execute projects. But as not everything is rosy in this world, these projects will be responsible for maturing and implementing the aspects of your SOA plan and APIs. It is at that moment that you will have the opportunity to execute your planning, preparing to learn from mistakes and validate hypotheses. It is highly recommended that you use practices linked to Agile Methodologies to determine what are the most important aspects of this project and prioritize them.
O third and the last step is perhaps the simplest to describe, but it is certainly the most responsible for its success, LEARN. The projects you execute should teach you a lot about the plan you drew in the beginning, and then go back to the drawing board, make adjustments, improve and allow yourself to see that in fact some of the initial premises were wrong and that there is still time to adjust the sails as the wind blows.
Finally, dig a little deeper into your initial plan and go back to step 1!
Take care of your new asset
We reached the end of the text talking about APIs, not digital transformation anymore. And why did this happen?
Why Digital transformation needs APIs. It is a relationship of cause and consequence, they are the means with which you will reach your Digital positioning goals.
And in the end, it’s good to remember that as much as we have open or restricted APIs or both, ALL of them need governance.
Some need a little more, and others less, but the lack of governance means that you will have a set of randomly created APIs that can be duplicated, create security holes, or are simply useless.
Ultimately, all of this generates an unnecessary development and maintenance cost that will negatively impact the results of your initiatives.
And if you want to manage your APIs, look for an API Management solution that covers all stages of your API's Lifecycle, so you'll be able to see things like:
· The specific results that you planned at the beginning of your project;
· Increase security when accessing its APIs;
· Accelerate developer engagement;
· Test your APIs;
· Govern and version your APIs throughout your life and more!
EN 
PT 
