Many modern businesses rely heavily on APIs to build collaborative, cross-platform applications. Although APIs have been used in one way or another for some time, they are now being produced and consumed at an unprecedented rate due to the exponential increase in cloud-based applications.
Due to the increased use of APIs, API management solutions have become vital to the success of any digital business. These solutions enable businesses and developers to build, analyze, deploy, and scale APIs securely. Let’s take a look at some of the benefits of API management solutions for businesses.
Data security
APIs expose company assets to applications and provide access to company data. It is therefore essential to establish standards and policies to protect sensitive data and ensure that it is not compromised or leaked. An API management platform can help businesses define standardized procedures for API protection.
Additionally, an API management platform can provide additional security by tracking API usage and regulating application access.
Workflow Automation
An API management platform simplifies the API management process by automating various API-related tasks. Automating and simplifying workflows frees up time for more productive tasks that contribute to the overall growth of an organization.
Agility
Managing APIs on a single, centralized platform allows businesses to facilitate seamless access to API documentation and coding guidelines across their organization, significantly improving development efficiency and accelerating entering market. Additionally, API management allows businesses to reuse API functionality, reducing the time and resources spent on development.
Data-Driven Decision Making
A key component of API management, API analytics involves collecting, analyzing, and monitoring API metrics in real time. By analyzing API usage and performance, developers and organizations can better understand how their APIs are used. Additionally, because the data is presented in a way that is easily accessible, more employees can use it to drive innovation and growth within the organization.
API Monetization
API management tools make API monetization easier, enabling enterprise APIs to generate revenue. API monetization involves creating customized service packages, productizing data, and properly licensing products.
API versioning
As API trends evolve and requirements change, APIs must adapt as well. With an API management solution, you can update your APIs without disrupting your underlying system. Additionally, API management tools offer governance features that make it easier to track API versions.
Choosing an API management platform for your business
Several vendors have started offering API management services in light of the growing importance of APIs. It is therefore imperative to conduct in-depth research on a solution before choosing it. If you need to make a decision based on your business goals, you should also keep in mind that the best API management platforms should have the following features:
- API Security: It authenticates access to APIs and enforces security standards at runtime. With policy-based authentication, authorization, and firewalls, API management platforms provide strong data security.
- API Lifecycle Management: This allows an organization to manage the state of the API at each stage of its development. The lifecycle of an API typically begins with design and continues through development, testing, release, deprecation, and termination.
- API Design: It provides a framework for developing, monitoring, and managing custom API flow designs.
- API Gateway: An API gateway serves as an entry point into other systems and services connected to it. It handles all routing, protocol translation, and communication requests between the client and the third-party service it is connected to.
- API Analytics: It allows users to monitor API usage, load, and other vital metrics, which can help them determine the success and health of their APIs.
- Developer Portal: This is an API store or community site that provides documentation, tutorials, and a way to sign up for APIs and manage subscriptions.
- API Monitoring: It helps identify API errors and inefficient API calls, which can cause applications to crash, dependent services and websites to fail, and negatively affect user experience.
Leverage the Power of API Management
Organizations implement API management for the benefits it brings to their business at every level, whether in terms of money or productivity. Managing multiple APIs can be a complex process, even for developers, and integrating APIs can be a challenge for non-technical staff.
By using API management tools, an organization can maintain its existing APIs and providers and easily integrate new ones by maintaining an accessible library of API features.