What Is the Future of API Management?

Prepare for the future of API management today. In this blog, we recap a recent webinar featuring guest speaker, Randy Heffner from Forrester Research, Inc. 

What Is the Future of API Management?

The future of API management is in digital transformation. To success, you need federated ecosystems. You need to build digital business platforms. You need to go beyond REST. And, you need to go cloud native. 

So, is your API strategy what it needs to be? A digital transformation strategy requires much more than simply using APIs. As business opportunities and possibilities rapidly expand, enterprises risk being left behind in a cloud of digital disruption.

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Explore:

• API Basics
• API Strategy
• Cloud APIs

3 Mistakes to Avoid in the Future of API Management

There are three big mistakes you need to avoid in the future of API management. 

1. Missing API ecosystem value.
2. Missing the need for agile governance.
3. Getting stuck on REST APIs.

Watch the webinar below, or keep reading for a full recap.

Ecosystem Considerations

As organizations embark on their API strategies, they need to engage with their partners, which brings up a set of challenges. This is not something that is solved by must implementing an API management platform. There are questions that need to be asked beforehand about what that ecosystem should look like.

• Who are your partners?
• Do they all get the same set of APIs?
• Are there different sets of APIs for different partners?
• Are there different versions of APIs?

There is more to it than the technology that enables the ecosystem. Ultimately, these questions determine what the platform needs to do.

Akana solves this by engaging with partners via API portals, including:

• Multi-tenancy to manage partner organizations.
• Delegated administration in a B2B context.

Akana also solves this by managing organizations with multiple API development and management teams

Different parts of your organization may be dealing with different ecosystems.

You need to think about managing:

• Each lines of business.
• Each of their ecosystems.
• The value they provide to that ecosystem.
• The data that is shared.

All of these are things that can be handled by Akana when it comes to managing ecosystems.

It's also important to consider the complete API lifecycle.

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Agile Governance Considerations

Governance takes different forms. From an Akana perspective, governance is typically two-fold.

First, there is governance around creating an API. This includes requirements, design, specifications, and development. You'll need collaborative governance for this.

Second, once that API is developed, it will go through testing, QA, production, and deployment. You can use a CI/CD process for this. 

Your API management platform needs to be able to handle both of these examples. And it needs to be flexible enough to change as the organization’s processes change.

The Akana platform is powerful in this area, offering:

• Role-based access controls across the organization.
• Taxonomy that you can use as a design and governance guide.
• Varying the governance process based on metadata.
• Automation and integration with CI/CD processes.

Beyond REST

Finally, there are still a lot of different options out there in terms of what organizations have internally and externally — beyond REST APIs. At Akana, there are still a lot of legacy systems out there with customers. 

Akana offers:

• Support for messaging platforms – JMS, AMQP, etc.
• Support for SOAP.
• Support for newer technologies like GraphQL.

Download The Forrester Wave™

For more on API management, get your complimentary copy of The Forrester Wave™: API Management Solutions, Q3 2020 report, authored by Randy Heffner, below.

Get the Report

How to Prepare for the Future of API Management Today

The best way to prepare for the future of API management is to use Akana. 

Industry leaders choose Akana for five reasons.

Security

With Akana, you get peace of mind:

• No security breaches.
• Metadata-driven security schemas.

Multicloud Deployment

Akana supports cloud APIs and enables:

• Flexible deployment options.
• Switching between deployment architecture.
• Same product, regardless of deployment architecture.

Lifecycle Management & Automation

Akana automates the lifecycle with:

• Metadata-driven deployment with CI/CD pipelines.
• Collaboration vs. thou shall not pass governance.
• Extensibility via platform APIs and scripting.

Business Analytics

Akana delivers insights:

• Build business-level analytics from payload data.

No Code Developer Portal

Akana ensures:

• Faster time-to-market with integrated admin portal and API user portal.
• Built-in API test client, registration, and documentation.
• No-code publishing across API product portfolios. 

See for yourself why Akana is the best API platform for industry leaders.

▶️ Watch the Demo

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