API Trends – Building a path to smoother digital transformation

By Sudhir Verma, Director, Emerging Technologies

APIs have become key for enabling an agency’s journey to digital transformation and enhancing citizen experience. Agencies are turning to integration not only to rapidly access critical data, but also to build scalable, resilient applications that can meet the security and regulatory compliance requirements for the public sector.

Understanding emerging API trends and their impact is critical to building better, more efficient digital transformation. Here are some of the trends to look for in 2023.

(1) Composable enterprise

Analysts such as Gartner predict that by the end of 2023, 60% of organizations will identify becoming a composable enterprise as a strategic objective. The need to create packaged business capabilities to achieve such strategies will only increase the importance of APIs. A composable architecture enables organizations the ability to discover all their API capabilities, promote their reuse in a modular way, choreograph or orchestrate them into new applications (or API products), and execute toward measurable business outcomes.

(2) Embedded finance

Embedded finance is the operating system that enables developers to incorporate financial capabilities like payments, banking, insurance, or investment functionality rapidly into their solutions with the potential of unlocking new revenue streams. Participating in embedded finance today is non-negotiable and the means to accessible transactions that otherwise will remain out of reach for traditional proprietary solutions.

(3) Multifaceted integration landscapes

There is no one-size-fits-all approach to delivering APIs. A mix of integration patterns and API styles provides a multifaceted integration landscape. The benefit is that organizations can focus on solving problems in the right way with the best possible technology solution and the most suitable consumer experience.

(4) API Visibility

Expect focused innovation in API visibility to provide full insight into the API lifecycle for provider and consumer teams. API proliferation is exactly what we want to see, but we need to equip teams with the ability to understand their API portfolio and highlight in-flight changes to ensure appropriate planning, structure, security, and governance.

(5) Standardization: Enablement rather than impediment

According to the SmartBear State of Quality API report, standardization is the top API challenge that teams and practitioners want to see solved within the API landscape. Given the multi-industry move toward openness, consistent data sharing, participation in shared marketplaces and eco-systems as a global trend, it is not a surprise that standardization plays a crucial role in achieving secure and compliant interoperability.

APIs will weather the storm

The software industry is rapidly evolving. The rise in demand for connected systems will continue to push the investment in API technology. New technologies allow API developers to build efficient, highly available and secure applications easily. They also offer API consumers more options for integrating them.

APIs can provide valuable insights and enhance efficiency. To keep up, developers should look for the latest trends in this space.

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This blog was adapted from an article originally published here.