APIs and API management are an indispensable prerequisite for achieving digital innovation in today’s technology landscape. At the same time economic forces, industry-specific shifts, and customer trends are reshaping how enterprises utilize APIs to grow their businesses and remain competitive.
One thing remains true. API management is the linchpin to thriving in a digital economy, no matter your business.
Here are the top 5 API management trends to to keep your eye on in 2022.
1. Covid-19 Pandemic Continues to Drive Digital Transformation Via APIs
According to recent research, 65% of companies are accelerating investment in digital transformation due to Covid-19.
The pandemic is changing nearly every industry from retail and banking, to travel and hospitality. And while pundits were hopeful early on that this was a temporary situation, it is clearly here to stay through 2022.
Some highly traditional business models, such as healthcare, have been completely upended. Before the pandemic nearly all healthcare visits and checkups were in person. Today, insurance organizations and primary care physicians must adapt to demands for virtual visits.
But what does this have to do with APIs?
APIs are the key component in ensuring all new services and revenue channels can be appropriately stitched together. Likewise, API management platforms allow companies to access and secure relevant external APIs in order to offer new services to customers.
This evolution will continue well into 2022 and beyond. For organizations wishing to achieve digital transformation, API management is the most promising route forward.
Key Takeaway
Digital transformation is a long-term innovation strategy. It is not a temporary fix. Organizations wishing to succeed can embrace integration via APIs and full lifecycle API management to gain greater value and competitiveness out of internal, external, and third-party APIs.
2. API-First Architectures Take Center Stage
An API-first approach to application architectures means everything is built with an eye to API integration and consumption. The API first approach translates to APIs being treated as first-class citizens with a lifecycle, security, and support. On the other hand, data-first approaches to digital transformation prioritizes APIs for management and integration with data technologies while layering on additional technologies.
According to Postman research, 67% of respondents reported embracing an API-first philosophy this year. This number was just 63% the year before. This indicates that more and more companies are embracing the API-first approach. We predict that this number will only increase in 2022.
Key Takeaway
An API-First approach is the most productive way to integrate multiple technologies. Organizations wishing to embrace API-First must also adopt data-first information management strategies. Likewise, companies wishing to achieve API-first architectures in 2022 must embrace full lifecycle API management. Managing APIs in a siloed manner can only result in security snafus and difficulty at scale.
3. Low-Code and No-Code API Delivery Become the Gold Standard
There’s a big difference between building a few one-off APIs and managing APIs at scale. A key component in gaining efficiency to create and maintain dozens of APIs is leveraging technology with low-code or no-code features.
A handful of years ago, few companies could truly boast a low-code/no-code approach. Today, SaaS services, cloud providers, and even mainframe technologies are achieving leaps and bounds in reducing the amount of coding required.
When it comes to API management, some platforms (like Akana), offer low-code features with little customization required. Others simply do not. With limited developer resources, low-code/no-code tools allow citizen developers to create and update APIs without software developer involvement. As API adoption continues to accelerate across industries, low code/no code features will become increasingly important in 2022.
Key Takeaway
Organizations evaluating their API management platform options should consider how much work it will be for developers to onboard their chosen platform. Likewise, companies looking to scale new APIs should implement low-code/no-code approaches to gain efficiency in the development lifecycle.
4. Microservices Growth and Platform Integrations
Microservices and composable enterprise technology have both grown in popularity. Likewise, containerized environments and utilizing Kubernetes for orchestration have become quite common. As more organizations adopt these technologies, they will need API management platforms that can both deploy in a Kubernetes environment and integrate with various composable enterprise tools.
Organizations wishing to succeed with APIs and microservices in 2022 will need major interoperability gains across platforms. This will be a dominant theme in the year ahead.
Key Takeaway
Full lifecycle API management accounts for APIs across the entire lifespan. This approach is critical for enabling interoperability and efficiency. Beyond this, you’ll need API tools that can integrate with all of your technology. As you scale APIs, consider utilizing API platforms that create efficiency through integration capabilities and are ready for containerized, cloud-native, and Kubernetes environments.
5. Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning APIs
A trends post would not be complete if we didn’t mention AI and ML technologies. To date, AI and ML advances have by and large not impacted most enterprises. Despite major advances, the majority of companies are too busy grappling with hybrid cloud, multicloud, and microservices implementations to even begin to worry about AI and ML.
Yet, AI and ML are changing rapidly. And it’s increasingly easy to harness the power of these technologies via APIs. In 2022, we predict that many organizations will begin utilizing AI or ML technologies simply because so many more are becoming available via APIs. This includes services like speech recognition, chatbots, predictive analytics, and customer service automation tools. For those who do embrace AI and ML technology, security is critical. AI and ML require large volumes of data, which often includes customer information. A data-first approach with APIs and security is required in order to succeed with AI and ML.
Key Takeaway
In order to leverage new opportunities, companies must embrace an API management platform that can safely consume available external AI and ML APIs. This requires advanced API security features, robust analytics and monitoring, and an easy-to-use interface for managing the lifecycle.
Accelerate Digital Transformation With Akana In 2022
Akana offers the easiest way to accelerate digital transformation in the enterprise.
With Akana, you can embrace all the trends that will drive technological change in 2022. This includes:
- Accelerating time-to-market by deploying APIs faster.
- Ensuring powerful security at scale to protect your critical applications and data.
- Gaining a true partner in your digital transformation strategy.
That's because the Akana API platform includes:
- An out-of-the-box API portal and marketplace.
- An API gateway allowing you to apply security policies in a click.
- In-depth API analytics, so you can gain insight into your APIs.
Watch our on-demand demo to see for yourself what sets the Akana API platform apart.