Why APIs Are Sexy

APIs are sexy, but you may not know it unless you work in tech. For consumers, apps, mashups, and easily accessing data and services are the sexy part, and what makes this all possible are APIs exposing data and services laid upon various layers of integration.

APIs Walk a Big Walk

In tech-savvy business circles, the API economy is one of the most discussed topics because APIs can help you discover untapped business opportunities, regardless of industry or vertical.

Gartner defines APIs as “the core enabler of application transformation for much-talked-about digital business, where the border between the physical and digital worlds is blurred. In digital, enterprises must be hyperconnected. Without APIs, we would have never seen the rise of technology and adoption of mobile, cloud, social, analytics, as well as the growth of the Internet of Things (IoT).”

To add color to IoT, there were one billion objects and 1.6 billion personal devices in the market in 2009. These numbers are projected to grow to 30 billion objects and 7.3 billion personal devices by 2020, says Gartner analyst Paolo Malinverno. The IoT will be EVERYWHERE! But how do we enable, monitor, and benefit from it? With APIs.

APIs for All!

Organizations within numerous industries are beginning to reap the benefits from the API economy—originally useful for only a few technology giants like Google, Facebook, Twitter, and Amazon. Today, APIs are a part of the strategic vision for many organizations. In fact, APIs are going beyond commercial organizations. The US federal government positions APIs as central to its Digital Government Strategy; and nonprofits use APIs to build their communities and gain visibility to mashup data from multiple sources, such as tracking the flu and Ebola.

Whether you know it or not, you’ve already begun your journey into the API economy. Your company is an integrated entity, and with enterprise data and services in place, the next step is to create and expose APIs, internally or externally. The tough reality is that API initiatives are not something anyone can jump on and reap benefits from immediately; you need a business strategy as much as you need a technology strategy to tackle issues such as API lifecycle management. In the API economy, more than ever, business and technology have to move hand-in-hand.

So, have I convinced you that APIs are sexy? Well, keep reading. Even sexier are the API sessions at TIBCO NOW. Here are a couple reasons you should attend them:

Boost your knowledge of APIs and the API economy in THREE days. Think of it as an immersion course, starting with the API Economy Roundtable on Monday and concluding with a customer presentation Wednesday afternoon. Topics range from market and technology trends to technical implementation, and everything in between—including insights from Gartner and other industry authorities, TIBCO subject matter experts, and most importantly, our API customers.

Meet and learn from people with expertise. Get these and other questions answered:

• How easy is it to extend our integration setup to API management?
• How can we make it easy for API partners to do business with us?
• How quickly can we meet the demand of a growing base of API consumers?
• How can we ensure our APIs are always available?
• Can we use our APIs to provide streaming, real-time data access?

Don’t miss out on getting a hands-on demo of TIBCO API Exchange in the Solutions Showcase and also find out how we address these concerns.

So mark your calendar with the API sessions listed under the Disruptive Technology track. APIs are sexy and they’re real. We hope to see you there!