State of Play: APIs, Integration and Microservices

A connected enterprise is now essential to win in the market; you must have fast and efficient integration between different systems, applications, departments and individuals.

The key players that make it happen? APIs, integration and microservices. Without them, digital transformation is impossible.

New independent research conducted by Vanson Bourne revealed that global IT leaders almost all believed that APIs are or would be extremely important to their organization’s operations. Why? Because more than 8 out of 10 IT leaders also believe their organizations would be working in silos without the use of APIs.

But barriers remain. Vanson Bourne uncovered persistent challenges in API adoption from ensuring API security (48%), to limited staff skillset to utilize APIs (41%) and risks to scalability and quality of service (40%). All of these prevent APIs, microservices and integration systems from being maximized.

In microservices, the challenges were discovered to be somewhat similar, but complexity (45%) and integrating them into the entire IT environment (45%) were notable.

In general, the most significant challenges with integration applications and systems were ensuring security from external threats (47%), limited budget (40%), staff skillset (40%) and resistance to change (40%).

The need for speed

The challenge of integration has been around for decades, yet it remains one of the most critical requirements in the modern era of microservices and cloud-native architecture. The need for a highly connected environment will only continue to increase. IDC predicts that over 500 million digital apps and services will be developed and deployed using cloud-native approaches by 2023.

APIs are the essential framework needed to interact with applications and expose the data to third parties; and microservices make it much easier to develop and maintain applications by breaking down the application into parts. APIs and microservices are closely connected in that APIs help those parts or individual microservices communicate with each other.

Integration systems connect all of this and more: APIs, data, services and disparate systems are connected together so that their functionality can be accessed and used by the organization.

The Vanson Bourne study highlighted the need for an effective solution that simplifies integration processes to overcome these barriers. Simply looking at APIs, microservices and integration systems as separate parts is no longer enough, but a bundled solution – one that combines APIs, integration and microservices – could be a game changer, and help to truly modernize and transform organizations, as well as the services they provide to customers.

Most IT leaders (97%) believe this approach would offer benefits like boosted productivity, improved customer satisfaction and better customer insights, resulting in a distinct advantage over their competitors.

At Software AG Government Solutions, we’ve seen these trends and have taken note. More and more organizations we are working with are seeking to streamline the complexities of these problems and this has driven us to provide a seamless, bundled solution in the webMethods platform. It is the only platform to offer APIs, microservices and full integration capabilities in a single, secure, highly capable solution that works in the cloud and on premises. With webMethods, you won’t have to build from scratch, and you can deliver new business models and new digital products on a foundation of APIs, microservices and integration, enabling your business to become a truly connected enterprise.

Watch our on-demand panel discussion where top IT leaders will discuss: What’s Hot in APIs, Integration and Microservices.