How CSX is driving their API strategy forward to meet customers’ needs

As a leading supplier of rail-based freight transportation across the East Coast of the U.S., CSX knows the value of always looking for opportunities to improve the customer experience. So when customers started to express interest in API integrations versus traditional EDI for B2B communications, the organization wanted to get out in front of these questions before they turned into demands. 

Feeling this shift in the landscape — alongside a move to open standards and the cloud — CSX saw the need to fully modernize its customer experience platform, ShipCSX.

They sought to replace the platform’s aging architecture with a rich user interface and modernized API backend experience that would allow them to take advantage of new B2B opportunities.  

“We started looking at ways that would make it easier to do business with CSX,” noted Robert Dean, Principal Software Architect at CSX. “A key to that strategy was the ability to take an API-first approach.”  

During a recent API Talks webinar, we were joined by two CSX employees — Robert Dean and Brandon Hattle — who have played an integral role in the API strategy behind these efforts.  

Here’s a look at some of the early strategies and practices they’ve applied and how they continue to advance their enterprise API strategy. 

A glimpse into CSX’s early API strategy & practices 

When CSX started its API journey, one of its overarching goals was to ensure that all its APIs looked and acted like they were produced by the same team. These included domain APIs centered around data, experience APIs built to solve specific problems, and vendor APIs answering specific team questions. 

To achieve this outcome, there were a few areas of focus: 

• Establishing a single point of policy control and enforcement 

• Developing API standards to make consistency a leading principle 

• Designing APIs based on customer questions and needs 

• Implementing gates and guardrails to support decision-making 

• Establishing a robust and unified API security model 

From these measures, CSX has seen notable successes, including approaching APIs as a practice. 

What’s next: where CSX is focusing their API efforts 

Digital transformation 

Like many other companies, CSX strives to move away from data centers to the cloud. As part of those efforts, the business involves more APIs and capital investments to modernize legacy applications and analytics. 

Improve API experience 

To empower developers, CSX is prioritizing an increased use of automation to streamline the API lifecycle. They’re also seeking ways to remove red tape through self-service API exposure and consumption. 

Expose customer/partner APIs 

Another initiative is making it easier for partners and customers to call APIs. With the need for a product-based, self-service solution, CSX has started to use Axway’s Amplify Enterprise Marketplace for this purpose. 

Dive deeper into API productization 

Scaling operations & governance 

CSX is using automation to reduce touchpoints for their API management teams. As enterprises grow, they need to make sure they are governing the API journey for their developers. Otherwise, developers are known to find ways to get around the guidelines.

From technical reviews handled by Spectral rulesets to exploring the use of GenAI, these measures empower teams to focus on more value-added efforts. 

Key enablers to advancing CSX’s enterprise API strategy 

API Center of Excellence 

The API Center of Excellence brings together experts at CSX, from enterprise and information architects to security and API management teams. Together, they help develop API standards and define ways to move forward.

The Center of Excellence allows the CSX team to avoid building redundant APIs or failing to answer the right questions. It also establishes a vision for automation, as CSX can identify where developers’ pain points are today. 

API standards 

CSX has established a set of API best practices that drive consistency. They’ve defined and documented API design principles, the proper application of API styles, opinions on specialized use cases, and data format companion guides.  

Developer Depot 

The Developer Depot is CSX’s one-stop shop for developers’ needs. As the self-service tool of choice, it’s an internal platform where developers can come to create microservices, develop infrastructure, register APIs, and more. 

Amplify Enterprise Marketplace 

Amplify Marketplace offers a branded experience where internal and external consumers can easily browse API products and onboard into the CSX system. Products are presented optimally, and rich documentation and self-service tools are provided. 

One of the critical reasons CSX chose Amplify Marketplace is its ability to support multiple gateways. 

“As we go along on our cloud journey and get more gateways into the mix — not just Axway — we’ll have the ability to surface all of those APIs through the Amplify Marketplace and offer them up for the use of our customers, partners, and others,” Dean stated. 

What CSX has learned from its API journey 

While on the journey to enhance its enterprise API strategy, CSX has learned some essential insights along the way: 

• Automate early. The more you can automate, the fewer bottlenecks you’ll have and the more you can increase adoption. 

• Involve the entire organization. Create a culture where developers’ input is valued and they feel invested in the customer experience. 

• Take a spec-driven approach. Streamline API lifecycle management with a consistent, structured approach from design to implementation. 

Axway’s Amplify platform and experts have offered support along this API journey. While serving immediate needs for a vendor-agnostic platform with federated gateways, Axway supports CSX with future needs as new use cases emerge, from HTTP/2.0. to OpenAPI 3.1.0.  

All the while, Axway’s Customer Advisory Councils have given CSX a stronger voice and sense of investment in the platform, adding value to the relationship and the benefits Axway delivers.