When you’re wrestling a bear, it’s not over when YOU get tired

It’s been a big week at API World, and I wanted to share some thoughts. It’s an interesting time in the API space, as always. The most fundamental shift is that people are realizing APIs are just the veneer wrapped around what’s really important — a modern application architecture.

Integration has always been a bear. So, when APIs (really, standard APIs with REST and JSON mostly) came around, they were welcomed because they made it easier. But they didn’t put an end to traditional application integration challenges:

• Integration is brittle when done point-to-point.
• App lifecycles are long when capabilities that can be standardized “in the platform” are built into each and every application silo (think security, but also analytics, data enrichment, compliance/logging).
• When an application’s impact on back-end performance is “unknown” owners are careful about who they let consume their systems. APIs make consumption easier, but don’t address the culture of, “I’m responsible for this thing running, so no one but me can use it,” which is the opposite of an API approach.

API space

APIs matter when they’re consumed. You want to encourage consumption, except when your bonus depends on it. Then, no one is going to touch your application.

So, it’s really never been about the API itself, but about the “platform” that can be created because APIs are so simple to use and based on open standards.

That’s the shift, because APIs have led to microservices, and finally we have an end-to-end mechanism for creating modern applications. There’s a shift in solutions that companies like Axway provide that are going to focus less on “integration” (integration is table stakes, some of which is even being commoditized by Amazon and Microsoft) and more on “consumption/creation” of business value.

REST easy

On the inside of my wedding ring, I have inscribed “keep the simple things simple.” I always felt that if the simple things trip you up, you’ll never survive the tough situations that inevitably emerge on any long-term project.

The same can be said for APIs and microservices, and why I thought REST easy was a good expression as we head into the change from focusing on APIs to focusing on microservices and modern Applications (along with APIs).

We’ve wrestled a few bears in our day, and we’re here to share our experience with 11,000+ Axway customers both in our products and through our Accelerate Journeys offerings.

It’s not only you who can rest easy on our experience, but we make REST easy. From creating APIs through the entire DevOps lifecycle and beyond (through versioning, mobile development and more).

I hope you came away from the show and Brian Otten’s talk knowing that Axway is the best independent partner for your API and microservices technology implementations.

READ MORE: Discover the differences between APIs and microservices.

Omniexperience

Brian talked about creating applications for an omniexperience world. It was a good session. We’re trying to express what we see happening at the intersection of technology and culture, as it pertains to software experiences.

There’s a difference between creating a good “user experience” and thinking about delivering a solution that creates a delightful “customer experience.” Simply put, the platform (and interaction model and persona, and moment in the customer journey) all inform the experience.

The world has moved well beyond “write once, run anywhere.” Have you?

A word on our vision for the future

Axway was recently named a Leader in the Gartner 2019 Magic Quadrant for Full Life Cycle API Management.

We believe the report validates our vision of the future and what APIs and microservices bring to app development. Actually, it’s not really about app development. It’s about experience development because there might not be apps in the future, but there will definitely be software. It’s not just me, or our team, that has this crazy idea of what’s in store. Where there’s software, there’s the need to find an independent partner with an aspirational vision for the future and the thought leadership to make it happen so you can rest a little easier. Because when you’re wrestling a bear, it’s not over when YOU get tired. In fact, when it comes to the omniexperience world we’re living in now, it’s never over. It’s always just beginning.