At the start of the year, Axway experts offered predictions and insights on digital trends. Halfway through 2024, we’re following up on our digital transformation predictions and looking to what’s next.
In a new series of interviews, they discuss everything from federated API management to accelerated cloud adoption, ongoing security struggles, and the practical applications of AI.
Federated API management becomes an organizational imperative
The acceptance and promotion of universal (or federated) API management was significant in 2023, said Axway Catalysts VP Brian Otten late last year, and Axway has continued to lead this space.
In this new interview, he explains why federated API management today needs to include much more than just REST APIs.
Read more about Axway’s approach to the federated management of APIs – and beyond.
Amplify Platform General Manager Mourad Jaakou notes that Axway has been rather ahead of the curve on API federation.
“Some enterprises have understood this challenge of federated API management. But many are still in the early stages, and we are in a position to help them evaluate their risks around the disparity between their stated API strategy and the way their APIs are actually deployed.
That’s why our expertise on federated API capabilities is critical: API governance and security must be improved, especially for large companies that have APIs spread through different technologies, geographies, and business units.”
In fact, Brian Otten adds, federation goes beyond the API platform: part of your digital transformation is to operate in a federated way.
“I think it’s one thing to have the platform capabilities to discover, observe, register, and monitor an inventory of all your APIs, but it’s not a silver bullet. It’s also the way teams can now be enabled to change the way they operate, unburdened, in terms of the self-service that federated API Management brings.
Because what it’s going to allow you to do is search and discover across all of your APIs, across all platforms and patterns, not just the one silo at a time.”
Believe it or not, (still) moving to cloud
B2B Integration General Manager JB Bentz jokingly notes that he didn’t elaborate much at the time of end-of-year predictions on increased cloud adoption in B2B, because it’s been ongoing for years.
But as it turns out, he has noticed a marked ramp-up in 2024, more so than any years prior.
“People are adopting a cloud strategy with their B2B integration at an accelerated pace in 2024 – so much so that for our B2B Integration customers, we saw a significant majority of our new deals related to cloud, either on the Axway Managed Cloud or for customers who were implementing B2Bi with their own cloud.”
To accelerate cloud integration strategies, he notes that enterprises are particularly interested in:
- Support for major cloud providers such as Azure and AWS
- Ability to budget for solutions within hyperscaler marketplaces (such as AWS Marketplace)
One driver – or blocker – in many move-to-cloud initiatives revolves around regulatory pressures.
At the start of the year, Axway MFT General Manager Meetesh Patel predicted MFT managed cloud services might become the new normal as enterprises continued their journey to the cloud with security, regulatory, and sovereignty considerations in mind.
As he revisited the topic, he points out that regulations like France’s SecNumCloud are keeping organizations on their toes.
Practical applications for artificial intelligence emerge
As JB Bentz points out, everyone wants to discuss where it fits into their enterprise and how they can leverage it to streamline processes. But on the other hand, security concerns always immediately arise, and most are wary to train the AI models on their data.
So what place does AI have in the modern enterprise?
JB believes it probably shouldn’t live inside products’ code base, but it can prove extremely useful as an adjacent, “AI agent”-type functionality.
“This type of agent could help you accomplish tasks in your B2B operations, maybe by helping you build maps, or helping with partner onboarding or lifecycle management, or helping with the partner collaboration and testing,” explains JB.
“But the AI agent itself isn’t necessarily part of that core integration layer or even part of the UI. It should live beside it.”
For Bas van den Berg, Amplify Platform VP at Axway, APIs and AI can be a double-edged sword when it comes to security.
On one hand, AI is a powerful new weapon in the hands of bad actors, who are using it to plan new kinds of cyberattacks and exploit vulnerabilities in API-driven systems.
“On the other hand, businesses are now leveraging API to counter these same threats and add new layers of protection to their APIs and larger digital environments,” explains Bas.
What’s more, Brian Otten believes AI will be very valuable for understanding the complexity we see these days with hybrid cloud deployments.
“I see a lot of companies not just moving things out of their data center and into the cloud, but asking themselves where to do that. Which applications need more scale? How do they anticipate growth and volume?
AI can really assist with these sorts of processes because of its predictive nature. You have to have a lot of data at hand. So monitoring, logging, all of those types of technologies are going to be increasingly important.”
Read more in a new blog on the impact of AI on APIs
“Old” security concerns continue, new ones loom
Experts have been speaking of “Q-day” – the moment where quantum computers will be able to crack the most common encryption methods that protect our data – for a while now. It could be coming sooner than we’d like.
How does one prepare? And what about the possibilities it could also open up?
Meetesh Patel says he and his team have been closely watching the space. “We’ve been learning from experts in the industry about what we need to do to get our products quantum-ready.”
“A lot of the initial libraries in the open-source world are starting to become available for us to start testing with. One of our customers is highly involved in this quantum cryptography journey. So, it’s evolving, but I’m also excited about our progress because I think we’re learning. Our R&D teams are starting to engage a lot more now that we have more datasets to work with.
So yes, on the one hand many fear being ready for ‘Q Day,’ but it’s also an opportunity for our customers: are they ready to take advantage of encryption evolutions in the market today?”
In the API space, a stubborn security threat persists: unknown, unmanaged APIs. As the old adage goes, you can’t manage – or secure – what you don’t know about. And a surprising number of enterprises don’t know how many APIs they have.
Bringing all APIs into view and under proper governance will be critical, explains Brian Otten in the following video.
Discover API security tools and best practices to help you build a robust enterprise API strategy
Open banking rules drive a resurgence of interest in APIs
Mourad Jaakou notes that open banking continues to be a source of pressure on enterprises in the financial services industry to open up their data via APIs.
In Europe especially, the evolution is already ongoing, largely driven by regulation such as PSD3 and FIDA, and will become increasingly urgent in 2025 and into 2026.
FIDA, GDPR, PSD2, PSD3: banks must speed up the opening up of their information systems
In North America especially, however, he notes that there’s been a marked acceleration on open banking.
With the CFPB expected to release an official announcement by end of this year, there’s been a lot of interest from banks and other financial service providers to acquire an open banking solution.
“We have seen especially mid-sized and smaller banks reaching out to us because the are looking to comply with this upcoming regulation in North America,” says Mourad.
“They are asking us how they can secure their data while opening it up via APIs, they’re looking for threat detection and an ability to truly govern their digital assets.”
Dive deeper: Why you should act now on the CFPB proposed rule for open banking
As Axway Catalyst Emmanuel Methivier points out, these regulations shouldn’t be seen as a burden:
“While these regulatory changes may pose challenges for banks, they also present opportunities for innovation and growth.
By embracing these changes, banks can improve their services, increase customer satisfaction, and stay ahead of the competition. And they need to use secure, open tools such as Amplify Enterprise Marketplace.”
Embracing networks to build more efficiency with partners
Networks have always been instrumental in B2B integration, says JB Bentz. They were the original model for B2B integration before the Internet was as accessible as it is today – and it’s how VANs started years ago.
But he remarks that we’re seeing a renewed push towards that network model for efficiency’s sake.
“Partner enablement, partner lifecycle management, maintenance of your partner ecosystem, all of these become much easier with the network effect. So, you’re seeing initiatives like PEPPOL and DBNA being adopted across the globe.”
Soon will come an even bigger push with the VAT in the Digital Age (ViDA) initiative, which intends to modernize the European VAT system.
“They’re saying by 2030, but I’m guessing it’ll be a little bit later than that. But again, that’ll be just a really big push for a network mentality for all your partner connectivity across all of Europe, and then it’ll just grow from there,” concludes JB.
Why the timing has never been better to consolidate to a single EDI/VAN vendor
Today’s enterprises face many challenges, both old and new. Whether you are striving to draw greater value from your API program, streamline your partner network, secure file transfers, or comply with regional regulations, Axway’s experts keep a close eye on the market’s movements.
Axway solutions evolve with our customers’ needs, and our teams will provide guidance along your digital transformation journey.
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