API News Roundup – January 2022

And just like that, we’re already 1/12^th of the way through a new year. As we look forward to reaching our goals and enabling more brilliant digital experiences in 2022, here are some op-eds and Axway news you may have missed in January, along with top API stories from around the web this past month.

Top API stories

Google made waves this month when it announced it would kill its controversial FLoC project— replacing cookies by grouping people with common interests without using individual identifiers.

Instead, Google is introducing a “Topics API” that would allow pages to display interest-based advertising. It does this by categorizing your recent browsing history and offering ads based on coarse-grained advertising topics the page visitor might be interested in.

Observers were quick to point out it’s “basically FLoC 2.0”, but it should be interesting to see how this API will affect the online ad market. We already know from an Axway consumer survey that people are hesitant to allow app tracking, but are also willing to offer up information about themselves if it means a better consumer experience.

Many publications are still asking what the year ahead will bring. In light of the Great Resignation, what will the job market look like and how should companies adjust? Axway’s Ruby Raley suggests in IDG Connect that in addition to prioritizing people by investing in training, solutions like tech consolidation can also help overcome staffing gaps.

Meanwhile, in an interview with Brazil’s Jornal do Seguro, Axway CEO Patrick Donovan says technology will continue to change the world:

“We are witnessing a rapid acceleration of the digitalization of the entire economy. We see people working at home, working remotely, and they need to be engaged with services in a very different way. Technology is at the forefront of making this possible,” said Donovan. Hear more about his thoughts on the future of insurance, finance, and banking here.

The pandemic has also had an enduring impact on consumer behaviors and routines, with UK consumers confirming they now shop more online versus in-store compared to pre-COVID-19 times.

That said, in-person shopping still retains a powerful draw. Axway’s Joel Reid explains in Business Reporter how retailers can use APIs to re-invent themselves for today’s omnichannel world, giving customers what they want, when, and how they want it.

Early this year, Axway launched a call to action to organizations everywhere to securely “Open Everything” by unlocking the full value of their existing IT infrastructure — transforming their business using an open API management platform that expands API consumption.

“We’ve seen repeatedly how APIs can power secure, reliable, flexible, and customer-centric business,” said Patrick Donovan, Axway CEO. “But our vision at Axway to ‘Open Everything’ goes beyond the supporting technologies: it means having the courage to modernize and open up your business to create brilliant customer experiences, instead of fearing competition.”

Read the press release and learn how Axway’s “Open Everything” vision keeps the customer at the center of the equation.

January events

Axway’s teams around the world gathered at Axway Kickoff, which was virtual for the second year in a row for a #ConnectedExperience. Leadership set the tone by looking back on 2021 and charting a path forward — and it was all filmed on a virtual set near Axway headquarters in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Axway was also proud to join Les Grands Prix de l’Accélération Digitale (Digital Acceleration Awards) again for its third year: Emmanuel Methivier, Yves Lajouanie, Rachel Serrano, Jean Paul Chevry, and Eric Horesnyi attended the final awards ceremony in Paris on January 27^th.

Axway sponsors the Business Model Transformation category, which recognizes an innovative project that led to an expanded ecosystem, the creation of new services, and a transformation of the company’s business model.

Axway’s Yves Lajouanie presented the award to this year’s winner of the category, Edenred, which stood out for its project that transformed meal tickets with new digital uses.

Open Banking & Finance

Not everyone is excited about open banking: a UK House of Commons MP recently expressed her opinion that “Open Banking has not been successful.” So should we stop trying to make open banking happen, asks Finextra reporter Níamh Curran?

53 fintech founders vehemently disagree, Curran writes, calling the politician’s claims a “dramatic oversimplification.” They argue that open banking is, well, opening up the way for innovation in the financial sector.

There’s certainly plenty of enthusiasm for it when it comes to investors: Southeast Asian open finance startup Brankas raised $20M in a Series B funding round led by Insignia Ventures. The company’s platform offers banking-as-a-service APIs for opening online bank accounts, credit scoring, identity verification, e-commerce transactions, and gig economy payments, to name a few.

Of note is the company’s mission to “democratize access to financial and identity data” and serve the unbanked. In an episode of the Mr. Open Banking podcast, Axway Head of Open Banking Eyal Sivan discussed this same motivation in other countries such as Brazil, where companies are using open banking to bridge their societal divide between a mature, developed economy and extreme poverty.

Open banking may also soon see a shift from focusing on standards for creating value. In Finance Digest this month, Sivan discusses the two factors he believes will fundamentally shift this focus over the next year:

“Expect banks and other players in the financial ecosystem to demand solutions which tie open banking to their existing assets and capabilities in order to deliver on business-driven initiatives,” Sivan says.

What’s more, open banking gives consumers more control over their financial data, not less – something consumers crave. Read more about how open banking will revolutionize business lending on Bank Director.

Finally, Sivan believes open banking is evolving not just vertically into open finance, but also horizontally into open data.

“Australia was prophetic in their understanding of this progression, as evidenced by their Consumer Data Right (CDR) standard, the only open banking specification that is in no way specific to banking, supporting multiple verticals across the economy right out of the gate,” said Sivan in Fintech Magazine.

Plus, read about how leading German bank Commerzbank is using its APIs to launch new services and forge fintech partnerships — with plans to continue to develop its API capabilities to enhance customer services.

Healthcare

In a profile piece in Authority Magazine, Axway’s Ruby Raley shares how open healthcare, powered by APIs, can put choice and information in patients’ hands.

She also discusses some of the reasons behind her passion for the topic: many U.S. Americans can relate to her experience of not having any idea of how much a procedure would cost in advance, and struggling to get answers. Open healthcare can change that.

Raley shared predictions for 2022 this month on VMBlog: she says healthcare will achieve greater interoperability through self-service and automation.

“Organizations that continue to think in terms of single projects will not be able to go as fast as U.S. regulatory timelines will require them to go. Instead, they should implement a strategy that gives them building blocks to reuse over and over – where developers will be empowered with the convenience of self-service and automation,” said Raley.

API Security

API abuse is on the rise: Gartner predicted several years ago that API hacks would become the most common form of cyberattacks in 2022. So now that we’re there, should organizations be worried? Iam Waqas at Nordic APIs shares advice for organizations wanting to ensure API security.

Axway Chief Catalyst Brian Pagano joined other thought leaders to share tips & tricks for Data Privacy Day on January 28th — yes, there’s a holiday for everything these days! But the topic is timely since a global consumer survey by Axway found 85% of more than 5,000 respondents are concerned that their online data may not be secure.

Learn why Pagano says there is no one solution for optimized data privacy, but the Cloud offers one solid piece of the puzzle in Global Security Mag.

In the context of enterprise digital transformation, APIs can seem like a silver bullet. Unfortunately, they are often not managed or developed correctly — which quickly poses real security concerns and the potential for data leaks. Axway’s Mourad Jaakou outlines a better approach to managing and securing APIs to harness their power to attract customers and increase profits. Read the article in French on Journal du net.

Finally, to wrap things up, here’s a tweet that sends us back: this year marks twenty years since the famous Jeff Bezos memo making APIs non-negotiable at Amazon.

This year marks twenty since the famous Amazon memo on API development … #API #softwaredevelopment pic.twitter.com/g9XILuXLfS

— Mark Virag (@ViragConsulting) January 27, 2022

For more reading on the topic, Axway Catalyst Erik Wilde recently took a deep dive into what the five rules mean and do, and why this was essentially an early version of what we call API First today.

That about covers it for our January API News roundup, thank you for reading, and stay tuned for more API and digital transformation headlines next month!