By Siddhesh Naik

Let’s face it, today no organization can operate in silos and be successful. Whether you are a manufacturing company that needs to connect and work more efficiently with partners, or a bank that needs to work with its ecosystem to offer new products and services through the convenience of one integrated app, or even a telco that needs to allow its subscribers access to payment gateways, data and other services.

To stay competitive in today’s digital world, businesses need to create and operate in secure digital ecosystems, enabling all constituents to communicate efficiently, regardless of whether their data resides in the cloud or on premises.

Application programming interfaces (API) help organizations do so by providing a convenient and standardized means of sharing data and services. In fact, according to an industry report 70% of CIOs are expected to be delivering ‘agile connectivity’ via APIs and architectures that interconnect digital solutions.

“Integration is the glue that allows all processes and applications in an organization’s value chain to communicate. APIs help successfully connect, automate, and digitally transform businesses, and enable the sharing of data between applications and services securely,” says Ajay Malgaonkar, Head of Engineering, Global Delivery, Prolifics Corporation.

As businesses grow and require agility, keeping track of all the APIs available for use, socialization and monetization can become challenging. This may also increase the likelihood of security issues, since unknown or out of date APIs can be unsecure and become a possible breach point.

Moreover, with increasing adoption of APIs, consistency and governance are needed across the enterprise.

IBM API Connect is a complete, intuitive, and scalable API solution that lets organizations implement a robust API strategy by creating, exposing, managing, and monetizing an entire API ecosystem across on premise and multiple cloud environments. This means customers can power digital apps and spur innovation in real time.

For years now IBM API Connect has been helping businesses in India get the most from their APIs, with a suite of end-to-end services that helps businesses get the most from their APIs:

• Full lifecycle API management - Create, Manage, Secure, Monetize and Socialize APIs
• Intuitive self-service user experience features to manage APIs, scoring 9.2/10 on ease of use in the API Marketplace.
• Highly secure API exposure using a powerful, enterprise-grade API gateway to manage cybersecurity risks

Which is why Federal Bank adopted IBM API Connect to manage about 200 APIs, helping them connect with partners easily and accelerate their hybrid cloud journey.

“I think what stood out for us was the agility of the platform, the flexibility that the IBM API Connect platform afforded, the ease with which my technology team was going to be able to use it, and that it was backed with IBM’s support and expertise,” says Shalini Warrier, Federal Bank Limited.

With changing market dynamics, many clients in India are seeking SaaS delivered API management – with a preference for agility, quicker time to new features, elimination of continual software upgrades and reduction of supported infrastructure.

To meet this demand, we have launched IBM API Connect SaaS on Amazon Web Services (AWS) in India.

This means it is now available as-a-service, being a highly scalable and fully managed platform on AWS, allowing organizations that are looking to manage APIs – but prefer a SaaS consumption model with data residency within the country.

“IBM API Connect on AWS offers a comprehensive API management solution for businesses wishing to accelerate their digital transformation journey. Native support for IBM API Connect will help them create a powerful and secure API ecosystem around existing investments in AWS and hybrid cloud,” says Amol Bavdekar, CEO, MindCraft Software.

With the reach of AWS cloud, it makes for a perfect partnership to help our clients and partners succeed. Combined with the power, security, and flexibility of the AWS Cloud, IBM API Connect now offers a powerful set of API management tools in one integrated package.

To know more on how this can help your business get started today with the free trial for IBM API Connect on AWS.

Siddhesh Naik, Country Leader, Data, AI & Automation software, Technology Sales, IBM India & South Asia