apidays Helsinki & North 2025 - Running a Successful API Program: Best Practices and Challenges, Shazni Nazeer (WSO2)

Running a Successful API Program: Best Practices and Challenges
Shazni Nazeer, Director - Solutions Architecture at WSO2

apidays Helsinki & North 2025 - APIs for Innovation, Intelligence, and Impact
June 3 & 4, 2025

------

Check out our conferences at https://www.apidays.global/

Do you want to sponsor or talk at one of our conferences?
https://apidays.typeform.com/to/ILJeAaV8

Learn more on APIscene, the global media made by the community for the community:
https://www.apiscene.io

Explore the API ecosystem with the API Lan

Transcript

1. Running a Successful API Program: Best Practices, Challenges and Pitfalls Shazni Naze e r Dire c to r - So lutions Arc hite c ture WSO 2
2. API enables Modernization
3. 3 State of APIs http s:/ / www.p o stman.c o m/ state - o f- ap i/ 20 24/ ap i- use - and - d isc o ve ry/ http s:/ / www.p o stman.c o m/ state - o f- ap i/ 20 24/ ap i- use - and - d isc o ve ry/ http s:/ / www.f5.c o m/ p d f/ re p o rts/ f5- o ffic e - o f- the - c to- re p o rt- c o ntinuo us- ap i- sp rawl.p d f
4. 4 Why do we need an API Program?
5. 5 Five stage “API Program” maturity model
6. 6 Types of APIs
7. 7 API type usage http s:/ / www.p o stman.c o m/ state - o f- ap i/ 20 24/ ap i- use - and - d isc o ve ry/
8. Start with Private APIs…
9. Business Benefits of Private APIs Helps start the API thinking Fuels the modernization journey Reduce time to market Improved internal collaboration Allows you to experiment and make mistakes Helps build foundational capabilities 9
10. 10 • Private (Inte rnal) APIs • APIs d e sig ne d fo r d ata e xc hang e • Simp le API Life c yc le • Ite rative De ve lo p me nt • Manual d e p lo yme nt • Typ ic ally SO AP o r REST APIs to start with • No se c urity o r traffic c o ntro l • No API Manag e me nt • Minimal Do c ume ntatio n API Program - > Stage 1 (Data Exchange Stage)
11. 11 Best Practices for Data Exchange stage
12. 12 • CI/ CD • Rig ht API Arc hite c tural Style • Distrib ute d Do main Drive n De sig n (DDD) ⦿ Business oriented Domain APIs • He lp s struc ture te ams • De sig n time Go ve rnanc e ⦿ De sig n d o c ume nts ⦿ Co d ing stand ard s API Program - > Stage 2 (Integration Stage)
13. 13 API Architectural Styles http s:/ / www.linke d in.c o m/ p ulse / navig ating - ap i- land sc ap e - to p - 8- arc hite c tural- style s- 20 23- p ate l/
14. 14 Best Practices on Integration stage
15. 15 • Partne r APIs ⦿ B2B Integration, B2B API Management • Inc lusio n o f API Manag e me nt ⦿ Pub lishe r Po rtal ⦿ De ve lo p e r Po rtal • Co mp re he nsive API Do c ume ntatio n • Stro ng API Se c urity • Id e ntity and Ac c e ss Manag e me nt (IAM) fo r se amle ss authe ntic atio n • API Me tric s and API thro ttling • Cle an Exp e rie nc e APIs • Co ntrac t first o ve r c o d e first • Pro p e r API Life c yc le Manag e me nt API Program - > Stage 3 (Collaboration Stage)
16. 16 Best Practices on Collaboration stage
17. 17 Business Benefits of Partner APIs Helps build trust in channel business relationships Eases partners to manage their supply chain Helps expand business into new markets Helps partners build customer -facing apps Helps scale partner onboarding Continuity in Business Supply Chain
18. 18 • Pub lic APIs • Be st use o f infrastruc ture • Co st saving s • O rg anizatio n and e c o syste m- wise c o llab o ratio n • Cle an ro b ust arc hite c ture ⦿ Cell- Based Architecture (CBA) • Inc lusio n o f iPaaS and / o r API SaaS p ro d uc ts • Multip le API Gate ways • Faste r GTM API Program - > Stage 4 (Value Realization Stage)
19. 19 Cell - Based Architecture http s:/ / g ithub .c o m/ wso 2/ re fe re nc e - arc hite c ture / b lob / maste r/ re fe re nc e - arc hite c ture - c e ll- b ase d .md
20. 20 Best Practices on Value Realization stage
21. 21 • API Marke tp lac e • Co llab o rative Co mmunity • Wid e r API ad o p tio n • Re ve nue g e ne ratio n thro ug h API Mo ne tizatio n • AI assiste d API d e sig n, Imp le me ntatio n, te sting , d o c ume ntatio n and SDK g e ne ratio n • Stro ng e r API Go ve rnanc e • Ro b ust O b se rvab ility • Inte rnal De ve lo p e r Platfo rm (IDe vP) - Platfo rm(le ss) API Program - > Stage 5 (Business Transformation Stage)
22. 22 Going Platformless
23. 23 Best Practices on Business Transformation stage
24. 24 Common Challenges and Pitfalls
25. 25 • A struc ture d API Pro g ram is ne e d e d to re ap b e ne fits fro m APIs • De fine a suitab le API Pro g ram maturity mo d e l fo r yo ur o rg anizatio n • Start with p rivate inte rnal APIs • Cho o se the rig ht API Arc hite c tural Mo d e l • Partne r APIs are c ruc ial fo r b uild ing stro ng b usine ss re latio nship s • APIs are n’t just imp o rtant fo r te c hnic al asp e c ts, b ut also fo r b usine ss value p ro p o sitio ns • APIs are no t just te c hno lo g ie s, b ut ‘Pro d uc ts’ as we ll • Suc c e ssful API p ro g rams c an re sult in p o sitive b usine ss transfo rmatio n Key Takeaways
26. Thank You!