Future Ready in the API economy

Cloud computing: A data-centric business model

By G C Network | October 3, 2015

According to the National Institute of Standards and Technology: “Cloud computing is a model for enabling ubiquitous, convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers,…

John Mayer At Dell World 2015!! (Oh, I’ll be there too.)

By G C Network | September 30, 2015

An artist who defies all boundaries, John Mayer has won seven Grammy Awards and sold more than 17 million albums worldwide. The singer, songwriter and guitarist’s skills have been widely…

Data-centric Security: The New Must Have

By G C Network | September 23, 2015

Where is your data right now? The explosion of cloud computing and consumer IT means that your data, as well as data about you, can be virtually anywhere.Having your data and the…

Personal email:Pathway to Cybersecurity Breaches

By G C Network | September 14, 2015

As a business communications tool, email is the dominant option, and many corporations have policies that allow the use of personal email on corporate computers. In a recent Adobe Systems…

IEEE Cloud Computing: Legal Clouds

By G C Network | September 11, 2015

The new issue of IEEE Cloud Computing is now available!   This special issue looks at how to balance privacy with legitimate surveillance and lawful data access. Some of the…

Cloud hosting: Look beyond cost savings and weigh pros, cons

By G C Network | September 3, 2015

Is your company struggling with the idea of using “cloud hosting” in order to save money? Truth be known, using cost savings as the primary reason for moving to cloud…

“Cloud First” Lessons Learned from ViON

By G C Network | August 25, 2015

In 2011, then United States CIO Vivek Kundra released the US Federal Cloud Computing Strategy [1]. In the executive summary he pointed to cloud computing as a key component of…

Looking for Security Peak Performance?

By G C Network | August 19, 2015

You can find it at Dell Peak Performance 2015!!! I’ll be there at the Aria Resort and Casino in Las Vegas attending as a social media correspondent with a full…

The Cybersecurity Sprint: Are we safe yet?

By G C Network | August 7, 2015

UPDATE: NBC News reports U.S. officials have disclosed a hack of the Pentagon’s Joint Staff unclassified email system, which took place on July 25. Recent unauthorized access to a U.S. government database…

Cloud Computing + Things = “Information Excellence”, Not IoT

By G C Network | July 31, 2015

The Internet of Things (IoT) has quickly become the next “be all to end all” in information technology. Touted as how cloud computing will connect everyday things together, it is…

The world of business is software. No matter the industry vertical or business model, effective software is the key to business success.  An even more important aspect of this reality is the application programming interface (API).  If you are unfamiliar with this kind of geeky term, APIs are the glue that connects applications to each other and manages the virtual discussions between you and your customers.  APIs are also what enables business agility and flexibility of a #FutureReady business.

“Application programming interfaces (APIs) have been elevated from a development technique to a business model driver and boardroom consideration. An organization’s core assets can be reused, shared, and monetized through APIs that can extend the reach of existing services or provide new revenue streams. APIs should be managed like a product—one built on top of a potentially complex technical footprint that includes legacy and third-party systems and data.”[1] 

APIs are also at the heart of cloud computing.  These are used to provision, de-provision and scale the resources needed to run the software that drives your business. The importance of software, and by extension the APIs that drive software, is evident when you compare the top Dell Future Ready cities to the top cities for software engineering and entrepreneurship capitals.Eight of the top 10
Future Ready economies are in the top ten nationally for software engineering cities. All ten of the cities highlighted as “Capitals of Entrepreneurship” are FutureReady economies. Ten of the FutureReady economies are also cities ranked as having the most high tech jobs.

Driven by social media, mobile devices, applications, cloud and Internet of Things, the number of endpoints connecting to critical business applications is growing exponentially.  This also means that a FutureReady business faces an ever-growing number of APIs—which must be governed and managed effectively. This is why products like Dell Boomi’s multi-purpose Platform as a Service (PaaS) is critical to business success.  This particular platform can be used to:

  •  Create and publish any endpoint as an API;
  • Deploy APIs on-premises or in the cloud;
  •  Use versioning to effectively control APIs throughout the lifecycle;
  • Centrally manage and monitor web services;
  •  Enjoy economies of skill for increased developer productivity;and
  • Accelerate time to value and reduce total cost of ownership.
Being cloud-based, the Dell Boomi API Managementservice provides faster implementation and shorter time to value, as well as lower upfront costs and total cost of ownership (TCO).  This solution also delivers a centralized location to manage all of the company’s APIs, no matter how your APIs are created.
This high level overview shows that beyond a doubt, being #FutureReady means being software ready.  And software ready, by extension, means that FutureReady Enterprises must be ready to manage APIs.


[1] https://dupress.com/articles/tech-trends-2015-what-is-api-economy/

 

( This post was written as part of the Dell Insight Partners program, which provides news and analysis about the evolving world of tech. To learn more about tech news and analysis visit Tech Page One. Dell sponsored this article, but the opinions are my own and don’t necessarily represent Dell’s positions or strategies. )

Cloud Musings

( Thank you. If you enjoyed this article, get free updates by email or RSS – © Copyright Kevin L. Jackson 2015)

This blog has been verified by Rise: Re9cb99744b65eb009b71a970003c015e

Follow me at https://Twitter.com/Kevin_Jackson
Posted in

G C Network