API and Platform economies as business models are in the center of competitiveness. APIs enable scaling and decentralization of products, services and organizations and affect your company structures and cultures in unexpected ways. Ecosystem customer journeys run on APIs and Platforms. Innovation becomes quicker and customer experience better, when you build services using resources from your partner ecosystem. Providing your core capabilities as APIs for others to consume let's your company focus on what you can do best. What are the ways to design and manage these business and IT changes? What does research say? What practical methods are available?

1. APIDAYS PARIS 2019
MARJUKKA NIINIOJA, APITALISTA, OSAANGO LTD

2. • Founding partner Osaango Oy
• Consulted and trained 200+ companies and
public sector organizations on platform economy
and API economy business models, service and
product strategies and enterprise architecture
• One of the authors of API Economy 101 –book
(2019) combining research with practical
experience
• @mniinioja
• @osaangoltd
• @apiopscycles
• #apieconomy101

3. Sweden:
 “We need to understand that the wave of
innovation that is coming means that banks
are not only going to compete with each
other and fintech startups. We’re probably
also going to have to compete with
Amazon, Google, Apple, etc. Maybe there’s
going to come a time when all the former
rivals will come together and say ‘Oh my
God. We have to do this or we’re going to
die.’” (Investor B)
Estonia:
 ”Startups should function in a more
collective manner to create platforms,
promote one another’s products and
services where possible and launch
collective initiatives to enhance their
visibility in the global context. Born globals
should engage with their local
entrepreneurial ecosystem, while remaining
aware of their relative strengths and
weaknesses for supporting
internationalisation.”
Svensson, C., Udesen, J. and Webb, J., 2019. Alliances in Financial
Ecosystems: A Source of Organizational Legitimacy for Fintech Startups
and Incumbents. Technology Innovation Management Review, 9(1).
Velt, H., Torkkeli, L. and Saarenketo, S. (2018), "The entrepreneurial
ecosystem and born globals: the Estonian context", Journal of Enterprising
Communities: People and Places in the Global Economy, Vol. 12 No. 2, pp.
117-138.

4. Amount of APIs
correlates with
the Global
Startup Growth
Index
APIs thrive in
cultures where
marketers and
software
engineers co-
exist and co-
create

5. /products
/orders
/customers
API
/shipping
(interface that calculates shipping costs between given postal code
areas based on agreement info and machine learning)
App
/images
(images from CDN)
Integration
Once per hour request to PIM system REST API
Data transfer from CRM to microservice implementing
the API everytime the data changes in CRM
Request SOAP interface provided by ERP when
new offer crated

6. "In API Economy company utilizes resources efficiently and quickly to create added value
for own customers. These resources can be for example data or function provided by
other organizations.
Building blocks utilized are own APIs and open APIs provided by other organizations
(free or commercial) in addition to developer communities. These enable quicker
adaptability to unpredictable and faster changing customer needs.
Defining characteristics of API Economy are competing for popularity among application
developers and considering them as primary customers. In brief, services are offered
from businesses to developers (Business-to-Developers, B2D)."
Moilanen J., Niinioja M., Seppänen M. & Honkanen M. 2019. API Economy 101

7. API is... Description Example Type of API
Important feature of a tangible
product
API is part of a tangible product or productized
service. Customer gets the API as part of the deal
when buying the product.
Internet of Things (IoT) APIs for controlling and
analyzing state of things like home appliances or
sensors
Partner or public,
sometimes also private
Productized service
API in itself is a productized service, offered to all
customers in the same way
Translation APIs, Payment APIs Public API
Part of a digital or real-world service
API is part of the service experience, for example
maintenance service is ordered with an API, or you
can monitor package delivery with an API
Logistics API Partner or Public API
Customer-specific service
API is part of a service offered to customers as a
tailor-made solution including for example an
integration to a service providers system.
APIs in customer specific applications Partner
Interface to resources
API is just a means to access a resource the
company is selling
Company info APIs (risk category, owners, contact
information).
Cognitive APIs etc.
Open data APIs, Partner
APIs
Interface to platform (boundary
resource)
API is a means to connect with a platform and get
added value through participation in the
interconnecting relationships of the platform (in
Platform Econonmy business model)
Online auction API, Apartment sharing API Partner or Public
Part of an integration
API is means to connect in to applications and
devices
Product API, Employees API, business transactions
API
Internal or partner API
Niinioja Marjukka. 2018. Translated and revised version. Published in a
book about API Economy (Finnish) by Moilanen, J., Niinioja, M., Seppänen,
M., Honkanen, M. API-talous 101, Alma Talent

8. Available for anyone to
register?
Paid support available
for adopting API?
Pay for usage? Open license for data?
Open Data Interface Yes Yes Maybe Yes
Open API
Public API Yes Yes Maybe Maybe
Partner API No Yes Maybe No
Internal and Private APIs No No No No
API category cheat sheet: Marjukka Niinioja & Jarkko Moilanen 2018

9. Does each of the
parties in an ecosystem
have their own unique
capabilities, resources
that can be combined
by ecosystem and
platform operators to
create seamless
customer experiences
@mniinioja @osaangoltd
Yrityksen resurssit API-taloudessa: Marko Seppänen ja Marjukka Niinioja. 2018. API-talous 101, Alma Talent

10.  Life-long learning?
 Preventing healthcare?
 Ease of mobility?
 Seamless online shopping?
 Open banking?
 Global e-invoicing?
@mniinioja @osaangoltd
”An ecosystem is made up of multilayered group of partners , all of whom and
their interactions are needed to materialize a key ecosystem value proposition.”
Source: Quote in API Economy 101 –book from Adner, R. (2017). Ecosystem as
structure: An actionable construct for strategy. Journal of Management, 43(1), 39–
58.
https://www.bus
inessinsider.com
/fintech-
ecosystem-
report

11. Customer journey combined from resources provided by individual providers via APIs







“The ecosystem together generates value for its end-customers by integrating functionally interdependent
subsystems. “(Source: In API Economy 101 book from Mäkinen – Dedehayir, 2013; more specifically Han,
J. et al. 2017. Uncovering the conceptual boundaries of the ecosystems: Origins, evolution and future
directions.)

12. https://helda.helsinki.fi//bitstream/handle/10138/153193/Auti
o_et_al_2014_RESER_2014_Proceedings.pdf?sequence=1
Lab
Resea
rch

13. 13
https://www.traficom.fi
/sites/default/files/med
ia/file/APIs%20when%
20acting%20on%20s
omeone%20else%C2
%B4s%20behalf.pdf

14. “Integration orientation”
“Ecosystem and platform orientation”
Read more in Chapter 11 of API Economy 101
e.g. Bosch, J. – Bosch-Sijtsema, P. 2010. From
integration to composition: On the impact of
software product lines, global development and
ecosystems. Journal of Systems and Software,
83(1), s. 67-76)
Internal API development causes
organizational changes from within.
APIs provide possibilities to use external
parties as innovatiors and service providers.
This enables and forces organizations to
open up and think of ways to collaborate
with external developers, ecosystems and
API providers.
Ecosystem and platform orientation creates
opportunities for external developers to
voice their needs to development
roadmaps, both business and technical.

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