The document outlines a framework for executing a successful API strategy in the context of digital transformation. It emphasizes the importance of APIs as enablers of business capabilities and highlights key areas for effective implementation, including aligning organizational culture, establishing technological foundations, and engaging with the ecosystem. The document also introduces Mulesoft's workshops designed to support organizations in kickstarting their API strategies.

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A Programmatic Approach
How to Execute a
Successful API Strategy
Matt McLarty, Global Leader of API Strategy | @mattmclartybc

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• Global Leader, API
Strategy, MuleSoft
• API Academy
alumnus
• O’Reilly SACon & API
World Program
Advisory Boards
About Matt
2
About Matt

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Agenda
3
1. The Digital Age
2. APIs as Digital Enablers
3. Implementing an API Strategy
4. MuleSoft API Program Workshops & API Strategy Hub

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The Digital Age

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The Digital Age
5

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Digital Transformation
6
97% of ITDMs are currently undertaking or planning to
undertake digital transformation initiatives to improve customer
experience.
Digital transformation is front and
center
Top digital transformation challenges
Disconnected infrastructure and systems 37%
Resources and budget allocation 32%
Lack of skills or experience in the IT team 29%
79%
IT efficiency
70%
Business efficiency
Top digital transformation initiatives
IT time spent on
maintenance
instead of innovation
69%

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Digital Transformation
7
• Use digital technologies in all aspects of
your business
• Make your business a software business
– Not just a business that uses software
• Improve your ability to innovate, fine tune
your operations, reimagine your
customers’ experiences

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Digital Products
8
Feel like physical products... ...but different...
• Serve and generate
customer demand
• Fulfill a related set of
tasks
• Manufactured, released,
marketed, distributed
• Provide an experience, not
material goods
• Can change in the
customer’s hands
• Powered and
differentiated by software

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The Digital Supply Chain
9
Sourcing Manufacturing Distribution ConsumptionSales
Development
(of Digital Solutions)
Deployment
(of Digital Solutions)
Discovery
(of Data & Services)
Experience
(by customers)
Registration
(by Customers)
Industrial Supply Chain
Digital Supply Chain

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Digital Standard Bearers
10

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APIs as Digital Enablers

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What is an API?
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Technically, a network addressable
interface to software functionality
Practically, a way to let people, devices,
and applications access your
organization’s business capabilities

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Salesforce: The Origin of Web APIs
13
From https://history.apievangelist.com/

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Salesforce: The Origin of Web APIs
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From https://history.apievangelist.com/

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Salesforce: The Origin of Web APIs
15
Salesforce introduced SaaS as the
end of software, but recognized the
potential of web APIs for:
- Capability (CRM) migration
- Coexistence with existing
enterprise software systems
- Multichannel customer
interactions

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Amazon: The API Company
16

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Amazon: The API Company
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Jeff Bezos’ “API Mandate” (circa 2002):
1. All teams will henceforth expose their data and functionality through service interfaces.
2. Teams must communicate with each other through these interfaces.
3. There will be no other form of interprocess communication allowed: no direct linking, no direct reads of
another team's data store, no shared-memory model, no back-doors whatsoever. The only
communication allowed is via service interface calls over the network.
4. It doesn't matter what technology they use. HTTP, Corba, Pubsub, custom protocols -- doesn't matter.
Bezos doesn't care.
5. All service interfaces, without exception, must be designed from the ground up to be externalizable.
That is to say, the team must plan and design to be able to expose the interface to developers in the
outside world. No exceptions.
6. Anyone who doesn't do this will be fired.
From Steve Yegge’s “Google Platform Rant” available at https://gist.github.com/chitchcock/1281611

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Amazon: The API Company
18
Reinventer of
books (Kindle)
Online reseller
of books
Online retailer
of books
Online retailer
of anything
Online reseller
of anything
(Marketplace)
Personalized
online retailer
Online retail
platform
Online
fulfillment
Online identity
verification
Online platform
(AWS)
Online
payments

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APIs in the Digital Supply Chain
19
Discovery
APIs discovered &
consumed
Development
APIs integrated & built
Deployment
APIs published
Experience
APIs powering
customer experiences
Registration
APIs built into
consuming apps

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APIs: Building Blocks of Digital Transformation
20

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API Monetization
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Monetizing APIs is not just about pay-per-use data exposure
Monetizing APIs is about exposing business capabilities to
consumers whose usage drives the provider’s business model

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The Business Value of APIs
22
Increased Revenue
● New revenue streams
● Extended reach
● Value co-creation
Improved Efficiency
● Rapid partner onboarding
● Self-service integration
● Asset reuse
Higher Quality
● Customer centricity
● Analytics & awareness
● Observability
Greater Agility
● Responsiveness to market
● Crowdsourced innovation
● Technology disposability

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API-Enabled Digital Transformation
23
An approach to supporting an organization’s digital strategy
through the use of APIs in a number of ways:
• Harnessing internal and external APIs to reimagine customer experiences
• Architecting and engineering API-led software systems to improve velocity,
agility, and evolvability
• Implementing API-based technologies to improve composability, observability,
and resilience
• Treating APIs as first class digital products by managing their full lifecycles
and cultivating product-sustaining ecosystems

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Implementing an API Strategy

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API Strategy Blueprint

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Establish a Digital Strategy
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“The biggest cause of failure in software-intensive systems is not
technical failure; it’s building the wrong thing.”
Mary Poppendieck, Founder of the Lean Software movement

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API Strategy
27
The goal of an organization’s API strategy
is to maximize the benefits enabled by APIs
in support of the overall digital strategy

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Defining the Mission
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Com mon cause
mon enemy
mon language
munity
The Com4 Model
Com
Com
Com

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API Strategy Elements
29
API Product Roadmap
● Customer experiences
● Candidate API products
● Analysis & prioritization
Organizational Strategy
● Roles and responsibilities
● Practice inventory
● Cultural principles
Technology Strategy
● Capabilities inventory
● Implementation plans
● Standards & guidelines
Ecosystem Strategy
● Business models
● Developer targeting
● Partner collaboration

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API Strategy Principles
30
Business as a
platform
Ecosystem
thinking
Design the
organization
Address the
weakest links
Business
before tech
Go deep, not
broad
Freedom
within strict
boundaries
Talent matters

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Align Organization & Culture
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“Any organization that designs a system will produce a design whose
structure is a copy of the organization's communication structure.”
Mel Conway, Conway’s Law

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Team Structure
32
Center for
Enablement
(C4E)
Product
Teams
Platform
Teams
● Enterprise wide
● Focused on organizational evolution
● Teach and advise
● Drive for organizational self-sufficiency
● Cross-functional
● Business-aligned
● “Two pizza” teams, 5-7 members
● Multiple per BU
● Provide tools and platforms to product teams
● Technology stewardship
● May be enterprise wide or one per BU
● Responsibility for system-wide concerns

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New API Roles
33
Business Roles Technical Roles
• API product manager
• API designer
• API technical writer
• API evangelist
• Developer relations
• Lead API engineer
• API architect
• API DevOps engineer
From Continuous API Management

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High Scale Culture
34
Well-defined, well known principles help organizations scale
● Higher trust in the organization
● Decision making can be distributed
● Teams can collaborate with less coordination time
● Issues can be resolved with less second guessing and blame
Principles = Shared Motives + Shared Understanding

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Shifting Mental Models in the Organization
35
From “failure is expensive” to “fast failure is cheap”
From “change is dangerous” to “frequent, small
changes are cheap and improve overall quality”
From “the fastest solution is cheapest” to “the most
valuable solution delivers now, enables the future”

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Evaluate & Build Supporting Technologies
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“Differentiation does not come from building your own API management
platform. It comes from the APIs you publish... API management
comprises a wide set of functionality.”
Gartner

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What is an Application Network?
37
The network addressable business capabilities within an
organization’s IT landscape
• Highest leverage view for designing and evolving the
overall system of application services
• Underlying implementation is irrelevant
• What’s in a name?
– Application: focused on applied business capabilities
– Network: focused on communication between components

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Application Network Example
Mobile Shopping
API/Service
Orders
API/Service
Recommendations
API/Service
Inventory
API/Service
Product Catalogue
API/Service
Payment
API/Service
Access Control
API/Service
Customer Management
API/ServiceShipping
API/Service
3rd Party Shipping
API/Service
3rd Party CRM
API/Service
Legacy Orders
Application
Legacy IdM
Application
Mobile
Shopping App

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Application Network Value
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Establishing an Application Network allows an
organization to:
● Map its business capabilities and their interdependencies
● Optimize/normalize it through API-led connectivity
● Accelerate software delivery through asset discovery

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Application Network Technology Foundation
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1. API management platform
2. API monitoring and analytics
3. API protocols, specifications, integration, composition
4. API security middleware
5. API design tools, connectors, testing tools
6. API catalogue, documentation, forums, developer signup
latformP
bservabilityO
nteroperabilityI
ecurityS
ngineeringE
iscoverabilityD

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Engage the Ecosystem
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“People don’t want to buy a quarter-inch drill. They
want a quarter-inch hole.”
Clayton Christensen, author of The Innovator’s Solution

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What is an API Ecosystem?
42
The collection of interconnected entities that sustain your APIs
Developer
s
Partners Tools
Customer
s
APIs Apps Services Platforms

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API Ecosystem: Salesforce
43

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Developer Productivity
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What drives productivity for developers using your API?
• Easy registration
• Useful documentation
• Code samples
• Test tools/sandbox environment
• Peer collaboration
• Access to help

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Partnering in the API Economy
45
Numerous win-win opportunities
• Joint ventures
• Incorporating API “parts” into a bigger product
• Aggregating disparate APIs for a new customer segment
• Platform tenancy and provision
Game changing approach
• Self-service onboarding brings higher scale, self-regulation

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API Program Workshops
API-Enabled Digital
Strategy Workshop
“Way of the API”
Workshop
API Technology
Foundation Workshop
API-as-a-Product
Workshop
Now in pilot phase
Generally available in Fall 2019

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API Strategy Hub
Visit the new MuleSoft API strategy hub:
http://mulesoft.com/API-strategy

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In Summary...

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Implementing a Successful API Strategy
49
• API strategy is about supporting a digital business strategy
through the use of APIs
• An API strategy should address 4 key areas:
– Establishing the digital strategy and the role of APIs
– Aligning the organization and culture to the “way of the API”
– Implementing a solid technological foundation
– Engaging the ecosystem of API consumers and partners
• MuleSoft offers 4 workshops to kickstart your API program

50. Thank you