The IBM Red Guide on the API economy discusses its transformative impact on business services, highlighting the shift towards an API-driven landscape that enhances integration, innovation, and customer engagement. It outlines key motivations for adopting the API economy, such as streamlining service launches and leveraging data for competitive advantage. The guide emphasizes that organizations must embrace this new era to redefine business processes and achieve superior enterprise value.

1. API Economy
IBM Red Guide – Power of the API Economy
Kerrie Holley, IBM Fellow
IBM Research
IBM Red Guide – Power of the API Economy - © 2014 IBM Corporation

2. Discussion Items
Why an IBM Red
Guide?
Key Messages Content of the Red
Guide
Conclusions
IBM Red Guide – Power of the API Economy - © 2014 IBM Corporation 2

3. Why an IBM Red Guide on the API Economy?
• There is a new era, 4th era of IT, upon us which is
disrupting industries:
• Just as the cloud has changed IT consumption, the
API Economy is changing consumption and
delivery of business services
• Heavy focus on API Economy around integration,
API management, and cloud and less focus on API
Economy as fuel for disruption, re-imagining
business processes, and competing in the new
digital era
• IBM’s API Red Guide focuses on the business
advantages of the API economy
IBM Red Guide – Power of the API Economy - © 2014 IBM Corporation

4. Major waves of technology – 4th era of IT
Back Office
Computing
Client Server
PC - 1981
IBM Red Guide – Power of the API Economy - © 2014 IBM Corporation
Confluence of Social Mobile Cloud
Analytics / Big Data
World Wide Web
and eBusiness
60’s 80’s 90’s We are
here

5. Mega trends
4th Era of IT
Mobile - Social – Cloud - Analytics /
Big Data
IBM Red Guide – Power of the API Economy - © 2014 IBM Corporation
Growing Scale / Lower Barrier of Entry
Increasing Complexity / Yet More
Fast Pace
Contextual Overload

6. Discussion Items
Why an IBM Red
Guide?
Key Messages Content of the Red
Guide
Conclusions
IBM Red Guide – Power of the API Economy - © 2014 IBM Corporation 6

7. Key Messages
 Enterprise value is coming from the extension of IT beyond the enterprise … this is the New Era
 For most major market companies, many mission critical applications have reached the point of
diminishing return in their ability to affect customer acquisition, reduce customer churn or improve
brand loyalty and don’t reflect the vast majority of IT spend
 Vast majority of IT dollars spent on applications is at the edge of the enterprise, where technology
meets consumers, engaging systems or Apps
 APIs are key to accelerating value, volume and adoption by enabling open platforms for innovation
and competition.
 Companies are adopting the API economy to make adoption of their value propositions incredibly
simple
IBM Redguide: Power of the API Economy
http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/abstracts/redp5096.html?Open
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8. Key Messages
 There are several reasons companies are embracing and leveraging the API economy:
–Enable simultaneous launch of new services and products across multiple channels.
–Desire to monetize the rich set of assets and data owned by their company.
–Distributing content to users in a more flexible manner (beyond a website or RSS feed) under
criteria that the company can control (when, how, what)
–Reduce /eliminate duplicative development efforts – across multiple apps and multiple
platforms.
–Enable IT legacy transformation.
–Re-imagine business processes
IBM Redguide: Power of the API Economy
http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/abstracts/redp5096.html?Open
IBM Red Guide – Power of the API Economy - © 2014 IBM Corporation 8

9. Discussion Items
Why an IBM Red
Guide?
Key Messages Content of the Red
Guide
Conclusions
IBM Red Guide – Power of the API Economy - © 2014 IBM Corporation 9

10. Content of the Red Guide
 API Economy – Why Does it Matter
 Lifecycle of the API Economy
 Emergence of purpose driven platforms
 Business agility and innovation with SOA and APIs
 API adoption models
 Conclusion
IBM Redguide: Power of the API Economy
http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/abstracts/redp5096.html?Open
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11. Rise of Business Purpose Driven Platforms
 Companies seek to be essential, what better example of achieving that goal than when your core,
franchise product is a verb used in all forms of media and conversation to describe searching the
Web?
 Companies that are essential have a business purpose driven platform with many or all of the
following attributes:
o Engaging customer experience
o Proprietary storefront and often a marketplace
o Platform SDK for developers along with developer portal
o Promotes eco system of partners and developers using partner & public APIs
o Recognizes that traditional channels cannot reach long tail – encourage co-innovation
o Privately labeled seamlessly integrated front end for any device or Internet thing
o Platform is a strategic control point and source of innovation
o Enterprise App store for easy access to business services
IBM Red Guide – Power of the API Economy - © 2014 IBM Corporation 11

12. The API Economy
API-accessible business services made available to third-party innovators
composing solutions
External
Ecosystem
Marketplac
Marketplac
aannaallyyttiiccss
AAPPII
ccoommmmeerrccee
AAPPII
e e
AApppp
AApppp Solutions
AAPPII
Software
as a
Service
Platform as a
Service
AAPPII EEccoonnoomyy
AAPPII
Infrastructure as a
Service
sseerrvviicceess
AAPPII
Cloud Operating
Environment
Traditiona
l
Middlewar
e-based
Workloads
Services & Composition
Patterns
Services & Composition
Patterns
API &
Integration
Services
IBM Red Guide – Power of the API Economy - © 2014 IBM Corporation 12

13. New models of product and service innovation emerging
Systems of Record New Modes of Engagement
• Data & Transactions
• App Infrastructure
• Virtualized Resources
Generation
Architecture
Data & Transaction
Integrity
• Expanding Interface
Modalities
• Big Data and Analytics
• Social Networking
Smarter and
Mobile Things
Next
IBM Red Guide – Power of the API Economy - © 2014 IBM Corporation 13

14. Discussion Items
Why an IBM Red
Guide?
Key Messages Content of the Red
Guide
Conclusions
IBM Red Guide – Power of the API Economy - © 2014 IBM Corporation 14

15. Conclusions
 Final version of redguide will be published in January 2015, please review, RATE and comment
 Post to my Facebook Page or tweet (see next page) or email me your thoughts, real world
experiences, etc.
 Planned book titled, “Title: The Power of the API Economy, Sub Title: Rethinking Disruption
and Becoming a Digital Business, ISBN: 0134136969 / 9780134136967, send me your
thoughts on any content which would make such a book a valuable part of your reading list
IBM Redguide: Power of the API Economy
http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/abstracts/redp5096.html?Open
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16. Thoughts?
Kerrie holley ; klholley@us.ibm.com
twitter.com/kerrieh
http://www.facebook.com/KerrieHolley
IBM
http://www-
03.ibm.com/developerworks/blogs/pag
e/ClientSOA
IBM Redguide: Power of the API Economy
http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/abstracts/redp5096.html?Open
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