You may have heard the term “API Product.” But what does it mean? In this talk I will introduce the concept and explain the benefits and challenges of transforming your organization to view your APIs as measurable products that expose your companies capabilities creating agility, autonomy, and acceleration. Traditional product manufacturers create new product and launch them into the marketplace and then measure value; we will teach you to view your APIs in the same way. Concepts covered in this presentation will be designing APIs with Design Thinking, funding your product, building teams, marketing your API, managing your marketplace, and measuring success.

1. What do you mean when you say
“API as a Product”?
Austin API
Summit 2018

2. The API “Why?”
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3. June 12th, 2018 © Vanick Group, LLC. All rights reserved. 2Reuters/Charles Platiau

4. What Changed?
Immediate access to information
Applications that create real-time convenience
Consumers adoption moving faster than corporate innovation
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5. The API Why
Digital Transformation Promises:
Competitiveness
Business Agility
Innovation
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6. “APIs are the windows
to new ecosystems”
Harvard Business Review 1/7/2015
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7. “APIs Are at the
Heart of Digital Business”
Gartner 4/20/2016
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8. Don't Get Ubered: APIs Hold Key To Digital Transformation
“APIs are the secret sauce to becoming
digital”
Forbes 10/19/2015
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9. APIs: Leverage For Digital Transformation
“…turn a digital asset into a powerful point
of leverage…”
Forbes 5/8/2017
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10. APIs enable developers – internal,
partner or external – to deliver your
company’s current digital value, and
to create new digital value.
Apigee 2018
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11. When they say “API”,
do they mean what I mean
when I say “API”?
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12. Integrations
supply-side thinking
API Products
demand-side thinking
• Asset-oriented
• Project
• Tightly coupled integrations
• Finite resources (sized for the known)
• System or function oriented
• Composable processes
• Monolithic systems
• Integration as required
• Horizontal teams
• Consumer-oriented
• Continuously Managed Product
• Self-service consumable
• Elastic / infinite resources
• Productized digital resources
• Composable products
• Microservices
• API as a new product channel
• Multi-functional teams
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13. If the process for creation, communication
and consumption looks similar to what you
were doing before, why do you expect
different results?
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14. The API Why
API Programs & Productization promise:
Agility
Autonomy
Acceleration
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15. “In our experience, product orientation is the
missing ingredient that makes the difference between
ordinary enterprise integration and an agile business
built on a platform of APIs.”
-ThoughtWorks
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Source: https://www.thoughtworks.com/radar/techniques/apis-as-a-product

16. June 12th, 2018
Product definition:
“In marketing, a product is anything that can be
offered to a market that might satisfy a
want or need.”
15
Source: Wikipedia
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17. The What
“In marketing, a product is anything that can be offered to
a market that might satisfy a want or need.”
Business Resource (surfaced through APIs)
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18. The Who
“In marketing, a product is anything that can be offered to a market
that might satisfy a want or need.”
Customers (B2C)
Partners / Distributors (B2B)
Internal Consumers
Employees
Public
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19. The Why
“In marketing, a product is anything that can be offered to a market
that might satisfy a want or need.”
Jobs to be done
Values to be realized
Channel
API
DX
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• Built specifically to solve a consumer problem
• Marketed to the consumer
• Feedback loops to ensure quality and satisfaction
• Measured for value

21. Considerations for Building API Products
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22. 1. Start with the consumer in mind
Design Thinking
Definition: The design-thinking ideology asserts that a hands-on,
user-centric approach to problem solving can lead to innovation,
and innovation can lead to differentiation and a competitive
advantage. This hands-on, user-centric approach is defined by
the design-thinking process and comprises 6 distinct phases.
21
Source: https://www.nngroup.com/articles/design-thinking/
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24. Fictional Business
Mediocre Grocer
Supply-side Thinking
Loyalty Program
• Store coupons
• Purchases
• Account balance
• Purchase associated coupons
• Gas discounts
We build it
Demand-side Thinking
Fast & Healthy Advisor
• Healthy recipes
• Fast & easy recipes
• Food my family will enjoy
• Store item locator
• Associated coupons
Us & Community build it
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25. 2. Manage like a product
Funded annually based on the value derived
Has an API Product Manager
Multi-functional team
DevOps Delivery
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26. 3. Self-Service
Low bar to access
Easy to find
Well documented
Testable / TTFHW (Time-to-first “Hello World”)
Requisitionable
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27. 4. Self-Evident
Organization (taxonomy)
Categorization (collected by usage patterns)
Understandable vernacular
Simple structure
Common use of standards
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28. 5. Communicate
Marketed Awareness
Blog
FAQ
Chat/Support
Push Notifications (Email, SMS)
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29. 6. Measure for Value
OKRs (Objectives & Key Results)
Performance
Developer Satisfaction
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Existing governance / gates
Existing SDLC processes
Separation of Business & IT
teams
Org-based incentives over
business value-based incentives
Project based teams
Project based funding
Goal alignment with business
Activities like product marketing
and content curation are new
considerations for IT
Trust is hard

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People buy products.

32. Thank you!
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33. Founding Partner
lou.powell@vanick.com
Lou Powell
@vanicklou
https://www.linkedin.com/pub/lou-powell/4/ba1/170
vanick.com

34. 33 © 2015 CA. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
VANICKDigital helps organizations…
 Form a digital strategy to accelerate business goals
You appreciate the value APIs present, but need help with a
forward-looking digital technology strategy that utilizes APIs as a
key foundational component
 Figure out how to get started
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implemented as an accelerator for your digital strategy, but
you’re not sure where to start.
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APIs to accelerate that next mobile initiative or E-commerce
opportunity, all while deliberately moving towards enterprise-
minded strategic goals.
 Grow enterprise value from existing API initiative(s)
– You know that IT has existing APIs and you may even be utilizing
them for some projects, but integrations are still expensive and
slow. Your APIs are not living up to the promise.
– There’s no cohesive vision for the disparate API solutions
throughout your organization.
– Vanick Digital will help drive a unified enterprise strategy to
align your various initiatives into a common platform. API
Management best practices will help you avoid common
pitfalls and help produce an efficient low-cost integration
experience from your API program.
 Implement their API program
– Once your API strategy is formed, Vanick Digital has the
architectural and development expertise in-house to help you
execute.
– Our experience with enterprise digital integration helps ensure
a seasoned, experience-focused outcome across various areas
of implementation, including:
 API & Systems Architecture
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 API Development & Private Cloud Hosting
 Effective Developer Experience