{"id":13363,"date":"2023-12-13T15:04:04","date_gmt":"2023-12-13T09:04:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dtasiagroup.com\/?p=13363"},"modified":"2023-12-13T15:04:04","modified_gmt":"2023-12-13T09:04:04","slug":"top-seven-reasons-your-api-developer-portal-is-failing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dtasiagroup.com\/vi\/top-seven-reasons-your-api-developer-portal-is-failing\/","title":{"rendered":"Top seven reasons your API developer portal is failing"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Top<\/p>\n

API portals should be giving app developers the tools they need to find APIs and you the tools to manage the entire API lifecycle. They\u2019re supposed to make your APIs easier to adopt. And they were supposed to be helping you get a return on your API investments.<\/p>\n

Instead, they\u2019ve turned into a list of stuff that demands support time as frustrated developers struggle to navigate the portal. Part of this is due to the explosive growth of APIs, but also more dev teams, more types of APIs (Asynch, Synch, gRPC, graphQL\u2026), and the fact this is all happening in multiple deployments and with multiple vendors.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s probably also because you\u2019re treating API developer portals like a junk drawer full of cables \u2013 you know the one I\u2019m talking about.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"a<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the drawer where you collect cables that you need, and ones that you might potentially use someday. You probably meant to organize it at some point, but it\u2019s become a thing unto itself now. Pretty soon, you find yourself buying a new API \u2013 I mean, HDMI cable \u2013 only to realize later you already had one that was wedged under the very bottom of the pile.<\/p>\n

If you can get the right organization and view of what you have, you\u2019re able to quickly pull out what you need, lock up your valuables safely, and donate what you know deep down inside you will never actually use. Sound familiar?<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s why your API developer portals are stuffed with stuff that no one can find or use, and how you can unlock the full value of your APIs with an API marketplace that offers a more complete developer experience.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/span>What are API developer portals?<\/strong><\/p>\n

An API portal is a web catalog specifically designed for access to a company\u2019s APIs. It provides a centralized location for developers \u2013 potentially both internal and external \u2013 to find API documentation, register for API access, and collaborate with the company providing the API.<\/p>\n

The idea is to provide a good developer experience that encourages adoption and engagement with the APIs. The portal should offer a comprehensive set of tools and resources to support developers throughout the entire API lifecycle.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, API portals rarely live up to that standard. Instead, companies often lose money building and maintaining too many of them. They\u2019re finding unmanaged (read: lost) APIs that pose security risks, and unclear documentation and examples (if there\u2019s any to begin with).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/span>Top seven reasons your API developer portal is failing<\/strong><\/p>\n

A recent study by Enterprise Management Associates found\u00a0fewer than 10%<\/a>\u00a0of IT organizations fully document their APIs. Besides making for a frustrating experience when a developer wants to use an API, the lack of visibility and documentation can pose serious security blind spots to your organization, the study\u2019s sponsor points out.<\/p>\n

Even if you\u2019re only using a portal for your internal teams, you need a consistent experience to ensure APIs are intelligently designed, documented, tested, and supported throughout the entire lifecycle. Importantly, they need the tools to go beyond a project mindset \u2013 i.e., developing an API for a single use case \u2013 to\u00a0treating APIs as business capabilities (products)<\/a>\u00a0that are more easily reused and recomposed into new solutions.<\/p>\n

Here are seven signs your API developer portal is failing you:<\/strong><\/p>\n

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  1. It\u2019s just a list of stuff \u2013 siloed teams have to manually add APIs<\/li>\n
  2. Search is dependent on structure, and tagging isn\u2019t well defined (or even used)<\/li>\n
  3. There aren\u2019t any examples; no way to showcase how an API could be implemented<\/li>\n
  4. Developers don\u2019t know where to start to understand your offering<\/li>\n
  5. You have little indication of what APIs are getting used or if they\u2019re even still supported<\/li>\n
  6. No product orientation with ownership and ongoing content and freshness<\/li>\n
  7. When it depends on developers using some extra toolsets to work, the portal doesn\u2019t work.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    What it really comes down to is that API portals have historically focused on APIs as technical interfaces. But an effective API strategy focuses on API\u00a0products<\/em>\u00a0\u2013 business capabilities packaged into an API.<\/p>\n

    Organizations need the tools to design API products that solve specific needs and drive business forward, not just a repository for application programming interfaces.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    <\/span>The true cost of the problem<\/strong><\/p>\n

    So, your API developer portals aren\u2019t working out the way you need them to, and growing complexity isn\u2019t helping matters. One common stumbling block is when larger companies have multiple development portals; they might be organized by development center, API pattern, Gateway vendor or other category.<\/p>\n

    There are good reasons to organize by customer segment, but the multiplication of portals can complicate things. For example, if you have teams in different geographical locations, they likely have their own developer portals through their preferred vendor, and they might all be deployed differently (cloud, on-premises).<\/p>\n

    Security risks<\/strong><\/p>\n

    With increased complexity, you it\u2019s also harder to have a single source of truth for all your APIs. This can lead to serious\u00a0API security concerns<\/a>\u00a0when they go unnoticed. A 2022 analysis of more than 16.7 billion API transactions found that\u00a031% of the malicious requests<\/a>\u00a0targeted unknown, unmanaged, or unprotected APIs.<\/p>\n

    Beyond security concerns, this lack of efficiency leads to very real costs in terms of lost time and resources, slowing down digital initiatives. And it makes it hard to execute an\u00a0aligned, enterprise-wide API strategy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    Lack of adoption<\/strong><\/p>\n

    If you\u2019re offering a poor API developer experience, it can undermine trust in your developer portal and its APIs. That translates into low API adoption.<\/p>\n

    The developers attempting to consume your APIs are lost and frustrated when navigating across multiple portals. They aren\u2019t sure which source to trust for documentation (if there is any, as we saw in the study cited above). As a result, they need a lot of support and walk-through just to adopt a single API.<\/p>\n

    Even if they do find the API they need, it\u2019s unclear how or where that API is being maintained and supported. Can they trust it?<\/p>\n

    Duplication of APIs<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Finally, a poor developer experience on your API portal leads to API duplication. Low reuse and adoption are painful because developing an API is\u00a0expensive<\/em>. When we\u00a0researched API complexity<\/a>, we found companies stand to save nearly $30K on average every time they reuse an API.<\/p>\n

    You can\u2019t afford to have teams from different regions or departments redoing the same work because developers couldn\u2019t find the API they needed.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    <\/span>What is the best API developer portal?<\/strong><\/p>\n

    To drive adoption, companies need to be able to package and manage their APIs as products, and that includes streamlining the process of onboarding, empowering developers to use their APIs.<\/p>\n

    That\u2019s why the best API developer portal is an\u00a0<\/strong>API\u00a0marketplace<\/em><\/strong><\/a>.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Amplify Enterprise Marketplace consolidates all your APIs across platforms, gateways, and repositories into one enterprise API developer portal.<\/p>\n

    With a\u00a0universal API management platform<\/a>\u00a0as its foundation, Marketplace tames complexity by using lightweight agents to automate the discovery, capture, and validation of APIs into one registry where they can be managed, monitored, and governed.<\/p>\n

    That means developer teams can continue to work with their preferred tools and deployment modes, and you are able to tame the complexity thanks to a single source of truth for your APIs.<\/p>\n

    I recently shared some of the ways an API marketplace helps improve internal efficiency. Watch the video below to see how it gives teams APIs they can trust.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n