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API Management
  • 4 min read

API Maturity Model

Your organization is evolving into a connected enterprise. Your ambition is to connect business applications and systems, share data streams with external parties, and enhance partner and developer ecosystems.
  • Published on
    31 oktober 2024
  • Written by
    Johan Celis

Your organization is evolving into a connected enterprise. Your ambition is to connect business applications and systems, share data streams with external parties, and enhance partner and developer ecosystems.

Whether your organization is fully integrated or just starting to connect the dots, we’re sure you’ve already started working with APIs within your technology stack. But are they being developed with best practices in mind? Are they designed to support the scaling needs of your organization? Are your technical teams and management aligned to strategically integrate APIs into future plans and daily operations?

Answers to those types of questions determine the actual maturity level of your APIs. But it’s your business strategy and future plans that determine the desired maturity level of your APIs. Let’s explore this together, using the Archers API Maturity Model as our foundation.

The API Maturity Model is designed to assist our customers and consultants in understanding which API maturity level aligns best with the current and future needs of the organization. It’s important to remember that this model is:

  • Not a one-size-fits-all solution. Instead, it serves as a reference framework that should be adapted to fit your specific context, business strategy, and future goals. For example, an API initiative focused solely on public APIs will have different goals than an initiative aimed at delivering internal APIs for a multi-channel approach.

  • A tool to help you assess where you are today, where you need or want to be, and how to chart a path to get there.

  • The desired maturity level will vary depending on your unique circumstances, not every organization needs to reach level 5.

The Human Factor in Advancing API Maturity

Advancing to the next stage(s) of your API Maturity involves more than just technical adjustments or upskilling your technical teams. It requires a fundamental shift in the daily behavior of people across the organization. Everyone must be aware of, and committed to, a new way of working and thinking. Effective change management techniques are essential for successfully growing into higher levels of maturity. This includes fostering a culture that embraces change, aligning stakeholders, and ensuring that both leadership and teams are on board with the new approach.

The revised API Maturity Model
In 2019, we introduced the first version of our API Maturity Model. As technology rapidly evolved and our vision expanded, we decided it was time for a thorough update.

To start with, we’ve simplified the model. In this new version, the model is aligned with the core pillars of our API program (insert link), bringing our knowledge and expertise into a single, streamlined framework. This updated model now features five maturity levels, inspired by the Maturity Model Capability levels.

How to interpret the API Maturity Model

API Maturity increases as we progress from level 1 to level 5. Along this journey, organizations often reach a plateau or tipping point in their maturity growth. Within the API Maturity Model, we identify this tipping point at level 3.

The reasoning behind this is that levels 1 to 3 are typically project-driven. While strategies may be in place or developing, API management is still largely focused on individual projects. However, moving beyond level 3, APIs are viewed as strategic assets, and the approach becomes more business-driven. At this stage, several key concepts come into play:

API as a Product: APIs are treated like products, with a focus on user experience, versioning, and lifecycle management.

Business Models: Organizations explore how APIs can create revenue streams, partnerships, or cost savings.

Ecosystem Thinking: There is a shift towards building or participating in ecosystems, where APIs enable collaboration and innovation with external partners.

Another way to view maturity growth is as a progression from a purely technical implementation to a more business-driven approach.

Speed & Scale

As mentioned in the previous chapter, level 3 is considered a plateau. At this point, an organization should have reached a maturity level where it is now possible to implement API management “at scale” and “at speed.” This means they should be ready to deploy APIs across the entire organization, with all the necessary foundations established during the earlier levels.

Building the API right vs building the right API

In the API program pillars, there are two key concepts:

Building the API right: Ensuring that APIs are designed, built, deployed, and operated according to established standards and guidelines.

Building the right API: Ensuring that the organization selects and develops APIs that align with and support the business strategy.

From level 1 to level 3, the focus should primarily be on “design & realization” and “platform.” This establishes the necessary foundations to progress to the next levels. Once you reach level 3, the emphasis shifts towards building the right API, which aligns with the strategic focus discussed in the previous chapter.

The Full Monty: Revised API Maturity Model

After keeping you waiting, here it is! The newly refined API Maturity Model, shaped by the insights we’ve discussed.

The API strategy is reactive, lacking clear guidelines or a structured plan of action. APIs are developed on an as-needed basis, using whatever tools are available or needed at the moment.

Specific business cases serve as the starting point, and initial steps are taken to establish best practices and design guidelines. The APIs are designed to meet current project needs rather than future ones.

APIs become integral to the organization’s operations and strategy, created in alignment with broader objectives. The organization is transforming with connectivity goals as the guiding principle.

The organization has a clear future vision aligned with market trends, where APIs play a crucial role, with a priority on their scale and speed.

Emerging technologies, business strategy, and performance data are at the core of API management. Success with the API strategy is achievable only when the entire organization is fully aligned and engaged.

Conclusion

In conclusion, advancing through the API Maturity Model is a journey that transforms how an organization leverages APIs, from ad-hoc, project-driven initiatives to strategic, business-critical assets. By aligning with this model, you can ensure that your API strategy is not only technically sound but also deeply integrated with your business goals, setting the stage for sustainable growth and innovation.

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