When it comes to APIs, there’s an old saying that a good API is like a great product. But most companies can’t afford to just build one great API and hope for the best. Instead, they need to think through the entire process of developing and managing their B2B, B2C and partner APIs. In this post we’ll cover some key best practices for API management of your organization. So that you can maximize their potential.
Maintain separation of concerns between B2B, B2C, and partner APIs
Maintaining separation of concerns between B2B, B2C and partner APIs is an important step in API management. Separate the APIs by function. So that each group can focus on its own responsibilities and work in isolation from other groups within your organization.
This will allow you to better understand how each API fits into the overall business process, which will help you understand where improvements need to be made when it comes time for new functionality or changes in the way existing functionality works (e.g., adding a new feature).
Use security and access control policies to regulate how and when APIs are called
You can use security and access control policies to regulate how and when APIs are called. An API can be accessed by anyone with the right credentials. But you may want to restrict access in some way. For example, you might want to require that all calls be made from within your organization’s network or from approved applications on device-specific platforms (such as iOS). Access control policies should be set up in advance of any API being used. This way you can ensure that only authorized users have access rights for each API endpoint.
Provide an appropriate level of documentation and other support for APIs
Providing appropriate levels of documentation and other support for APIs is important. APIs should be easy to find and use, with up-to-date information about what they can do. They should also be clear and concise, so that developers know exactly how to use them in their applications.
You need to make sure that your documentation is tested by developers before being released into production. So you’ll want to test it yourself first.
If you want to make your API easy to use. Then it’s important to make sure that it’s clear and concise. You should also ensure that there aren’t any typos or other errors in the documentation. It can also be helpful if you provide examples of how developers can use your API in their applications.
Implement business-critical SLAs for the APIs that matter most
The next step in API management is to define business-critical SLAs for the APIs that matter most. These are the APIs that your company depends on, and they need to be managed with care and attention.
To determine which of your APIs are critical, think about what would happen if one of them were unavailable or slow during peak hours. For example: Which services are used by customers who expect immediate responses? How long do they stay on hold before reaching a human being at another office or department? How many people call in per hour during certain times of day (or weekdays versus weekends)? What happens if a user tries accessing one of these resources but gets an error message instead of seeing anything useful online?
Once you’ve identified which services qualify as “business-critical,” make sure that the API management platform you use supports business-critical SLAs—and then enforce those SLAs consistently across all supported platforms so there’s no room for error when it comes time for unexpected problems like outages or slow response times due to high traffic loads on servers hosting shared resources such as databases used by multiple applications running simultaneously without failover capabilities back up plans should fail so all users receive timely notifications about any downtime issues related directly associated with those specific kinds websites hosted within their own content management system environment now allows developers access control over how data flows between processes within specific contexts.
Ensure that API versioning is well managed so that customers don’t experience disruption to their business operations
- Ensure that API versioning is well managed so that customers don’t experience disruption to their business operations.
- Use a versioning scheme that is consistent with your business needs.
- Make sure you have a process for keeping track of API changes and maintain the history of those changes in an API management solution. This will ensure that you know when an API has been modified and provide insight into how it may affect customers’ applications or processes.
- Ensure all changes to APIs are properly communicated to customers before they’re made available in production environments or otherwise made publicly available (e.g., via social media channels).
Allow internal developers to focus on innovation through reusing third-party APIs, rather than having them build internal versions of existing services
In order to encourage innovation, it is important that internal developers are allowed to focus on creating new features for their own applications and services. This can be done by allowing them to reuse third-party APIs rather than building internal versions of existing ones.
The benefits of this approach include:
- Reuse means fewer resources are spent on building components that are already available in the public domain (and therefore free). This saves time and money; it also reduces risk by reducing the likelihood of bugs being found when using an existing component instead of writing one from scratch.
- It allows developers with limited programming skills or knowledge about how other companies have built products from scratch before being able to use those same techniques in their own projects without having any previous experience working with those technologies first hand before this process begins – thus making sure everyone involved understands what needs doing as well as what needs adopting/adapting better than before!
Use a unified portal that provides a convenient entry point for digital customers
A unified portal is a central place where digital customers can find all of your APIs. It should be easy to use and intuitive, so that it’s easy for anyone in the company to get started with API management. The portal should also provide support for the most common use cases, such as publishing new APIs or migrating existing ones.
The portal should also provide support for the most common use cases. Such as publishing new APIs or migrating existing ones. It should be easy to get started with API management, so that anyone in your company can use it.
Manage consumption by metering, throttling, and governing use of APIs across departments within the organization
- Metering and throttling are two important ways you can manage consumption of your APIs.
- Metering is a way to ensure that all requests to an API are counted and reported. So that you know how often people use it, how many times they’re using it in one day or week, etc.
- Throttling limits the number of requests per minute or hour made from a particular IP address or access token range (for example: “1–10”). This helps prevent someone from creating thousands of fake accounts just so they can make more requests than others have already made—a practice known as “crawling”.
There are many important steps you must take if you want to manage your organization’s APIs properly
While API management is important to the success of your business. It can be hard to keep track of everything that needs to be done. You may not have time or resources available to manage all of these APIs yourself. If this sounds like a problem for you, there are many important steps that must be taken if you want to manage your organization’s APIs properly:
- Decide which APIs need managing
- Define a policy for how each one should function
- Create an organization-wide strategy for managing those policies
- Create a team to manage your APIs Monitor and update them as needed
Conclusion
It’s important to emphasize the need for API management and how to best go about it. Developers should be aware of the benefits of a well-managed API, as well as its drawbacks. As a result, developers will be more likely to adopt API management if they know about it beforehand.
