APIs als Produkt: Wie unsichtbare Helden Unternehmen Mehrwert bieten

In der digitalen Transformation spielen APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) eine entscheidende Rolle. Eine API ist eine Schnittstelle, die die Kommunikation und den Datenaustausch zwischen verschiedenen Softwareanwendungen ermöglicht. APIs sind die oft unsichtbaren Helden hinter innovativen Geschäftsmodellen und effizienten Prozessen. Sie ermöglichen es Unternehmen, neue Dienstleistungen zu entwickeln, bestehende Systeme zu integrieren und den Zugang zu Daten zu erleichtern. Mit der bevorstehenden FIDA-Regulierung (Financial Data Access) ist die Freigabe von Daten über bereitgestellte APIs für viele Versicherungsunternehmen und -vermittler sogar bald verpflichtend. Um das volle Potenzial von APIs auszuschöpfen und gleichzeitig die regulatorischen Anforderungen effizient zu erfüllen, ist ein “API als Produkt”-Mindset der entscheidende Erfolgsfaktor. 

Was bedeutet "API als Produkt"?

Der “API als Produkt”-Ansatz bedeutet, dass APIs iterativ konzipiert, entwickelt und verwaltet werden, um den größtmöglichen Nutzen in klar definierten Anwendungsfällen zu bieten. Statt sie rein als technische Schnittstellen zu sehen, werden APIs strategisch geplant und auf die Bedürfnisse der Zielgruppe zugeschnitten. Dieser Ansatz erfordert eine produktorientierte Denkweise über den gesamten Lebenszyklus der API hinweg.

Essenzielle Schritte zur Umsetzung:

  1. Nutzen definieren: Welchen Mehrwert bietet die API? Sie sollte spezifische Probleme lösen und genau dazu relevante Funktionen bereitstellen. Wenn mehrere Probleme gelöst werden sollen, bietet sich eine Aufteilung in zwei separate APIs an.
  2. Zielgruppe bestimmen: Wer sind die potenziellen Nutzer? Das können interne Entwickler, externe Partner oder Kunden sein.
  3. Produktorientierung etablieren: Welche Ressourcen und Rollen sind notwendig, um die API erfolgreich zu konzipieren, zu entwickeln und zu betreiben? Hier spielen spezialisierte Rollen wie API Product Manager eine immer wichtigere Rolle.

Die vier API-Anwendungsfälle

Um diese Schritte optimal pro individueller API zu steuern, kann jede API in einen der vier Anwendungsfälle unterteilt werden:

  1. Inside-In: Teilen und Skalieren von internen APIs innerhalb des Unternehmens, um zum Beispiel Silos zu reduzieren und die Effizienz zu steigern.
  2. Inside-Out: Bereitstellung eigener APIs für externe Kunden und Partner, um Partnerschaften zu fördern und neue Geschäftsmodelle zu ermöglichen. Besonders relevant wird hier die kommende europäische FIDA Regulatorik, die das Anbieten dieser APIs für Finanzunternehmen verpflichtend macht.
  3. Outside-In: Integration von externen API-Services in die eigene Infrastruktur, um eigene Anwendungen schneller und effizienter zu entwickeln. Bei diesem Fall besteht gerade aufgrund der seit 2023 aktiven und ab Januar 2025 zwingend anzuwendenden DORA-Verordnung (Digital Operational Resilience Act) erheblicher Handlungsbedarf.
  4. Outside-Out: Aufbau von branchenweiten API-Marktplätzen und Ökosystemen, die den Datenaustausch standardisieren und vereinfachen.
Abbildung 1: Die vier API Anwendungsfälle

Beteiligte Rollen und ihre Aufgaben

Traditionell waren alleine die Entwickler für “ihre” APIs verantwortlich. Im “API als Produkt”-Ansatz zeigt sich jedoch zunehmend, dass der Erfolg von der Zusammenarbeit verschiedener Stakeholder abhängt. Entscheidend ist die Einbindung wesentlicher Unternehmensfunktionen. Diese müssen das API-Angebot verstehen, um zum Erfolg beizutragen. Zwei zentrale Funktionen dabei sind:

  • (Partner)-Vertrieb und Marketing: Präsentieren die API professionell, kümmern sich um Dokumentation, Preisgestaltung und Lead-Generierung. Sie spielen eine entscheidende Rolle bei der Positionierung der API am Markt.
  • Controlling und Accounting: Überwachen die Nutzung der API und kümmern sich um interne Verrechnungen und externe Abrechnungen.

Weitere Rollen sind unter anderem Procurement, IT-Architekten, Product Owner, Legal, Support-Teams und Compliance, besonders in Hinblick auf FIDA. Die Einbindung aller dieser Stakeholder ist entscheidend für die Effizienz des “API als Produkt”-Modells.

Zusätzlich ist der Aufbau zweier spezialisierter Rollen empfehlenswert. Ein API Product Manager ist verantwortlich für den gesamten Lebenszyklus eines API-Produkts, einschließlich Kundenfeedback und Performance. Er stellt sicher, dass die API den Geschäftszielen entspricht und kontinuierlich verbessert wird. Ein API Program Manager kümmert sich um den Aufbau des kompletten API-Ökosystems, die Befähigung von Teams und die Einhaltung von Governance-Standards.

Time to First Call (TTFC) als entscheidende Kennzahl

Für einen iterativen “API als Produkt”-Ansatz entscheidend sind klare KPIs/Kennzahlen absolut entscheidend, um die API iterativ in die richtige Richtung weiterzuentwickeln und zu verbessern. Eine sehr geeignete Kennzahl ist “Time to First Call” (TTFC). Diese Kennzahl definiert sich durch die Zeitspanne zwischen dem erstmaligen Auffinden der API und dem ersten erfolgreichen API Aufruf. Sie kann durch einen simplen Usertest mit einem Entwickler regelmäßig gemessen werden.

Eine kurze TTFC bedeutet:

  • Effiziente Iteration: Schnelles Testen der API unter möglichst realen Bedingungen ermöglicht es, Unklarheiten direkt zu beseitigen und die Integration vorzubereiten.
  • Hohe Dokumentationsqualität: Eine kurze TTFC weist auf eine sehr gute API-Dokumentationsqualität und ein durchdachtes Onboarding hin.
  • Reduzierung manueller Aufwände: Eine kurze TTFC bedeutet automatisierte Prozesse, diese sparen Ressourcen und minimieren Fehlerquellen auf beiden Seiten.

Insgesamt ist eine kurze TTFC ein starker Indikator für eine hohe Akzeptanz und gute Nutzererfahrung der API. Interessant ist dabei die große Spanne in den Werten des TTFC. Während API-Vorreiter wie Twilio oder Google mit seine Google Maps API Werte unter 15 Minuten erreichen, schaffen viele Unternehmen nur Werte im Bereich von Tagen oder sogar Wochen mit ihren APIs. Entscheidende Faktoren für diese enormen Unterschiede sind dabei das optimierte Auffinden, das  Bestellen/Anfordern der API und eine automatisierte Bereitstellung, drei Vorgänge, die zum Beispiel apinity über seine Marketplace Lösung abdeckt.

Tipps zur Verbesserung der TTFC:

Konkrete Schritte hin zu einer besseren TTFC sind:

  • Self-Service-Subscription anbieten: Minimiert manuelle Schritte im Onboarding und beschleunigt den Prozess. Ganz konkret kann man sich Self-Service wie den Bestellvorgang im Online-Shop vorstellen – man wählt eine die APIs aus und erhält dann die Zugangsdaten.
  • Standardisierung nutzen: Durch die Verwendung von Standards wie der OpenAPI Specification und OAuth2 wird das Verständnis erleichtert.
  • Beispieldateien und -werte bereitstellen: Sie helfen Entwicklern, die benötigten Eingabedaten für die APIs klar zu verstehen.
  • Klar definierte Anwendungsfälle: Ermöglichen es, den Nutzen der API anschaulich zu verstehen.
  • Demo-APIs und Playgrounds einrichten: Bieten eine risikofreie Umgebung zum Ausprobieren der API.
Abbildung 2: Self-Service Subscription eines API Service Plans

Fazit

Ein “API als Produkt”-Mindset ist der Schlüssel, um das volle Potenzial von APIs zu nutzen. Durch die klare Definition des geschäftlichen Nutzens und der Anwendungsfälle sowie die Einbindung aller relevanten Stakeholder können Unternehmen ihre APIs optimieren. Die Time to First Call als Kennzahl hilft dabei, den aktuellen Stand zu bewerten und kontinuierliche Verbesserungen vorzunehmen. Die Regularien FIDA und DORA machen das Anbieten von APIs und einen effizienten Umgang mit APIs zu einer Notwendigkeit für jedes Versicherungsunternehmen.

Für Unternehmen, die Unterstützung bei der Konzeption und dem Aufbau von internen und externen API-Marktplätzen sowie API-Portalen suchen, bietet apinity.io maßgeschneiderte Lösungen an. 

 

Autor: Fabian Kolbe, Senior Solution Engineer, apinity

Dieser Artikel wurde im Versicherungsforen-Themendossier Nr. 19/2024 veröffentlicht.

APIs as a Product: How invisible heroes drive business value

In digital transformation, APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) play a crucial role. An API is an interface that enables communication and data exchange between different software applications. APIs are often the invisible heroes behind innovative business models and efficient processes. They allow companies to develop new services, integrate existing systems, and facilitate access to data. With the upcoming FIDA regulation (Financial Data Access), the release of data via provided APIs will soon be mandatory for many insurance companies and intermediaries. To fully harness the potential of APIs while efficiently meeting regulatory requirements, adopting an “API as a Product” mindset is the key to success.

What does "API as a Product" mean?

The “API as a Product” approach means that APIs are designed, developed, and managed iteratively to provide maximum value in clearly defined use cases. Instead of viewing them purely as technical interfaces, APIs are strategically planned and tailored to the needs of the target audience. This approach requires a product-oriented mindset throughout the entire lifecycle of the API.

Essential steps for implementation:

  1. Define the value: What benefit does the API offer? It should solve specific problems and provide relevant functions for those issues. If multiple problems need to be addressed, it might be best to split them into separate APIs.
  2. Identify the target audience: Who are the potential users? These could be internal developers, external partners, or customers.
  3. Establish product orientation: What resources and roles are necessary to successfully design, develop, and operate the API? Specialized roles like API Product Managers are increasingly important here.

The four API use cases

To optimally manage each API step-by-step, every API can be categorized into one of four use cases:

  1. Inside-In: Sharing and scaling internal APIs within the company, for example, to reduce silos and increase efficiency.
  2. Inside-Out: Providing APIs to external customers and partners to foster partnerships and enable new business models. This is particularly relevant with the upcoming European FIDA regulation, which mandates financial companies to offer these APIs.
  3. Outside-In: Integrating external API services into the company’s infrastructure to develop applications faster and more efficiently. Due to the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA), which has been in effect since 2023 and must be fully implemented by January 2025, there is significant urgency in this area.
  4. Outside-Out: Building industry-wide API marketplaces and ecosystems to standardize and simplify data exchange.
Figure 1: The four API use cases

Roles and responsibilities involved

Traditionally, developers were solely responsible for “their” APIs. However, the “API as a Product” approach shows that success increasingly depends on the collaboration of various stakeholders. The integration of essential corporate functions is crucial to understanding and contributing to the success of the API offering. Two key functions are:

  • (Partner) Sales and Marketing: They present the API professionally, handle documentation, pricing, and lead generation, and play a crucial role in positioning the API in the market.
  • Controlling and Accounting: They monitor API usage and manage internal charging and external billing.

Other roles include Procurement, IT Architects, Product Owners, Legal, Support Teams, and Compliance, especially in light of FIDA. Involving all these stakeholders is essential for the efficiency of the “API as a Product” model.

Additionally, building two specialized roles is recommended. An API Product Manager is responsible for the entire lifecycle of an API product, including customer feedback and performance. They ensure that the API aligns with business objectives and is continuously improved. An API Program Manager oversees the development of the entire API ecosystem, empowers teams, and ensures adherence to governance standards.

Time to First Call (TTFC) as a key metric

For an iterative “API as a Product” approach, clear KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) are crucial for iteratively developing and improving the API in the right direction. A highly relevant metric is Time to First Call (TTFC). This measures the time between discovering the API and making the first successful API call. It can be measured regularly through simple user tests with a developer.

A short TTFC indicates:

  • Efficient iteration: Rapid API testing under real-world conditions helps eliminate uncertainties and prepare for integration.
  • High documentation quality: A short TTFC reflects excellent API documentation and a well-thought-out onboarding process.
  • Reduced manual efforts: A short TTFC means automated processes, saving resources and minimizing errors on both sides.

Overall, a short TTFC is a strong indicator of high acceptance and a good user experience with the API. Interestingly, the range of TTFC values varies widely. While API leaders like Twilio or Google’s Google Maps API achieve values below 15 minutes, many companies take days or even weeks. Key factors driving these differences are optimized API discovery, ordering/requesting the API, and automated provisioning—three processes covered by apinity’s marketplace solution.

Tips for improving TTFC:

  • Offer self-service subscription: Minimize manual steps in onboarding and speed up the process. Think of self-service like ordering in an online shop—select APIs and receive access credentials.
  • Use standardization: Using standards like the OpenAPI Specification and OAuth2 makes understanding easier.
  • Provide sample files and values: Help developers clearly understand the required input data for APIs.
  • Define clear use cases: Make it easy to grasp the API’s benefits.
  • Set up demo APIs and playgrounds: Offer a risk-free environment to try out the API.
Figure 2: Self-service subscription of an API service plan

Conclusion

An “API as a Product” mindset is key to unlocking the full potential of APIs. By clearly defining the business value and use cases and involving all relevant stakeholders, companies can optimize their APIs. The Time to First Call metric helps assess the current state and drive continuous improvement. Regulations like FIDA and DORA make providing APIs and managing them efficiently a necessity for every insurance company. For businesses seeking support in designing and building internal and external API marketplaces and portals, apinity.io offers tailored solutions.

Author: Fabian Kolbe, Senior Solution Engineer, apinity

This article was originally published in German in the Versicherungsforen-Themendossier Nr. 19/2924.

API economy: Generate value for your insurance company

Admittedly, the world of APIs is a complex and partially hazy place where you can quickly lose sight of the overview – good reason to keep it simple in this article. So, let’s start with a clear answer to the question if the API economy is essential.

Simply said: yes – because it can not only change and improve business models but also open up new markets, increase customer satisfaction and simplify the collaboration between partners.

Or let’s put it like this:

“The API economy is about making services and data available to generate value for your company.“

If you want to know where the business journey of APIs is going, you must understand where we are coming from. We’ve seen exciting developments over the past few years. Companies were always good at collecting large amounts of valuable data – about their customers, products, supply chains, and more. But they weren’t always good at making the most out of it. And precisely that is the wasted chance at best and a crucial error at worst. That’s why the API economy has seen explosive growth and rapid expansion. It can unlock tremendous opportunities – for insurance companies participating in this new digital economy, for example, by offering embedded insurance products, exceptionally extending their market reach. But let’s say it in numbers: McKinsey estimates that up to 25% of personal-line premiums could be generated through embedded ecosystems by the decade’s end. For auto, that percentage could even exceed 30%.

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So, while APIs make applications and their data easier to integrate, the API economy enables businesses to profit off their APIs and create business models around them. It allows your company to monetize a portion of its data and services by creating a platform for exchange. In this way, business value creation arises, which operates independently and enables the creation of new and unique applications fueling novel and innovative business models. And it doesn’t just expose your business’s internal assets to internal users, but also to business partners, third-party developers, or the public. That brings us to the point that there is a natural way for organizations to reuse, scale and broadly adopt APIs: API marketplaces.

API marketplace – a necessary investment

Sure, we all know online marketplaces like Amazon or eBay, but instead of selling or buying electronics, furniture, or fashion from other users, you can do the same with APIs, granting you access to data or functionalities of IT Services – just like the apinity marketplace does for insurance-specific third-party services.

Sounds great? Yes, especially for API providers who lack visibility. With a marketplace, they have more chances to offer their API solutions to get the attention of customers from all over the world – as a public offer in a specific market segment or visible on the internal marketplaces of large organizations.

Investing in such an internal API marketplace helps companies encourage the development and usage of APIs, increase efficiency, and foster standardization. However, based on industry insights, building a first minimal viable product (MVP) in-house requires a team of around 15-20 people over a period of 18-24 months, including ongoing maintenance efforts. Therefore, purchasing a ready-to-use Software as a Service solution like apinity exchange offers a convenient alternative to immediately start participating in the booming API economy at a fairly low price.

Your advantage with apinity? Almost everything.

At the beginning of this article, we started with the aspect of simplicity. That is also a good point to end with. Because the primary advantage of apinity is to simplify implementation processes for you as a provider or as a consumer of APIs, you can orchestrate your API strategy across different clouds or multiple gateways and standardize your API documentation and integration processes for your developers, partners, and customers. You increase transparency and get support for contracting, billing, and operational issues. This enables your company to become a provider of third-party products yourself or even run your own branded API Shopsystem.

“The API economy is about making services and data available to generate value for your company.”

And this in a faster way than you think! Providers can onboard and publish their APIs in a self-service flow within an hour and get their custom-branded out-of-the-box API marketplace within days.

That saves time and a lot of money, as developers can efficiently find, reuse and scale APIs across projects and departments immediately, establishing a thriving API ecosystem for your company.

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Download our comprehensive request for proposal template

Thinking of launching your own API marketplace but don’t want to spend countless hours drafting an RFP template from scratch?

At apinity, we’ve got you covered with our comprehensive and insightful RFP (Request for Proposal) document that provides all the information you need to kickstart your journey into the world of API marketplaces.

Our RFP document is meticulously crafted to guide you through the essential steps and considerations for building a successful API marketplace.

It covers 60 key aspects including:

  • Company details, references and contact
  • Monetization models and workflows
  • Integration and scalability
  • Support and maintenance processes
  • Pricing structure and contracting
  • Implementation dependencies and prerequisites
  • Handling of permissions and access controlling
  • Security and privacy actions

Don’t waste time reinventing the wheel. Download our ready-to-use RFP document for API marketplaces for free by filling in the form.

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API business operations. Part 1: What is API business operations?

API business operations in the insurance industry can help to improve customer experiences, streamline processes, and open up new opportunities for collaboration and innovation.

For example, an insurance company that exposes its data and functionality through APIs can enable customers to easily access and manage their insurance policies and can allow other businesses to build innovative applications that use the company’s data to offer new types of insurance products or services.

But what is API Business Operations? What role do they play in the insurance industry? What is the value of APIs to a business? And are APIs also tradable products?

These are the questions we set out to answer in our new series, “A Guide to API Business Operations”

Where do we stand?

APIs have taken over the world of tech. Many of the most successful tech companies, such as Google, Amazon, Facebook, and Uber, generate significant portions of their revenue through APIs and integrated products. Just think about a food delivery app showing you a map of nearby restaurants – via the Google maps API.

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Due to the very technical nature of the APIs, most programs focus on security and control instead of usability, ease of use, and efficient business processes. While API security is essential (we have written a whitepaper about API security in collaboration with Google), focusing on the technical aspects alone will not bring a new offering that brings the expected benefits.

Since launching the first API marketplace for the insurance industry in Europe in 2019, we have worked with some of the largest players in the financial services industry. During this time, we have observed that many API programs fail at the same point: when APIs are published on an (often self-built) API portal and customers are expected to start using them.

API business operations. Or: The inside-out use case

This guide will initially focus on the practical aspects of publishing APIs to third parties. More use cases will follow in later articles.

Definition of API Business Operations

Looking at the definition of Business Operations on Wikipedia says:

“Business operations is the harvesting of value from assets owned by a business.”

In the context of APIs, this means efficiently maximizing the value APIs bring to the business. And actually, this applies not only to the ones created and owned by the company alone.

Instead, this principle applies to all APIs in a corporate universe:

  • Internal APIs are built in-house and used by developers and teams within the company
  • External APIs are built in-house and published to the outside world. Sometimes also called Partner APIs.
  • 3rd Party APIs from external providers that are used across the company and that are typically being purchased

This benefit can be a monetary one, but as we will see in the next section, monetization is only a small aspect of API Business Operations. Next to direct monetization, there are many more aspects to count on, such as other developers enriching your products or offering easier ways of integrating and using company assets.

So what could be a better definition of API Business Operations?

“Business operations is the harvesting of value from assets owned by a business.”

Extending the definition and including the APIs that are used by a company (but provided by 3rd parties), gives a 360° scope of maximizing the business value of all APIs for the company that uses it, no matter who owns the existing technology.

The “A Guide to API Business Operations” series will feature these articles, among others, yet to come:

  • Part 1: What is Business Operations?
  • Part 2: What is the value of APIs?
  • Part 3: Who are the Stakeholders?
  • More parts will follow. Stay tuned!

We will publish them step by step, update them as needed, and communicate updates on our LinkedIn profile. Follow us there and stay tuned.

 

We welcome your feedback, thoughts, and ideas about API Business Operations

Drop us a message if you would like a special topic on API business operations to be covered.

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