Clients frequently tell us that the hardest part of “going digital” is accessing all the data and processes trapped in their core systems of record – some of which are not ready for digital.
…this is particularly the case for enterprise clients who may have hundreds of IT systems across multiple regions, service lines and business units, many of which have grown through acquisition.
This is of course compounded by the fact that it is not just a case of accessing the data and processes but also doing so in a secure, reliable, scalable, and cost effective way – that is the crux of the issue.
According to McKinsey less than 30% of transformations succeed, and only 23% of respondents say their organisation’s digital transformation have successfully improved performance. It is likely you will need to hire, fire and re-train large teams of leaders, managers, consultants and engineers, who are used to working in different ways. It is important to work cohesively so that they can deliver high-quality at high-speed velocity.
A large variety of technologies are needed to deliver applications and integrations that are robust, secure and scalable enough for your business to depend on. In this cloud era, the technical stacks that are being used are changing rapidly and it is hard to assemble the technical building blocks in a cohesive way.
We have a unique lens on this problem due to our rich background in enterprise integration coupled with our knowledge of delivering cloud and digital experience platforms. We have worked with most of the leading API and enterprise integration vendors. We have also worked with all the main cloud providers and have researched the open source offerings in the market.
We found that there is no one off-the-shelf product that does everything that is needed, which is why we have some unique solutions for this – already in use at some investment and retail banks – but really these solutions could apply to any industry.
It has been said that “transformations are hard, and digital ones are harder”.
There’s alot more to say on this, so we’ve put all our thinking into this pdf download: 25 Factors To Consider When Evaluating API Products & Vendors
Over thousands of hours of research and projects delivered, we have developed our view of the top criteria to consider when evaluating API platforms. We have described these for you in this document, along with a description of our approach with our products in each case. We hope it helps you on your journey to digital maturity using APIs and cloud technology.