APIs are crucial intermediaries, allowing web and mobile applications to communicate – that’s why over 90% of developers use APIs, and over 83% of all internet traffic involves them. This pervasiveness will only grow as more companies switch to the cloud and build hundreds of APIs around core business services.
API management has become a necessity for many organisations in a world with millions of applications. However, doing so in-house can be difficult and time-consuming. Procuring the right software and infrastructure is expensive, as is training or hiring engineers to manage, secure, maintain, and update the dynamically changing technology. Using on-premises software can involve infrastructure overheads, upskilling, and security requirements.
These challenges take time and resources away from development. That’s why many companies manage their APIs on the cloud instead. Cloud API management simplifies the setup, configuration, and maintenance of an organisation’s infrastructure for its APIs. Such tools include API gateways, developer portals, API lifecycle management, analytics, and monetisation.
By employing cloud API management solutions, developers and DevOps engineers can streamline their focus on leveraging APIs throughout the development process, significantly enhancing productivity. This article delves into these tools’ transformative capabilities, illustrating how they efficiently save time and resources, irrespective of your operational framework.
Fast and easy API management in the cloud
The cloud provides a quick and convenient way to start with API management. It offers a fully managed service that includes everything to manage your APIs and increase productivity at a low cost. Let’s review some key benefits of cloud-based API management.
Guided setup
Your team is likely more than capable of setting up an API management tool. However, the process can be arduous, as it includes setting up new accounts and integrations, generating security keys, configuring your code, and more. The number of decisions, record-keeping, and general tedium can overwhelm your team, resulting in an unnecessary delay in your adoption strategy.
Cloud API management tools remove the guesswork from the equation. Cloud solutions guide you through the entire setup process and come with ready-to-use pre-configurations. Unlike manual or on-premises solutions, you can save time on trial-and-error or learning new skills. Just choose which features matter most to your organisation and let the tool do the rest.
Less infrastructure setup and lower setup costs
Cloud API management takes away the stress and hassle of setting up expensive on-premises hardware infrastructure and ultimately gives back time for management to focus on core business value. Your developers can use only the resources and services they require without the unnecessary bells and whistles (security, redundancy measures, disaster recovery, power supplies, compliance measures, et al.).
Resource provisioning agility means that ROI appear more quickly and at higher rates. Cloud API management systems allow IT managers to only use core resources, helping to maintain a lean operating model and slash unnecessary upfront costs. Going cloud-first dramatically reduces TCO and enables rapid decision-making.
Easy scaling
Moving API management to the cloud brings tremendous scalability advantages. Onboarding or decommissioning resources are reduced to just a few minutes rather than the previously required hours (or days) to decommission hardware. Your system administrators no longer need to fill out lengthy change requests, spend days in a constant to-and-fro between stakeholders, align vendors, and then carry out risky executions. Cloud platforms remove the risk and complexity from the equation and allow real-time provisioning and decommissioning of resources, saving effort, time, and money while creating unparalleled flexibility for businesses.
Automatic updates
As technology advances, so does your cloud management system. The cloud updates itself automatically, so your hosted solution is always up-to-date, reducing the hassle of system administration. You can also schedule updates during non-critical hours to minimise downtime and ensure they don’t interfere with heavy operational workloads.
Compliance
Compliance is crucial to any organisation, especially healthcare and finance, which handle sensitive data. It can be difficult to keep up with rapidly evolving standards and regulations. However, cloud API management tools help you monitor and highlight compliance issues when they occur. Consequently, your team won’t need to relearn and upgrade the in-house system when regulations change constantly. It reduces the risk of breaching compliance requirements and saves organisations from penalties.
Baked-in security
Security is a top priority in APIs. Cloud management tools come with multi-layered security and authentication to protect your organisation’s APIs from malicious attackers. Furthermore, your team can enforce security policies across all APIs from a single control plane instead of setting up redundant security measures for each service.
This single-window operation makes it easier for developers to follow security best practices, saving them time and money on expensive security consultants.
Zero downtime
One of the biggest problems with on-premises API management is that you’re solely responsible for keeping your servers up and running at all times. This means you must provide uninterrupted power, a reliable network, and 24/7 monitoring and security. Unfortunately, downtime is inevitable as unplanned outages and other issues occur despite best efforts.
However, cloud-based solutions are always running. This ensures that outages don’t impede your API management. Due to the high redundancy built into cloud-native solutions, there’s virtually zero downtime. Your management tools are always ready to go.
Ease of use
Cloud API management makes everything more convenient. Organisations no longer need to set up and maintain infrastructure. Choose a provider, sign up for a plan, and you’re ready to go. Transitioning to new software or services can also occur in minutes without additional cost.
Setting up a new integration is simple and quick. Your teams won’t delay other projects or one another while waiting for integrations to be completed. To add an integration with a new service, another team simply logs into the portal, chooses from the available APIs, and configures the integration settings.
Scaling up or down is also seamless. There’s no need to invest in bulky, expensive hardware that needs to be replaced or discarded when your business changes. Consequently, cloud-based solutions are an excellent option for companies undergoing rapid expansion.
Tyk Cloud
Tyk Cloud is a powerful API management system that saves time and money. It’s a pre-configured API gateway management tool that allows you to connect RESTful APIs. With Tyk Cloud, there’s no vendor lock-in or complex deployments. Your team will benefit from optimising your platforms across and between various providers, such as Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Google Cloud.
Tyk features:
- Enterprise-grade security: Tyk delivers industry-standard API security solutions without hidden extras. Everything you need to secure your APIs — from multi-chained authentication to OAuth 2.0 — is included as standard.
- Unparalleled service and support: Tyk’s 24/7 service, coupled with a powerful community, makes sure that help is always at hand.
- Flexibility: Code in any language. Connect with old and new tech stacks using Tyk’s fully open-source codebase.
Simplify, save, innovate
Managing APIs can be complex, time-consuming, and expensive, but it doesn’t have to be. Cloud-based API management tools like Tyk Cloud provide shorter learning curves, automatic updates, and baked-in security and compliance without the cost and hassle of on-premises solutions. This means you can spend less time and resources managing your APIs and more time on what those APIs are for.
Try Tyk Cloud for all the benefits of cloud API management.
