Tyk’s research has uncovered five trends underpinning a business’s new way of thinking and approach to API management. We wanted to share these to benefit those seeking that delicate balance between innovation, governance and security and to make strategic plans for API management for 2023 and beyond.
1. Security by design
Many businesses are now adopting API management tools to abstract security and governance into a separate, dedicated layer. This separation of concerns enables developers to focus on the functionality of their APIs as their priority. They no longer need to roll security and governance into the main code base, as the API management tool takes care of those functions. The result? More robust governance and security and happier developers. Win-win.
This separation of concerns means that APIs are secure by design. There is no longer a single point of failure regarding API security. Instead, there are two dedicated layers, one of which looks into the application’s business logic while the other manages governability. Evolving and developing APIs now starts from a fundamentally more secure base.
With Tyk, you can take this even further by delegating specific areas of your API security to dedicated external tools, such as identity providers (IdPs), with Tyk playing the role of mediator.
2. Hybrid architecture and multi-cloud environments
A 2022 report by Flexera found that 89 percent of those organisations surveyed report having a multi-cloud strategy, and 80 percent are using a hybrid approach that combines both public and private cloud structures.
Hybrid Cloud is growing in popularity because it enables businesses to have access from different devices to easily maintain and update the APIs alongside the higher level of security that keeping gateways private implies.
One of the most remarkable features of current-day computer systems is the ability to interconnect and synchronise different platforms and technologies through exposed APIs. This was the basis for developing the hybrid cloud concept, a working model that draws the increasing attention of many organisations worldwide.
Tyk’s flexible and scalable multi-cloud API management solution enables you to control multiple API gateways across several cloud providers and their respective regions, all through a single dashboard.
With Tyk Hybrid, the Management layer is hosted and managed by Tyk with the gateway(s) deployed locally and managed by you with your own Data Centre, Public or Private Cloud or even on your machine.
3. The need for a single view of all APIs
With a growing array of in-house and third-party software, businesses often need help to see precisely what’s occurring at a macro level. Again, this is an area where API management is proving extremely useful. An effective API management solution will mediate complicated software ecosystems and provide a single bird’s eye view of an organisation’s APIs. This translation of complexity into simplicity is supporting businesses to crystallise their digital strategies in new ways, as centring their software around an API platform delivers more significant insights.
4. A standardised approach to security management
Standardisation can be a powerful thing, particularly when it comes to security. By applying a layer of API management on top, businesses can take a standardised approach to API security management. Beneath that layer can sit services written in different programming languages, various frameworks and development teams. The business can organise these in whichever way suits it best while enjoying the peace of mind that standardised security management provides.
This is particularly useful given the proliferation of personalised and effective digital products that DevOps has empowered teams to deliver. No longer must these pieces of software be siloed – API management is connecting the dots between them (and between their data) in ways that enable businesses to aggregate data from many different parts of an enterprise without security headaches.
Christoph Kufner, Senior IT Architect at Einhell Germany AG, sums it up nicely:
“Tyk has provided Einhell Germany AG with peace of mind due to the enhanced security of its APIs and superb management oversight through greater control and monitoring abilities.”
5. Reliance on API insights and observability
API monitoring and observability are methods used to monitor application program interfaces (APIs) to gain insight into their availability, performance, and proper functionality. They allow you to see how your APIs are performing, how they are being used, and how they drive business value.
API observability is all about ensuring APIs are observable.
Observability is based on exploring properties and patterns not defined in advance; the core breaks down into three key areas: structured logs, metrics, and traces.
Data-driven API engineering efficiency needs API performance and activity to be monitored and observable.
Embrace the future
Is your business ready to start benefiting from embracing these new ways of thinking about API management? If so, try Tyk out for yourself or book a demo and let our engineers show you how you can achieve your goals.
