Observability is a hot topic right now – and it’s about to get even hotter. Future Market Insights predicts the observability platform market will more than double in size by 2032, growing from a value of US$2,173.7 million in 2022 to US$5,553.2 million a decade later. So, why is everyone so excited about observability?
So. Many. Benefits.
Tyk’s Group Product Manager, Sonja Chevre, has plenty to say when it comes to why observability is so important in the API world. Already an observability expert when she joined Tyk, Sonja has dived deeply into the business value that API observability can deliver.
In short, well-implemented API observability can deliver:
- Faster, more insightful responses to API issues and a reduced mean time to recovery
- Quicker value delivery
- Enhanced quality, resulting in better user experiences
- A greater understanding of API dependencies and their impact within API ecosystems
The combined impact of these benefits is huge – which is one reason why API observability is taking off in such a big way.
The use of real-time data to understand the health and performance of your APIs can deliver detailed insights into everything from your users to flaws in your security. Such information plays a powerful role in supporting businesses to reshape their products, gain troubleshooting and debugging efficiencies and ensure their API security is top-notch.
Ka-ching!
Of course, the money-making implications are another key reason why everyone is talking about API observability. The greater your understanding of how consumers user your products, the more chances you have to monetise those products effectively. Nor is it just the big players that can do so, as Future Market Insights points out in terms of the observability platform market:
“The increasing reliance on cloud-based solutions for service virtualization, containerization, and other purposes by various small to large-scale enterprises is serving as a cornerstone for the growth of the market.”
A growing range of solutions is opening up observability insights to businesses of all shapes and sizes. After all, any company working with APIs stands to gain from understanding them better, then feeding that knowledge into business decisions.
There’s a further monetary consideration in the form of reduced costs. Observability platforms introduce the potential for automation in monitoring the health and performance of APIs, meaning you can enjoy greater efficiencies, along with the associated cost reductions.
The tricky bit
While there are enormous gains to be made from implementing API observability, the process is not without its complexities. A lack of standardisation has created some implementation headaches and teething troubles, though the rise of OpenTelemetry is providing a powerful solution to these issues.
Another problem is bad API observability, where observability anti-patterns mean you end up not reaping the expected rewards, despite pouring time, energy and money into implementing a solution.
Getting API observability right
As ever, knowledge is the solution. When you grow your observability skills, you not only reap the rewards of outstanding insights into your APIs’ health and performance, but you also learn how to avoid the pitfalls along the way.
It was this line of thought that prompted the Tyk team to put together the LEAP 2024 observability conference on 29th February 2024, where Sonja, myself and a whopping 20 API observability experts joined together to support attendees to transform their observability skills from basic to extraordinary.
All about taking a giant LEAP forward (see what we did there? 29th Feb? Leap year…?) in your approach to platform team operations and observability strategies, the conference was packed with expert speakers, two dedicated learning tracks with business case studies and hands-on technical demos and advanced problem-solving strategies that blended technical expertise with business insights.
Our speakers included Tracetest founder Ken Hamric, Microsoft Software Engineer Hope Oluwalolope, Andreas Grabner and Henrik Rexed from the Dynatrace team, Moesif CEO Derric Gilling, Osaango Founding Partner Marjukka Niinioja and many, many more.
Sign up to be the first to unlock access to the on-demand version – launching this week!
What better foundation for collaboration and growth as you put your newly elevated and certified observability skills into practice?
Budhaditya Bhattacharya
Budha Bhattacharya is responsible for product education, community engagement, and open-source ecosystem expansion. He is the lead instructor of the API platform engineering fundamentals programmes, host of the All About APIs podcast, and the API hangout where he engages with developers and business leaders on all things APIs.
