business challenges solved by apis: what every executive should know

Elastic Path™ Elastic Path™

Business Challenges Solved by APIs

What Every Executive Should Know

May 25, 2012

Elastic Path Software Inc.

David Chiu

Matthew Bishop

Kin Lane

http://www.elasticpath.com/webinar/api-for-execs-resource




Introducing Elastic Path Software

Digital Commerce for Innovators

• We help the world’s biggest brands sell digital goods and services

• We provide a flexible digital commerce platform and expertise in

commerce strategy and implementation

• #1 ecommerce blog www.getelastic.com

• For more on-demand digital commerce resources

www.elasticpath.com/resources

http://www.getelastic.com

http://www.elasticpath.com/resources


What every executive should know

• Distilling digital disruption into specific issues

• The promise of an API strategy

• The current reality of API technology

• Why the developer experience is critical

• What makes a great commerce API

• The future of API technology

• Taking it to the real world


Device and plan selection

What exactly are we trying to solve here?


Digital disruption defined

Source: Forrester Research, Inc Source: Forrester Research, Inc


Digital disruption distilled

Singular experience Everywhere Consistent Relevant Embedded Unobtrusive Partnered Fast Cheap


• Commerce-as-a-service

• Allows core data and capabilities to be easily shared

• Loops commerce into your BI stream

• Puts commerce into every customer experience

• Isolates the “do” from the “how” and “why”

• It’s like the Borg from Star Trek

• Empowers developers to do all these things

Singular experience Everywhere Consistent Relevant Embedded Unobtrusive Partnered Fast Cheap

Commerce APIs are great at these things (in theory)


The gulf between promise and reality

Elastic Path™ Elastic Path™ Entitlements Billing Customer Care Analytics

PIM Acquisition Monetization Subscriptions

Magical API Magic!

Storefront Mobile OTT Apps CMS/CEM

Embedded

In-App/In-Game

Social

Partners

The Promise

Elastic Path™ Elastic Path™ Entitlements Billing Customer Care Analytics

PIM Acquisition

Conventional REST API

Subscriptions Monetization

$$$

$$$

The Reality


A good API gets the job done. A great API works like a superpower.


What separates to good from the great?

• A good API uses the REST architectural style

• A great API conforms to Level 3 or 3+ REST

• Very hard to do this with SOAP or RPC

– SOAP is not designed for simplicity and human

understanding

– RPC does not communicate very well and is

usually an existing programmatic API


A model centered on the user, not the system

• The names and data shapes should look like what

you are trying to accomplish

• You don't have to learn how their system functions in

order to use it

• Netflix's API uses terms and actions pulled straight

from their user experience


Consistency applied to all resources

• Facebook's Graph API is a great example

– All the resources behave the same way

– View the same, post the same, search the same

• You learn it for one resource and you have it for all

the resources


Thin data objects

• Be wary of APIs that have huge objects

– These are hard to maintain on both sides

• Look for APIs that have expands to let your client

shape the response

– Our API calls this feature “zoom”


Stateless

• The API should let you call into it at any point

without precursor calls, other than authentication


The value of a great API is speed and agility. Go from an idea to a prototype in hours, not weeks.


Questions

For more on-demand digital commerce resources

www.elasticpath.com/resources

[email protected]

1.800.942.5282 (toll-free in North America)

www.elasticpath.com

http://www.elasticpath.com/resources

business challenges solved by apis: what every executive should know

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