The larger the company you run, the more likely it is to have multiple teams, departments, and even locations working towards your overall business goals. This, of course, is a great way to improve efficiencies and increase output. However, this can also lead to problems if you don’t have the right systems, business processes, and software to empower your team to achieve their goals seamlessly.

Especially as your team grows, it’s critical to ensure that you have the right tools in the hands of the staff members who need them most. That being said, if you don’t have the right approach to managing those tools, you may be holding your business back. The perfect example of this is how APIs can totally transform how your business operates from the ground up. API management can seem like a complex task; however, it actually is much more straightforward than you might think. Rather than getting bogged down in terminology about API gateways or API management solutions, it’s better to focus on the premise of functionality and how integration with various microservices will ultimately improve how your business functions. Keep reading to learn more about APIs and how an API management solution can benefit your business.

API management is, you must understand what an API is. API stands for “application programming interface.” In a nutshell, an API handles the integration between two disparate data sources or services. For example, you can have an analytics platform pull data from several cloud-based software solutions your company uses with an API. An API platform and microservices architecture can also help you integrate various web-based microservices with your website if you run on WordPress or another CMS platform. As such, APIs are a powerful technological tool for bridging different systems or software solutions. API management makes it easier to handle these different API platforms, offering cloud-based development and deployment all through one API management platform.

testing resources for API management and API programs and API documentation to take a look at, if you’re not experienced as an API developer, it can be a bit daunting to approach internal APIs on your own. Especially with every digital business having its own needs in terms of functionality and API security, the architecture of your APIs and microservices can get complicated quickly. If you’re looking for a way to simplify how you integrate APIs with your business, it may be worth looking into developers who have experience with different API management platforms.

Even if you’re using developers to assist with your API design or API analytics, having an API portal that you understand and can use can be just as important when it comes to simplifying your deployment. Especially if you’re working with external developers to boost your API usage, having API management tools can really streamline your process. The goal of API management is ultimately to allow you to manage your APIs from anywhere, including the deployment process. With cloud-native API management tools, not only are you simplifying your development team’s approach to using APIs, but you’re also future-proofing your efforts. With more and more vendors and tools selecting cloud-based options for their products, it’s going to become just as important to have an API manager that offers flexibility and power via the cloud, too. By choosing the right API management tools from the get-go, you’ll have everything you need to use APIs now and in the future.