FEATURE : SOFTWARE
However , what they often don ’ t recognize is that these strategies aren ’ t aligned with solving the new challenges that modern organizations face . A new , APIfirst approach brings far greater efficiency and a more lasting competitive edge by laying the foundation for automation everywhere and a composable enterprise strategy that enables greater reuse and business agility .
The tough sell with a huge payoff
To garner support for a new approach to integration , IT leaders should start by identifying the organization ’ s current needs and future goals . The pace of digitization has undoubtedly accelerated over the last 12 – 18 months and many CIOs are looking to address this need by solving critical operational issues so they can drive innovation faster .
IT and business teams also need to prioritize mutual collaboration if they are to grow and scale innovation and build a lasting competitive edge . By finding new ways to align , collaborate and co-create value , IT and business teams can achieve business priorities faster .
Whatever the goal , the IT team should be able to articulate the challenges the business faces to achieving that with its current approach to integration . In this way , they can demonstrate that if these issues are addressed , there will be tangible benefits for the business .
For example , it might be taking a business too long to get products to market because they ’ re reliant on systems and applications stitched together with custom integrations . Or perhaps the IT team is no longer able to manage rising workloads and is consequently unable to deliver crucial projects on time .
This is a common problem faced by businesses using outdated integration strategies : our research found that IT teams were asked to deliver nearly a third more projects last year , but only 37 % were able to deliver all of them . The board could also be persuaded by the potential to save costs with a new approach to integration . Currently , custom code integrations cost large enterprises an average of around US $ 3.5 million per year , based on labour costs alone .
So , why APIs ?
While IT teams are familiar with the benefits of a new integration strategy , they need to increase awareness and understanding across the rest of the business . They can begin by highlighting the technological benefits : with an API-led approach to integration , rigid point-to-point connections are replaced by loose couplings between data , applications and devices . These loose couplings save time and money that is currently wasted adjusting custom code every time change is needed . Governance also becomes
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