FINAL WORD
and capabilities being developed . As a result , many organisations relied on pointto-point integrations as a means of quickly connecting systems and data . However , this option is not viable in the long run , as it can increase costs , limit agility and delay innovation due to tight couplings between systems .
Over the next year , we can expect to see a shift towards the use of APIs as a way for organisations to reduce the technical debt they ’ ve accumulated over the course of the pandemic . APIs create a loose coupling between applications , data , and devices , helping to support a faster pace of change to create new capabilities , without affecting the functionality of digital services or existing integrations .
Enabling ‘ citizen integrators ’
The rising demand for digital innovation highlights a key problem facing organisations this year : it is becoming more challenging for IT teams to keep pace with the needs of the business with the finite resources they have at their disposal .
To overcome this challenge , we can expect to see the rise of ‘ citizen integrators ’ as organisations empower non-technical teams to deliver their own digital projects . This will allow anyone in the organisation to compose new digital services without writing a single line of code . By using APIs , organisations will be able to reimagine their digital assets as a network of reusable capabilities that anyone can use , even without specialist skills . Enabling citizen integrators helps to free up time for IT departments to work on highervalue , strategic initiatives .
Using data more effectively
As customers ’ circumstances are changing quickly throughout the pandemic , it is more important than ever for organisations to show empathy and adapt to their needs . Therefore , it should be a priority for organisations to use their data to create a single view of the customer . This will allow them to power personalised and connected digital experiences , which in turn will help organisations to respond to the needs of the customer with greater agility and more effectively .
As a result , we can expect data analytics to grow in importance . However , analytics is only successful when fuelled with a complete set of data that exposes the context behind an insight or trend . Therefore , organisations will prioritise their API strategies this year as they look to connect their systems and applications effectively , to enable them to maximise the value of their data by drawing information from a range of sources .
Few of us could have imagined how the pace of Digital Transformation would accelerate over the last 12 months , but the experience has highlighted the importance of being prepared . This year , we will see more organisations using APIs as a means of developing their resilience to future challenges . This will provide a way of tackling the immediate pressure for rapid transformation , while positioning organisations to be more agile to copewith ever-greater customer demands in the future . •
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