Tech executives are turning to microservices and APIs to help them achieve their business goals. In a recent MuleSoft survey, more than three-quarters (78 per cent) of IT professionals questioned said pressure to deliver IT services had increased during the past 12 months. Of these, two-thirds (66 per cent) said that change was needed in order to meet a “significant” or “drastic” increase in pressure. This pressure comes as no surprise – increased competition, the need to deliver services and applications to customers more quickly and the need to unlock the value of siloed business data and assets are all putting pressure on IT organizations to transform.
Ross Mason recently wrote in Computer Business Review, “This need for company-wide agility has become one of the driving forces behind the development of API strategies, and it is fuelling a growing interest in microservices.”
Microservices and APIs add flexibility
IT organizations are interested in increasing flexibility both in utilizing existing technology and adding new applications as the business requires. In our survey, we discovered that the majority of ITDMs said they are currently using APIs to free data, specifically link new software with existing systems and applications (72 percent) or unlock data silos (55 percent). 52 percent also indicated the need to increase agility and enable business teams to self-serve IT as a reason for having an API strategy.
Agility was also shown to be behind much of the interest in microservices. Respondents using or thinking of using microservices identified the ability to add new features or capabilities without re-writing a whole application as most important.
Ross notes, “As CIOs…adapt containerized technology, they will create API-led microservices that will impact the way that teams are structured and managed. The prize is great agility in delivering and changing software. Microservices ..can ensure that the organization remains as nimble as possible in order to maintain competitive advantage.”
Business success depends on integration
The world of technology is moving too fast to keep doing things the old way – the role of IT is no longer to manage the data center and keep the lights on, but rather to become a strategic partner to the business, guiding the whole organization to a holistic use of technology. As Ross often says, “businesses will compete on the ability to unlock the value of their siloed data and assets and to connect the unconnected.” These strategic integration decisions – as well as microservices and API strategies – will help your business
For more resources on how transforming IT can help your business, take a look at our eBook First, Break IT: How Composable Services are Changing the Role of the CIO.
