APIs
API Economy Brings Demand for Managed Services
Enthusiasm is picking up for digital business projects based on APIs. Also beginning to build is interest in managed services surrounding API projects.
APIs at the Heart of Digital Business
50% of respondents use APIs; 46% of respondents currently have a digital business initiative that requires use of APIs.
APIs Gaining Traction
6% of respondents plan to implement an API program in the next year. This figure is expected to increase by an additional 12% in the next two to three years. In about 30% of all cases, these initiatives are driven by technical and business motivations.
Biggest API Challenges
Topping the list of challenges are legacy systems and infrastructure (65%), support from senior managers (57%), security enforcement and management (54%), and governance and lack of flexible integration (both tied at 52%).
Main Business Challenges
Nearly half (46%) cite operation efficiency as either top or second priority. Another 44% cite revenue growth/budget growth.
EDI Still Plays a Role
53% are using in-house or legacy EDI solutions, with 27 percent using more than three in-house or legacy EDI solutions. About a third (31%) of respondents have used existing B2B gateways/translation engines for more than eight years.
Most Common B2B Integration Tasks
Certificate updates (69%), changes in trading partner agreements (60%), and changes in nature/privileges partner agreements and changes in translation/processes requirements (both at 54%) round out the top integration tasks.
Impact of B2B Transaction Failure
Service-level agreement (SLA) violation (77%), followed by compliance issues (71%) and revenue loss (67%) top the list. More than half of enterprises also indicated that they have failed to comply with customer-driven SLAs in the past.
B2B Visibility
More than half have limited visibility into B2B transactions beyond the status of file transfers or the type of EDI document. A majority are aware of the potential business impact of B2B transaction failures.
Inclination to Replace Existing B2B Integration Platform
About one-sixth have considered replacing their existing B2B integration solutions due to the high cost of ownership and inability to respond quickly to production issues, and for supporting business growth and/or entering new markets.
Methods of B2B Integration Deployment
About one-third of respondents are considering consolidation of existing EDI solutions/infrastructure in the next 12 to 24 months.
Cloud-Based B2B Integration Services
About 10% of respondents are already using cloud-based B2B integration services, while 33% are considering doing so. Moreover, 18% are inclined to use a cloud-based B2B model under a managed services model.
Using Managed Services Brings Big Savings
Ovum finds that “cloud-based B2B integration services under a managed services model” reduces total operating costs 30% to 40%.