I’ve been thinking about the potential for measuring value exchange at the API management level a lot more lately, and while I’m working on a project to profile banks that are needing to comply with the PSD2 regulations in Europe, I’m thinking about the missed opportunities for the API providers I’m using to fuel my research to leverage the value I’m generating. I’m using a variety of data enrichment APIs for helping add to the contact data, corporate profiles, images, documents, patents, and other valuable data to what I’m doing as part of my wider research into the API space. While these APIs have valuable services that I am paying for, all of the APIs are just using one HTTP verb–GET.
On a regular basis I come across incorrect, or incomplete data, and as part of my work I dive in and correct the data, and continue to connect the dots. I often find better copies of logos, add in relevant business profile data, and I always provide very detailed information regarding a company’s API–which I find to be some of the most telling aspects of what a company does, or doesn’t do. I’m thankful for the services that the 3rd party APIs I utilize, but I think they are missing out on a pretty big opportunity for trusted partners like me to be able to POST or PUT the data I am gathering back to their systems.
I would love to be able to POST and PUT back information to the APIs I am GETting my data from, and receive credits to my API bill for these contributions. It would benefit API providers by helping ensure the data they are providing is complete and acurate, and it would benefit me by helping me keep my API bills as low as possible. I understand that it would some work on the provider side to ensure I’m a trusted partner, and being able to verify the POST and PUT API calls I am making actually add value, but with a proper queue, and a little bit of human power, it wouldn’t take that much. At first it may seem like the investment would be more than the value, but all you’d have to do is find a handful of partners like me who would significantly contribute to the data you provide via your APIs.
When it comes to the value exchanged via APIs, and it always seems to be the heavily dominated user generated content platforms like Facebook and Twitter, or the GET only data providers, without a lot in between. Most providers I talk with are nervous about the quality of data, and the overhead with managing contributions. Which is definitely true if the flood gates are wide open, but with the proper approach to API management, and sensible access tiers for partners, you could easily identify who the most valuable API consumers were. Do not miss out on the opportunity to allow trusted partners like me to POST and PUT, and receive credits on my bill, making API management, and the value exchange that occurs via your platform a two-way street.
