With an engineering platform helping teams producing APIs successfully being defined, let’s move on to the mapping of the API business platform landscape, and what the business properties of API operations will look like. This business perspective applies to both internal, private partner, or public API operations, providing a standardized way to define and govern the business aspects of making APIs available between domains within the enterprise, externally with trusted partners, and in some cases publicly to 3rd-party developers.
- Portal - Where APIs can be accessed by consumers for use in applications and integrations.
- Gateway - The domain or region in which a gateway is deployed to target specific consumers.
- Plans - What the rate limits, features, resources, and other business details of API consumption are.
- Billing - The invoicing and payment system in place to charge for or just quantity value of API usage.
- Legal - Handling of terms of use, privacy, provenance, code of conduct, and licensing for APIs.
The business of APIs isn’t limited to public facing API products, and it is increasingly common to sell API products internally within an enterprise. API management combined with rate limits and billing allows for API producers to charge for access, or at least quantify the usage and expense associated with API applications and integrations. The API business platform landscape should begin with the fundamentals of governing API access and consumption over time, helping keep things more observable and sustainable.
