TALKING

We have become accustomed to rough years where our business operations are pummelled by external factors against which there seems little defence . But tough times have a tradition of turning soft coal into diamonds .

For example , banks could produce APIs for resilience , agility and scale . They could accelerate their migration by standardising ways for cloud-based applications to interact with existing internal systems and the sensitive data they hold even before banks transition those systems to the cloud .

Any enterprise that has adopted API-first strategies will soon reap the benefits of faster innovation and more strategic partnerships . Developing API capabilities early in the cloud migration process makes it easier to develop or adopt new applications across more of the organisation ’ s services as migration continues .

Instead of more developers , organisations can seek better tools . In 2023 , we can expect these tools to take the form of cloud-native , low-code and nocode development platforms ( LDPs ) that raise the level of abstraction at which developers interact with development environments to make them more productive . LDPs also allow for non-technical or ‘ citizen ’ developers to be upskilled and take the burden off the coding team . Extensible LDPs are out there . They allow platform vendors to find the sweet spot between standardisation and customisation .

An API-first strategy will be a must for accelerating innovation

Application Programming Interfaces ( APIs ) allow innovation to hit a pace that individual organisations cannot reach on their own . Businesses that have an API-first strategy can be from any industry , but APIs are of particular use to highly regulated sectors where compliance with privacy and other standards is of prime concern .

Returning to the FSI industry as an example , according to a joint survey by American Banker and Arizent , 48 % of financial institutions offer banking as a platform via a third-party application . FinTech providers are a great way for banks to partner on digital experiences and get them to market quickly . But such opportunities exist for other industries . The organisation that establishes the customer relationship retains that relationship and maintains privacy through an API while partnering with a trusted third-party provider to roll out much-needed digital experiences .

The road gets smoother

We have become accustomed to rough years where our business operations are pummelled by external factors against which there seems little defence . But tough times have a tradition of turning soft coal into diamonds . The region has endured , its economy has survived and we are poised for success if we only adopt the right digital strategy and investments . There are decisions ahead , but also fortunes for those who make the right moves . p

38 INTELLIGENTCIO MIDDLE EAST www . intelligentcio . com