The rationale behind opening up your API
Old-school software developers are turning in their graves at the thought of opening up APIs into their code so that others can write new apps that use their data and processes. Its a scary notion, but it makes perfect sense for consumer web apps in the web 2.0 world.
Consider this, if you are developing and running an enterprise app, something that runs your business, something that your staff use in their daily processes to conduct your business, the story is very different. Often your data is considered a component of your competitive advantage so why would you want to open that up to possible competitors? You probably wouldn’t, and that’s how many MIS managers minds are still thinking.
But, in the world of the read/write web, where apps are written for consumers to use, and given to them for free its a different story. We monetize our businesses based on large numbers of user using our services over our competitors, and that is achieved by being competitive and being well known - opening up an API is a neat way to do this. Why? It’s well explained here (except from Wikinomics by Don Tapscott) with the aid of an example, Technorati:
“Perhaps the most powerful characteristic of the programmable web is that it invites collaboration by design with open standards and open application programming interfaces (API) that allow separate websites to intermingle. Startups like Flickr, 43 Things, del.icio.us, Technorati [DI> and Facebook, Yelp, Google Maps, Microsoft Maps, etc, etc] for example opened up their APIs as a way to crank out new features, attract users, and scale up their businesses quickly.
Lets just reinforce that point can we, this is a strategy to:
• crank out new features
• attract users
• scale up your businesses quickly.
If you are operating in today’s web space aren’t these the things you are trying to achieve?
“It comes down to a question of limited time and, frankly, limited creativity” says Tantek Celik, Chief Technologist at Technorati. “No matter how smart you are, and no matter how hard you work, three or four people in a start-up – or even small companies with thirty people – can only come up with so many great ideas.”
Its all based on a principle the new generation of Web start-ups learned from the open-source software community: There are always more smart people outside your enterprise boundaries than there are inside. By opening up their APIs companies create an environment for low-risk experimentation where anybody who wants to develop on top of their platforms can do so. Celik says there are potentially millions of developers who might just have the right combination of skills and insight to create something really valuable. “No need to send you a formal request,” says Celik. “They can just take those APIs and innovate. Then, if someone builds a great new service or capability, we’ll work out a commercial licensing agreement so that everybody makes money.”