Despite tight economic situations worldwide, the API economy continues to grow. For most industries, APIs facilitate instantaneous transactions across almost any application or service, expediting the flow of goods and services. A recent report from F5 described the proliferation of APIs in this way: “If data is the new oil, then APIs will become the new plastic.”

Open APIs (or public APIs) provide many opportunities and competitive advantages. Companies can leverage open APIs to reshape their supply and delivery chains. Businesses can tap into a wide pool of developer talent and an ever-growing repository of software resources. Furthermore, companies can release their commercially developed APIs as open APIs later. By doing so, they can attract new customers, increase brand loyalty, and enhance their marketplace profile.