Digital transformation solutions though appearing to be highly beneficial, but how to modernize their legacy business systems without causing any disruptions is the challenge. Here, APIs evolved as the key enabler in conducting risk-free legacy modernization and driving businesses digital transformation aspirations.

Blockades to Modernization of Legacy Systems

To stay alive and competitive in these digital technology driven business environments, digital empowerment of business systems is a must. Also, the customers adapting to the fast-paced technology innovations like IoT, Artificial Intelligence, voice assistants, chatbots, smart mobiles and so on, has necessitated the need to extend the businesses capabilities to stay connected with all these new-age technology touch points. The advancements in these technologies are too dynamic that, businesses are finding difficulties to merge with these disparate systems.

In some cases, integrating legacy systems with these modern applications without any disruptions is the biggest hurdle. For example, like legacy airline systems, signaling and other system information is too deep-rooted that replacing these systems is a mere deadliest nightmare. These can’t take the risk of total digital transformation of their legacy systems, as the case of risk is very high. In this case, airlines legacy systems opt to go for software integration.

Though Service-Oriented-Architectures attempted to resolve the problem partly but are not stable enough to solve the problem at controlled cost and stability. Instead, not leveraging the right balance between agility in making changes and systems stability started to inject new problems. This is where Application Programming Interface (API) evolved hitting the right balance between change, control, visibility, and stability.

(Learn How legacy systems can harm your business here)

How API’s Smoothens Digital Transformation Process

Figure: API-Led Connectivity. Source: MuleSoft

APIs bind the data, processes, and business systems, and enables the outside world to access the systems and data through APIs (refer above image). These act as a governing authority to the business data, systems, processes and UI. Say, to access a particular application or a server systems API are used and same is with processes and apps. This way structuring APIs enables the businesses with agility to integrate with any number of outside applications easily. This way business systems can have better connectivity with any number endpoint applications or devices at any given time securely.

Especially while dealing with legacy systems, APIs prove to be effective in utilizing the functionalities in a secure manner without having to worry about the system configurability on the other end. This way, without having to replace the legacy systems businesses can gain the digital transformation benefits. This makes modernizing business systems easy. Also, APIs aid two or more distinct platforms to communicate securely. Despite that simplicity, they have hundreds of uses. Joe McKendrick of Forbes notes that creating an API strategy adds functionality, increases agility, and decreases operating costs.

Following are the benefits API-led legacy modernization do have:

• Decreased Operational Costs
• Stabilizes Software Ecosystem
• Consistencies in Data management
• Ensure same digital experiences across various disparate systems
• Guarantees harmony among various intra and inter functional systems (like design, planning, execution, control, and monitoring) is damaging to the principles guiding the supply chain management.
• It eliminates the pain of a new integration system
• It helps you efficiently manage all your APIs in one location
• It uses a single platform to securely and rapidly expose Enterprise data to web apps and other devices

If you are looking out on how API can benefit your organization, feel free to consult our expert for a free consultation.