APIs and microservices are the future of application connectivity, but they present a common set of challenges for teams. Marco Palladino, CTO and co-founder of Kong Inc., shares findings from Kong’s new research to showcase how tech leaders successfully use these modern technologies.
“Innovation†has been top-of-mind for business leaders throughout the pandemic, from adopting agile business models to reworking supply chains and reinventing their software infrastructures. For the past three years, the Kong Inc. team has surveyed global IT leaders to understand how innovation, or a lack thereof, impacts their organizations, providing key insights about how teams should approach their digital transformation initiatives.Â
The 2022 API & Microservices Connectivity ReportOpens a new window found that worries of competitive displacement are at an all-time high, with 75% of technology leaders fearing that if they can’t keep up with digital innovation, they will face competitive displacement, a 13% increase since 2021 and 18% since 2020.Â
But there’s a clear path to success. The latest research underscores the vital role that microservices and APIs play in enabling true digital transformation. Let’s examine how today’s technology leaders are using APIs and microservices to stay competitive and deliver the outstanding digital experiences their customers expect.Â
The Explosion of Data Sources And Growing Connectivity Needs
Given the rise of the Internet of Things (IoT), the massive shift toward public cloud computing and the looming disruption of Web3, leaders need to find ways to connect increasingly disconnected datasets across distributed infrastructures and devices. Not to mention, customers expect optimal omnichannel experiences, leaving brands little room for error when modernizing their applications. Â
According to the research, the most common blocker of business innovation is the complexity of using multiple technologies, which was cited by 38% of respondents. The next two common challenges are a reliance on legacy technologies (which include monolithic architectures) cited by 37%, and a lack of automation in IT, also cited by 37%.
These challenges reinforce that enterprise innovation must involve a shift toward a modern tech stack and software architectures that allow data to seamlessly flow across systems in an incredibly fast and secure way.Â
On a positive note, the research found that most leaders have moved away from solely monolithic architectures. Nine in 10 respondents have either fully transitioned to entirely distributed architectures, or used a combination of monolithic with microservices. Regarding deployment, 54% use a hybrid approach with services running on-premises that are connected to services running in the cloud. As more teams step away from their monoliths, they can better integrate with new tools and technologies.Â
See More: Digital Transformation Status: Where Are You on the Low-to No-code Scale?
APIs and Microservices Are the Backbone of Modern Applications
By shedding dependencies on legacy technologies, businesses can better leverage APIs and microservices to manage the flow of data. Almost every leader surveyed (99.2%) agrees that APIs and microservices are an essential component of digital transformation.
It is undeniable that APIs and microservices-based architectures help teams modernize their enterprise infrastructure while meeting increasing privacy, security and compliance needs. At a glance, the respondents moved to microservices to increase security (23%), help teams integrate new technologies faster (19%) and increase the speed of development (18%). The data shows nearly 20% of teams have more than 100 microservices running, in production or planned, and 31% have 50-99.
Service Mesh Simplifies Microservice Management
Teams must overcome the natural growing pains of managing APIs and microservices, and the most innovative organizations tackle their challenges head-on to realize the full potential of these technologies.Â
To best manage APIs and microservices, 53% of teams use API development tools, along with API developer portals (50%) and API testing tools (49%). There are many great open source options that you can adopt to fulfill each of these needs. Â
Service mesh has also exploded in popularity across our studies to manage, monitor and connect microservices. A majority of respondents (80%) have a service mesh in production or deployment, and only 1% have no plans to evaluate or deploy service meshes within the following year. This growth in adoption is remarkable, especially considering that our prior year’s research showed that only 20% of teams were using service mesh.Â
Service mesh architectures provide powerful levels of automation and help information flow between containers and applications. Organizations have already unlocked incredible savings through innovative service mesh implementations, such as replacing traditional load balancers with service mesh to reduce a hop in the network (and potentially save enterprises millions of dollars).Â
DevOps Principles Empower Modern Teams
While it is clear that APIs, microservices and service mesh technologies are essentials for digital innovation, technology is not the only answer. Alongside these technology advancements, teams must prioritize the developer experience and adopt a CI/CD approach to accelerate innovation and ROI.Â
No two digital transformation journeys are the same, but it is essential to stay ahead of the latest trends to adopt technologies and practices that empower your developers to deliver on your brand needs.
How are you making the most of APIs and microservices? Tell us all about it on LinkedInOpens a new window , TwitterOpens a new window , or FacebookOpens a new window . We’d love to know!