Swagger, SoapUI and SmartBear released their annual report on global API trends for the third time. The global pandemic and evolving API practices have significantly affected the team experience. The company is more focused than ever on creating seamless and unified systems across all organizations. How do they achieve digital transformation? This is the focus of more than 1,500 API developers, architects, testers, and product potential customers.
background
SmartBear received more than 3,500 survey responses, revealing current trends involving the API life cycle and the driving factors behind the entire API ecosystem. Questions include the following: • API design • Development history • Literature information • Testing • Monitoring methods • Technologies and tools • Standard SmartBear methods include a wide range of respondents. Contrary to similar surveys (such as the status of Cloud Elements API integration), SmartBear's research seems to be more comprehensive. The number of participants in the 2020 API Status Report is almost four times that of the former. Smartbear collected more than 3,500 answers from professionals, involving 52 individual questions. The company said that this is the first such report during the COVID-19 crisis.
The size of the participating organizations ranges from 1 to 10,000-most companies employ 100 or fewer employees, and some participants employ more than 1,000 employees. The largest number of companies surveyed employed 1 to 25 employees, accounting for 23% of the respondents. Although each organization’s “tier” is fully represented, the numbers show that SmartBear has a high appeal among smaller companies (or startups). Now, let's enter some key points.
API development is a cross-industry job
Some well-known industries are leading the way in API creation and account for the largest proportion of respondents in the SmartBear survey: • IT services and consulting – 28% • Financial services – 14% • Computer hardware and software – 13% However, others Companies in the industry are also taking action. Telecommunications, utilities, retailers and healthcare providers have begun to develop their own APIs. These cloud computing tasks are expected to accelerate digitization for many teams. Improving the customer experience is another benefit of this transition, especially in the healthcare sector, where there is an increasing demand for digital bridges between patients and healthcare providers. According to SmartBear's pie chart of respondents, there are 18 industries. However, we can assume that professionals from other industries have joined. Their collective voice is not enough to make up a chart. Although 55% of professionals live in these spaces, more "traditional" fields (such as distributed manufacturing) are exploring APIs more frequently.
API adoption is still a new phenomenon
SmartBear’s findings suggest something quite interesting: Although Salesforce released its first API as early as the early 2000s, in the past five years, only 45% of interviewed organizations have begun to provide APIs. At least 20% of participating organizations have developed APIs for more than ten years. This leads us to speculate on two points: API development (at least in the early stages) is expensive and time-consuming. Open source tools are not rich enough, and only financially strong companies may be willing to try (whether in financial or other aspects) to provide APIs. Today's development process is more approachable—especially when low-code solutions are getting more attention. User-friendliness and the adoption of cloud services make API creation easier and more friendly. At the same time, more than 50% of respondents rely on cloud providers for API management. And incentives and changing expectations are encouraging new trials of APIs. Don’t forget, the vast majority of SmartBear’s respondents are from companies with less than 100 employees. Today, it is difficult to become a competitive startup company without in-depth research on digital technologies such as APIs. 
Only 32% of API providers believe that their organization's API documentation is above average.
What does the company focus on API?
The most important focus is on the internal integration between teams, tools and systems. 64% of respondents believe this is the main motivation for developing new APIs. 58% of companies believe that costs and time have been reduced, while 53% of organizations want to expand functionality in their products or services. API development has become a way to (partially) increase company profits. In addition, both internal users and customers are benefiting from the rich ecosystem. This leads us to the next major finding: 72% of companies are developing internal and external APIs—recognizing the value of both strategies. The dichotomy shows an interesting deviation between companies. Although 21% of professionals stated that their teams only develop internal APIs, only 4% of micro teams have an external-first mentality. Therefore, the company uses more resources internally for indirect income, rather than other aspects. This makes sense when re-evaluating key development drivers. Only 30% of companies create APIs with the main purpose of absorbing external content, and only 23% of companies want to monetize their APIs through external users. Therefore, between 12% and 19% of people measure the success of their API by their retention and profitability.
Promote standardization and microservices
Fragmentation causes severe damage to any software ecosystem. It complicates testing and introduces distributed functions into the equation of multiple services. The team can always create a patchwork API strategy to drive its operations, even if it is not the best option. Would it be better to standardize our API for better overall coordination? 58% of professionals believe that standardization is an ongoing challenge. This is a slight increase from last year's figure. The general consensus is that standardization will help companies expand services more easily. Currently, the company understands that one or more of its API products are not ready for expansion. Although putting eggs in a basket is usually not a reliable method, even a small amount of consolidation can greatly simplify development.
Growth and diversity
How do we measure the growth of APIs? Although the overall era is rapidly fading on a global scale, companies usually evaluate the usage and traffic indicators of the entire service. Today's software ecosystem is composed of microservices that promote speed, feature development, and overall flexibility. Microservices are compatible with continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) practices, so the team is investing heavily in this modern architecture. According to SmartBear, 65% of experts predict that microservices will drive the shortest API growth. This is higher than the alternative chosen by the respondents.
How are microservices related to standardization? TSH's 2020 State of Microservices report reveals two key aspects: 36% of respondents believe that microservices will become the standard for back-end development. • 49% believe that they will become the standard for complex systems in the future. Therefore, we can expect the next wave of APIs to play a good role in microservices. Once the team accepts this new reality, development and maintenance will become more manageable. But it is clear that the team must overcome the lack of skills and experience. Code complexity is another obstacle that 38% of companies need to address.
Planning the future of API
Web API uses HTTP protocol, so it is mainly RESTful. Today, most companies use REST APIs to power microservices and web applications. These modern services work well on mobile devices and desktop computers. The standardization around Open API represents a further continuation of the REST style. Obviously, professionals in various industries need to consider standard open shared APIs in order to pursue a unified environment. Internally, this is correct, and the same is true for the company's larger position in the overall API space. For all developers, public API markets and similar online destinations are extraordinary resources. Therefore, it is imperative to use API management tools such as Swagger or Eolinker. 
82% of organizations use the OpenAPI specification, up from 69% last year.
By 2021, the state of the API will remain strong and evolve, and it seems that there are solutions to common problems. As the team continues to create APIs at an alarming rate, building a cohesive digital landscape may not be a dream at all.
Translation: Eolinker-domestic Saas cloud API management tool www.eolinker.com Source: Dzone