CIOs Focused on APIs Need to Plan for Their Own Deprecation

Mark Troester explains how CIOs need to move their thinking past APIs and onto a higher level—if they want to avoid their own deprecation.

Chief Information Officers have a lot to think about, and in this recent article on CIO.com, the author advocates that they need to plan for API deprecation. I’m going to have a little fun with this. Instead of “Why CIOs need to plan for API deprecation” it should be “Why CIOs that focus on their API strategy need to plan for their company's (hence their own personal) deprecation.”

Up-Level the Thought Process

Clearly, the technology aspects of the CIO are important, and the role depends on the size of the organization, and whether there is a CTO role within the organization, but my point is that the CIO needs to up-level their thought process to the business impact or business outcome level. While their API approach can be one element of a larger strategy, the first thing to consider is the impact of the API strategy as it relates to their business.

Their API strategy should be driven by business value. For example, what additional revenue can be gained by exposing their data, business services or digital insights as a service? How do they best monetize this strategy? What can they do with their API strategy to enter new markets or to drive more revenue through their existing business channels?

It could be that the business value is limited to cost, and they make the go forward decision based on cost, efficiency, etc., but cost should not be the only factor.

Be Part of the Larger Digital Transformation Strategy

This thought process should not be limited to their API strategy. It should be the first consideration that guides every decision and every strategy, and be factored into their execution plan. A good way to approach this decision process is to embark on a larger digital transformation strategy—a digital strategy that is driven based on business value.

That will help them both determine what they should do and how they should prioritize their work. Should they focus on customer experience? Should they focus on operational efficiency? Likely it’s not one or the other, it’s what has the greatest impact on business outcome.

That is how the CIO will move from being an operational necessity to an executive imperative.