CA Technologies Study Reveals Maturity Gap in API Management among Singapore Firms

Singapore, September 19, 2017 – Local results from a global study by CA Technologies (NASDAQ:CA) revealed that Singapore is experiencing a maturity gap in Application Programming Interface (API) implementation, with less than half (39 percent) of the organizations surveyed being advanced API management users. While the API adoption rate in Singapore is at a respectable 79 percent, it is still one of the lowest in the region and below the Asia Pacific & Japan (APJ) average of 88 percent.

The study, APIs: Building a Connected Business in the App Economy, examines responses from 1,770 senior business and IT executives worldwide, with 799 from across APJ, including Singapore. Respondents were asked how they are leveraging APIs to ramp up their business in the app economy.

The bright spark is Singapore’s propensity for efficiency and business agility in its digital transformation efforts, which was evident when firms surveyed saw big improvements in speed to market from their API efforts. The study found an impressive 38 percent improvement in the time taken to develop, test and release new apps into the market after API implementation, the second highest in the region after India and well above the APJ average of 21 percent.

The study’s API management maturity model assesses how far organizations have implemented the tools and technologies, systems and processes, and the capabilities required for full lifecycle API management. This is on the basis that effective management of the API lifecycle is needed to truly reap its benefits from conception to consumption.

Organizations in Singapore are seeing tremendous payoffs in API usage, reporting improved business results by as high as 35 percent across quantitative KPIs, including partner satisfaction, customer satisfaction, transaction volumes, number of compliance audit failures and IT related costs.

While the study found that Singapore lags in maturity levels of API management, most firms agree that APIs improve all areas of qualitative KPIs, with more than half of the respondents indicating improvements in crucial commercial categories such as:

While organizations across the region, including Singapore, believe in the importance of APIs in the app economy, there are still barriers to the successful implementation of API programs, with time to develop APIs (55 percent) and the ability to scale and manage performance (52 percent) cited as major obstacles, particularly in Singapore.

“APIs are critical drivers of digital transformation and are the central nervous system that allows connections to be made quickly, accurately and securely with quality delivery. Despite Singapore’s advanced economy and tech-savvy business environment, it was surprising to find a maturity gap in API implementation amongst organizations here. It clearly reflects the importance of investing in advanced capabilities throughout the full API lifecycle which can result in the greatest value and success,” said Nick Lim, vice president, ASEAN and Greater China, CA Technologies.

On a regional level, results from the study revealed that the majority of surveyed organizations in APJ recognize the importance of APIs in business growth, and that companies are getting better business results and greater competitive advantage with advanced full lifecycle API management.

APIs are crucial to success in the app economy. However, the research shows there are still barriers to successful implementation of API programs, with at least 40 percent citing obstacles such as time to develop APIs, lack of skilled resources, the ability to effectively secure APIs and scale usage/manage performance.

Conducted by Coleman Parkes Research Ltd. in May-June, 2016 and commissioned by CA Technologies, the survey included 1,770 senior business and IT executives from large enterprises, across 21 countries and 10 industry sectors. A total of 799 respondents were from APJ, which covered Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand.

Coleman Parkes, formed in 2000, provides action-focused marketing research on a global scale. The company offers a full research and consultancy service across all markets, while specializing in business-to-business research with a focus on IT, technology and communications research. For more information, please visit www.coleman-parkes.co.uk.

CA Technologies (NASDAQ:CA) creates software that fuels transformation for companies and enables them to seize the opportunities of the application economy. Software is at the heart of every business in every industry. From planning, to development, to management and security, CA is working with companies worldwide to change the way we live, transact, and communicate – across mobile, private and public cloud, distributed and mainframe environments. Learn more at www.ca.com.