CIO GUIDE

CIO GUIDE TO

UNIVERSAL
API MANAGEMENT
The next evolution of
full lifecycle API management
Contents

CHAPTER 01

Imperative to accelerate
digital transformation

CHAPTER 02

What is universal API

management? CHAPTER 03

How universality enables

the composable business

CHAPTER 04

Introducing universal API

management on Anypoint Platform

2 CIO GUIDE TO UNIVERSAL API MANAGEMENT

Executive summary

On average, modern enterprises use up to 500 APIs. These APIs

come in many different forms, specifications, and serve unique
functions across heterogeneous environments and diverse
architectures within a large enterprise.

As APIs sprawl across the technology The CIO is in charge of making this shift.
estate, IT runs into challenges related to To enable agility and composability, CIOs
discovering, managing, and protecting all must adopt universal API management
of the organization’s APIs. This API sprawl to realize the full value of their existing
prevents the business from reaching its technology infrastructure.
vision of agility and composability since
it limits how fast its teams can build new
capabilities and customer experiences.

2 CIO GUIDE TO UNIVERSAL API MANAGEMENT

 01.

Imperative to
accelerate digital
transformation
A snapshot comparing the way enterprises
operate today and how they operated before the
pandemic would show two nearly unrecognizable
images. Seemingly overnight, businesses shifted
to fully remote workplaces, digital customer
experiences, and implemented extra safety
precautions — both physical and digital.
I M P E R AT I V E T O A C C E L E R AT E D I G I TA L T R A N S F O R M AT I O N

Digital processes aren’t new, but the pandemic forced many

businesses to shift from digital-first operations to digital-by-
default. As a result, businesses had to rapidly accelerate their digital 88%
transformation strategies.
Amid this shift, business leaders are looking However, organizations often impede their OF CUSTOMERS EXPECT COMPANIES TO
ACCELERATE DIGITAL INITIATIVES DUE TO COVID-19
to the CIO to drive radical change in the post- own composability with complex ecosystems
pandemic world. They must rise to meet the — many having architectures built for specific
challenges posed by this digital imperative and use cases on diverse technologies, disparate
transform the business. But many CIOs have platforms, and environments.
been slow to deliver on this due to constraints

$7M
from their current fragmented infrastructure. CIOs can not afford to rip and replace their
entire infrastructure to achieve this agile,
Composability bridges the gap between composable future; the only way to achieve
the siloed, current state of the enterprise it from their current state is a universal
to the fast-moving, agile vision its leaders approach to managing their infrastructure. ORGANIZATIONS COULD LOSE NEARLY $7 MILLION
strive toward. It breaks down monoliths into IF THEY FAIL TO SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETE
DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION INITIATIVES
building blocks that can quickly be composed
together to deliver new innovations from
existing components.

4 CIO GUIDE TO UNIVERSAL API MANAGEMENT

I M P E R AT I V E T O A C C E L E R AT E D I G I TA L T R A N S F O R M AT I O N

The widening gap

preventing transformation
Leading consumer brands are setting the customer experiences, but each division
OF CUSTOMER INTERACTIONS
bar for the types of seamless, digital, and might adopt entirely different solutions to 72% ARE NOW DIGITAL
integrated experiences customers now bring them to life.
expect. Many enterprises struggle to deliver
similar experiences for their customers As enterprises give each business unit
because they operate in silos and have ownership over their own technological
fragmented technology stacks. needs — creating a siloed digital ecosystem
OF ORGANIZATIONS PROVIDE
for each — the organization falls short in
Business units within large enterprises providing services that require an information 30% COMPLETELY CONNECTED
USER EXPERIENCES ACROSS
tend to operate independently, working on exchange across different technology stacks. ALL CHANNELS

different use cases with different objectives.

Eventually, every unit is operating in a
heterogeneous environment with disparate
technology stacks. For example, the banking,
OF ORGANIZATIONS SAY
lending, and insurance divisions of a large 55% IT’S DIFFICULT TO INTEGRATE
financial institution might offer similar USER EXPERIENCES

SOURCE: MULESOFT 2022 CONNECTIVITY BENCHMARK REPORT

5 CIO GUIDE TO UNIVERSAL API MANAGEMENT

I M P E R AT I V E T O A C C E L E R AT E D I G I TA L T R A N S F O R M AT I O N

Bridging the transformation

gap with universality
Over the coming years, the composable heterogeneous environments, disparate
enterprise is expected to mature — architectures, and multiple gateways
meaning that businesses will seek out new without changing the entire infrastructure.
opportunities to enhance their composability, This means that each element within the
and thus, increase their agility. ecosystem must be manageable, governable,
observable, and discoverable via a single,
Enterprises are expected to follow the universal control plane.
innovative lead of consumer markets by
composing their processes into packaged Organizations have shifted from using
business capabilities to respond to APIs for integration to using them to drive
customer needs faster. CIOs today must composability. However, enterprises need
Going digital is not an option;
use technology to drive business value, universality to truly achieve this at scale.
deliver seamless customer experiences, Universality enables organizations to it is the only way forward.
and act as the change agents behind this compose, connect, and control its ecosystem
YANNA WINTER, CIO OF GENERALI
transformation. — regardless of the technology, architecture,
or environment. When applied to API
As CIOs enforce this across the enterprise, management, universality advances the
IT teams must harness the full value of their organization’s journey toward composability.

6 CIO GUIDE TO UNIVERSAL API MANAGEMENT

I M P E R AT I V E T O A C C E L E R AT E D I G I TA L T R A N S F O R M AT I O N

Universality unlocks the composable vision

of today and as the enterprise evolves

01. D E C O M P O S I N G 02. UNIQUE AND INDEPENDENT 0 3 . S I L O E D S P R AW L 0 4 . B U I L D A N D D E P L OY

MONOLITHIC STRUCTURES JOURNE YS TO COMPOSABILIT Y OF APIs ANY WHERE WITH UNIVERSAL
API MANAGEMENT

DI
SC
OV
ER

M
AN
SE
CU

AG
RE

E
Over the last ten years, large enterprises Since business units operate Each business unit has its own Enterprises today require universal
were tasked with breaking down independently, they often choose application network which creates a discovery, manageability, and security
their monolithic architectures into different technology stacks to meet sprawl of APIs, preventing the enterprise across their services — no matter where
decentralized, composable services. their needs. This creates heterogeneous from composing new capabilities they’re built, which architecture they’re
environments and diverse architectures quickly and from implementing implemented in, or the environment in
that make it hard to connect enterprise- security policies consistently. which they’re hosted.
wide services.

7 CIO GUIDE TO UNIVERSAL API MANAGEMENT

 02.

What is universal
API management?
Universal API management is the ability to
open the scope of full lifecycle management
capabilities — management, governance,
observability, and discoverability — to APIs
built and deployed anywhere. It’s the next
evolution of API management that offers a
more open, flexible, and scalable approach.

8 CIO GUIDE TO UNIVERSAL API MANAGEMENT

W H AT I S U N I V E R S A L A P I M A N A G E M E N T ?

To achieve this, organizations should

ensure their technology stack can:

WORK WITH ANY API IMPLEMENT ANY ARCHITECTURE

With microservices, enterprises are

augmenting their RESTful APIs with
There are a variety of architectures — from
monolithic applications to microservices. 3x
protocols like AsyncAPI, GraphQL, and With universal API management,
gRPC. Universal API management enables organizations can work with any architectural
organizations to work with any API — pattern by securing all of its services — no API-LED CONNECTIVITY CAN RESULT IN
regardless of its origin or protocol. matter the size. 3X FASTER PROJECT DELIVERY

O P E R AT E I N A N Y C L O U D E N G A G E A N Y AU D I E N C E

63%
Universal API management makes it so With universal API management, enterprises
the APIs along with their governance, have a central repository for their APIs,
observability, and discoverability capabilities allowing internal and external audiences to
can operate independently from the gain value from them, improve customer
platform’s hybrid, cloud, or hosting experiences, and foster partnerships and
ON AVERAGE, THERE IS A 63%
environment. business models. REDUCTION IN MAINTENANCE COSTS

9 CIO GUIDE TO UNIVERSAL API MANAGEMENT

 03.

How universality
enables the
composable business
In a heterogenous technology stack, universal
API management allows CIOs to meet all of
their business priorities — enabling a digital
ecosystem, securing the organization’s data,
enhancing business agility, and future-proofing
the technology stack.

10 CIO GUIDE TO UNIVERSAL API MANAGEMENT

HOW UNIVERSALIT Y ENABLES THE COMPOSABLE BUSINESS

Enabling a digital ecosystem

An organization’s digital ecosystem is a Many enterprises today — even several
full realization of its technology stack, Fortune 500 companies — still lack a central
encompassing its data, cloud, networks,
interfaces, and more. The CIO must create a
catalog for all of their enterprise APIs.
90%
holistic strategy that keeps the organization’s Organizations need a single source of truth
technology and data operating effectively that offers universal discovery for all of their
while leaving it open to future innovations APIs to efficiently operate their multi/hybrid OF ORGANIZATIONS NOW HAVE A
in the cloud. They must ensure that teams cloud environments. CLEAR INTEGRATION AND API STRATEGY

across the organization can easily access and

process its data to drive business outcomes;
this includes ensuring the ecosystem can
operate with any cloud technologies to add
transformative value in data management.

26%
OF ORGANIZATIONS REQUIRE ALL PROJECTS
Learn how to create a thriving digital ecosystem. Download whitepaper.
TO ABIDE BY A COMPANY-WIDE API
INTEGRATION STRATEGY

11 CIO GUIDE TO UNIVERSAL API MANAGEMENT

HOW UNIVERSALIT Y ENABLES THE COMPOSABLE BUSINESS

Secure the organization’s data

Malicious actors can prey on enterprises coded within each component of the data breach, enterprises need visibility of their
targeting API endpoints by finding gaps ecosystem from the start. APIs to secure them at scale. Universal API
in their software and services. Up to 75% management provides a single control plane
of credential abuse attacks target APIs, While IT ensures that the composable to universally and scalably apply security and
which makes having a sprawl of separately foundation of the enterprise is secure, teams compliance policies across every API in the
and inconsistently managed APIs across the across the organization have the tools to enterprise. By deploying gateways to these
enterprise a dangerous risk. innovate and automate without putting APIs, enterprises can protect every node in
the organization at risk. This ensures that their architecture and improve the reliability
Security is often seen as a necessary evil, security is baked into every process and and usability of their APIs with analytics.
but CIOs must treat security as an enabler product lifecycle.
for growth. For this to happen, security and
compliance measures must be consistently To avoid becoming the next headline about a

75%
OF CREDENTIAL ABUSE
Protect your organization with API security best practices. Download whitepaper. ATTACKS TARGET APIS

12 CIO GUIDE TO UNIVERSAL API MANAGEMENT

HOW UNIVERSALIT Y ENABLES THE COMPOSABLE BUSINESS

Enhancing business agility

Business agility determines how quickly IT centrally manages a universal control By putting developers at the center of the
an organization adjusts to shifts in the plane to discover, govern, and secure business strategy and enabling them with
market — whether it be in response to a the organization’s packaged business easy-to-use tools and CI/CD techniques
threat or to capitalize on an opportunity. capabilities and APIs. This single control to work with a universal control plane,
Agile organizations achieve speed at scale, plane helps architects and IT leaders reduce organizations democratize agility and
can easily remove bottlenecks, deliver operational complexity. innovation across the enterprise.
capabilities ahead of market pace, and are
industry leaders as a result. Alongside these architects and IT leaders,
developers are among the most important
Agility is achieved when every team in an stakeholders within the digital ecosystem
organization can work in the environment — meaning it’s crucial to create the right Teams no longer have to
or architecture of their choice — all while conditions for them to drive digital delivery. do duplicative, manual work
and our internal processes
are now much faster than ever
before — leaving more time
for innovation.
Protect your organization with API security best practices. Download whitepaper. OLIVIER VANSTEELANDT, CIO, AXA LUXEMBOURG

13 CIO GUIDE TO UNIVERSAL API MANAGEMENT

HOW UNIVERSALIT Y ENABLES THE COMPOSABLE BUSINESS

Future-proofing
Future-proofing enables an organization future innovations, while ensuring that
and its technology to adapt to rapidly previous investments remain intact. This
changing market needs. CIOs must ensure
that any new technology they invest in
assures CIOs that their technology stack
will deliver long-term value to the business 4.5T
will be long-lasting, to prevent ripping and without missing out on any cutting-edge
replacing it later. innovations.
$4.5 TRILLION — PROJECTED GLOBAL
Composing your enterprise with the building IT SPENDING IN 2022

blocks of universal API management on an

open, flexible, and scalable platform makes
this a reality. It allows the organization’s
existing technology to be compatible with

50%

Learn the 4 trends every IT leader needs to know to empower FASTER DELIVERY TIMES FOR IT LEADERS
the enterprise. Download report. THAT REDUCE TECHNICAL DEBT

14 CIO GUIDE TO UNIVERSAL API MANAGEMENT

 04.

Introducing universal
API management on
Anypoint Platform
MuleSoft’s Anypoint Platform is the
leader in universal API management
with the ability to open the scope of full
lifecycle management capabilities to APIs
built anywhere, deployed anywhere.

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I N T R O D U C I N G U N I V E R S A L A P I M A N A G E M E N T O N A N Y P O I N T P L AT F O R M

MuleSoft’s flexible platform for all APIs, anywhere.

Universal API management on Anypoint Platform is a set of product capabilities that
empowers enterprises to manage the full lifecycle of their APIs — built for any purpose and
across any language, API gateway, or environment.

A C C E L E R AT E A P P L I C AT I O N D E L I V E R Y IMPLEMENT ANY ARCHITECTURE O P E R AT E I N A N Y E N V I R O N M E N T

Compose services using any API across Manage and secure any service Deploy and monitor your services
the enterprise — built by any team, on at scale — from monolith to across any cloud or environment with
any platform. microservice. a consistent experience.

A PI DE SIGN CEN T ER FL E X GAT E WAY MUL E RUN T IME SERV ICE S

Build APIs for any purpose Secure any service or microservice Deploy to any environment

A N Y P OIN T E XCH A NGE A P I M A N AGER A N Y P OIN T MONI T OR ING

Reuse APIs built anywhere Manage users and services in one place Monitor your operations consistently

A PI E X PER IENCE HUB A P I GOV ER N A NCE A N Y P OIN T SEC UR I T Y

Publish APIs to any audience Operationalize API governance Apply advanced security automatically

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MULESOFT, A SALESFORCE COMPANY

MuleSoft, provider of the world’s #1 trusted integration and API platform, empowers any
company to quickly unlock and integrate their apps and data to create seamless experiences,
faster. For more information, visit: mulesoft.com

MuleSoft is a registered trademark of MuleSoft, Inc., a Salesforce company. All other marks are
those of respective owners.