APIs play a central role in powering digital experiences. Whether you’re ordering food on a delivery app or making payments online with your bank’s mobile application, APIs are the key software component behind a successful outcome. According to ProgrammableWeb – a leading source of news and information about Internet-based APIs – there has been extraordinary growth in the number of APIs over the last few years: on average 168 new APIs are added to the directory every month. In fact, APIs represent 83% of all web traffic according to the Akamai State of the Internet Security Report.

Developing APIs is often the first step in an enterprise’s journey toward offering digital products and solutions. The performance of these APIs – delivering API responses rapidly – is crucial to an enterprise’s ability to offer compelling digital experiences. High-volume and low-latency API transactions are increasingly becoming the standard. Just as with applications, poor API performance results in a sub-par experience for end users. This can mean your brand could be associated with poor quality and customers may end up switching to competitors.