Simplifying API Use Cases and Onboarding
Key Points
- Alen Glickenhouse (IBM API Business Strategist) outlines a step‑by‑step approach to identifying API use cases, stressing the importance of starting with simple scenarios before tackling complex ones.
- He categorizes potential API opportunities into six groups, beginning with “Mobile or Internal Development,” where APIs can serve generic data (e.g., location, interest rates), personalized data (e.g., account balances), and device‑specific data (e.g., GPS, camera).
- The second category, “Partnering,” examines existing partner integrations and highlights the labor‑intensive nature of traditional partner onboarding via manual SOAP/web‑service setups.
- Glickenhouse proposes a self‑service model where partners access a developer portal, register, and consume APIs automatically, dramatically reducing onboarding effort for both the provider and the partner.
- By applying this methodology, organizations can initially deploy straightforward API solutions and later expand toward more sophisticated business models and new revenue streams.
Full Transcript
# Simplifying API Use Cases and Onboarding **Source:** [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFRpTVZpz8M](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFRpTVZpz8M) **Duration:** 00:18:16 ## Summary - Alen Glickenhouse (IBM API Business Strategist) outlines a step‑by‑step approach to identifying API use cases, stressing the importance of starting with simple scenarios before tackling complex ones. - He categorizes potential API opportunities into six groups, beginning with “Mobile or Internal Development,” where APIs can serve generic data (e.g., location, interest rates), personalized data (e.g., account balances), and device‑specific data (e.g., GPS, camera). - The second category, “Partnering,” examines existing partner integrations and highlights the labor‑intensive nature of traditional partner onboarding via manual SOAP/web‑service setups. - Glickenhouse proposes a self‑service model where partners access a developer portal, register, and consume APIs automatically, dramatically reducing onboarding effort for both the provider and the partner. - By applying this methodology, organizations can initially deploy straightforward API solutions and later expand toward more sophisticated business models and new revenue streams. ## Sections - [00:00:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFRpTVZpz8M&t=0s) **Simple API Use Case Methodology** - Alen Glickenhouse explains a step‑by‑step approach to identifying API opportunities, beginning with basic mobile/internal scenarios and categorizing use cases before moving to more complex business models. ## Full Transcript
hi my name is alen glicken housee I'm
the IBM API business strategist and
today I'd like to talk to you about API
use cases one of the things that I spend
a lot of time with clients discussing uh
I thought we'd start with some simple
use cases and a methodology and then
talk to where this might go over time as
we develop new business models so let's
start simple uh a lot of times when I do
talk to clients uh and I'll introduce
the methodology next the they start to
jump immediately to some of the more
complex situations and really that's not
what's you're going to do you're going
to start with some simple scenarios so
let's introduce the methodology and then
we'll show some simple uh use cases that
you can start with in your
industry so from a methodology
perspective I have thought of six
categories of uh areas that I think
about when I'm thinking about what apis
might be uh applicable to your
particular industry three are on this
slide three are on the next the first
one uh is mobile or internal development
almost all companies start with that and
if you think about what you're going to
do with your mobile app uh there are
three types of information that you
might make available the first is
generic information so this is common
information that anyone who's using your
mobile app would get the same answers uh
things like where you located uh what
are your interest rates if you're a bank
what kind of accounts do you have if
you're a retailer what kind of products
do you have things like that it's the
same list for everybody uh the next
category would be things like uh uh that
are specific to to an individual
customer so what is your account balance
is going to be different for each
individual and finally we might look at
uh how uh the mobile device itself can
be taken advantage of in conjunction
with the apis so things like your GPS
coordinates or the camera could be used
in conjunction with the apis to provide
a good solution second category is
partnering uh and we think uh first
about the partners that we already have
and what kinds of information we're
sharing with the partners already and
then one of the big areas of API uh
growth is in partner on boarding so if
you think about what goes into bringing
a partner on board today for every
partner that you work with you uh after
you agree that you will be partners
you'll start to um uh introduce your AP
your interfaces to them it might be a
web service interface before you're
using apis and that could be rather
complex and you need to set up the
security around that for that individual
partner uh teach them how to use the uh
the the soap interface for the web
service and get them all set up and that
takes effort on your part and on the
part of the partner and when you're done
you have one partner on board what we'd
like to do with apis is make the uh API
self uh sufficient so that the partner
can come to the developer portal find
the apis sign on and consume those apis
without any effort on your part and very
little learning on their side you've
already done the setup for the security
and the testing and so on so it should
work very well the third category is
public uh and here we start to think
think about comparison apps whether uh
other parts of the industry may be doing
comparisons between what you offer and
your competition uh it could also be
things that you might make available
through others uh that are what I call
the industry next door so uh we'll get
into that a little bit more uh when I
show the examples but other industries
that might send customers to
you the next category is social
obviously there's a lot going on in
social media today and we want to take
advantage of that and so we start to
think about
uh things that might be as simple as
direct references to your company uh
whether positive or negative or other
things that people are talking about on
social media that you can take advantage
of and so those will be some of the
things that we'll think about there from
a device perspective we'll talk about uh
what devices might be taken advantage of
and how those devices can work uh with
your company and and provide information
to you or get information from you to
deal with uh the client directly the
other thing which I mentioned
not that it's going to be a direct uh uh
seller for why you'll use apis but if
you think about what we've done with the
user interface technology over decades
every time we come out with a new user
interface whether that was the web or
now mobile and whatever's going to
happen after this we always have to go
back to those backend systems and tell
the folks okay now you need to support
the web now you need to support mobile
well once we have apis making the data
available uh without context of an
individual user interface whatever the
next interface is going to be after
mobile or tablets that could be glasses
it could be um you know something that
projects on a screen whatever it may be
I don't have to go back to the backend
people because we're already making that
information available through the API
and then the final category and probably
one of the most important is valuable
data every company is collecting
valuable data on your clients about your
what your business is doing and a
certain subset of the population inside
the company is getting access to that
data through API eyes we can make that
data available to a larger audience
inside your company and get more value
out of the data we're already collecting
finally we might also have a
monetization opportunity to sell that
data to third parties and make some
additional Revenue so let's get into
some of the examples so and I said we're
going to start simple right so we're not
going to think of complicated things
when we think about the mobile internal
development examples in this case are
the account types that a bank might
offer the product list that a retailer
might have what kind of insurance plans
or telecommunications plans often on
your website you have prices and really
a good way to think about this is what
are you doing on your website today
those are the kind of things you're
probably going to want to do on your
mobile app and so those are examples of
of basic generic information and then
when we think about the customer
specific information it might be that
they're going to place an order with you
and what is the order status or what's
their account balance in the bank and do
they want to transfer funds all these
things have to do uh with individual
customers and we need to qualify who
they are are and secure that and make
sure that they're only seeing their
information so all the industries will
have things about that as well and then
finally using the mobile device itself
in conjunction with the apis we might
find the nearest ATM right so to do that
I need to know where you are and so your
GPS coordinates from the phone can help
with that or where's the nearest Branch
or store or whatever you're looking for
if this is an insurance situation maybe
we're going to submit a picture uh of a
car accident as part of the claim or
deposit a check and of course Mobile
Wallet for payments is is another big
area partnering uh so think about the
kind of information we're sharing with
Partners already what is the inventory
status do I need to reorder the uh
additional additional Goods in the
commercial banking area we think about
the uh large companies that we're
supporting as partners and so what we
want to do is make available the apis so
that the commercial uh so that the
banking customers can integrate the apis
directly with the bank and make this
part of their business processes and
that really solidifies the relationship
between the bank and and the that
particular company part suppliers might
make available apis so that people can
order from them and repair uh places can
make available uh manuals or or you know
the ability to uh uh request or repair
for something that they have going on in
the automotive space options and add-ons
and having that be interoperable across
multiple different vendors is important
and making uh apis available for that
that purpose is is a common thing that
people will do and then in the
government space things like um sharing
information across agencies so they are
your partner agencies and they need a
certain subset of the information inside
your Enterprise but not everything and
we can make that available on a case-by
casee basis through apis and then think
about smarter cities and if there's a a
situation that occurs and we want to
coordinate Emergency Services coming to
uh a particular situation and I'll talk
more about that when I get to some of
the Advan scenarios and then finally
platform services are there things that
your company does that maybe others can
take advantage of billing hosting
accounting things like that where other
companies can come into you and take
advantage of this even having nothing to
do with the industry that you're
in uh the next category is public and
and so here we're talking about the
comparison apps so if you want to be
involved in a comparison if you're not
going to want to be involved in the
comparison then nobody's going to buy
from you because if they're using the
comparison app you're not there so
you'll probably want to be a part of
that and making apis available that show
your products your pricing and the
availability can help people buy from
you and then finally that industry next
door that I mentioned and this is key uh
when we start to think about reaching
new markets reaching new customers and
getting new uh new customers for our
particular company think about what
other Industries people are dealing with
that need what you provide so if you're
a bank people who are buying a car need
a car loan people who are needing a
buying a home need a mortgage or people
that are planning for retirement need
financial information so what are the
other things that people do that need
Banking and those are the industries
that you want to Target for your apis
and make them available for government
think about job placement and education
and there's many many more uh Health and
Fitness for insurance or Healthcare and
finally for retail and travel uh
vacation uh birthday and holiday uh
industry might uh send customers to you
for social and Big Data obviously if a
if uh someone mentions your company
directly on social media they might be
saying something positive about your
company and you want to capture that and
retweet it uh get that information out
there if they're saying something
negative about your company you want to
address that immediately before the word
spreads and things get out of hand so uh
social interactions are are very big in
fact social uh apis are the most common
way that people interact with social
media it's not a web interface or a
mobile uh interface it's through uh
through apis uh opportunity
identification you might notice that
some people are talking about particular
things on social media so there's
certain keywords that you can key on
maybe somebody's talking about going on
vacation and you're a retailer and you
can sell them something uh in that area
or maybe you're a travel uh company that
can help them find the a rental car or a
hotel in in the area that they're going
to and then participating in interest
groups as well is something that you can
do to uh have a presence and get your
advertising out there and also just pop
populating social media with with what
you're doing as a company and getting
involved uh one of the things I've heard
about is insurance companies getting
involved in this way uh because so much
of dealing with insurance companies is
always in a negative situation when
you're either paying them or you have a
claim they want to get out there and and
show you that they're doing good things
for the uh Community as
well device integration think about the
devices it's not always obvious uh that
you know something is a device not
everything is a monitor or a sensor or
or something like that cameras can be
devices apply liances or devices ATMs
cars um there are many things that are
devices and uh we can share information
from the device back into the Enterprise
and take action on that or send commands
out to the device like if it's a camera
to uh to pan in a particular direction
or focus in on something and so uh so
those are all things that we can do as
well uh I'll come up with a scenario
that in the more advanced section on
ATMs that will show you some of the kind
of futuristic things that we might do in
this space as well
and then that valuable data category so
we're going to get access to this data
for a larger audience inside the
Enterprise that has tremendous value and
you can also then sell aggregated data
on clients to third parties and and make
that available or if clients opt into
marketing you might sell specific
information on them to third parties if
they choose to to opt in to be marketed
to
um the other thing I've I've talked to
some companies about whether it's a
connected car a telecommunications
company as people are driving around
around the city their route to work can
be uh detected and you might sell that
uh in aggregate to third parties for
marketing to particular audiences and
then finally in the government space
there's a lot of open data initiatives
uh that require uh access to data and
apis are a very good way to do that as
well so that's that's where we are most
companies are going to start with that
uh and and I really encourage you to to
start simple uh don't don't think of uh
immediately of doing the more
complicated things uh we'll get there
over time but I do want to show you
where we can go over time so I've got a
couple of scenarios and these are going
to be more ecosystem type scenarios
things that will involve multiple
Industries working together so these are
scenario based and and uh I'll just call
out a couple of examples here so let's
say we have a connected car and it's
been in an accident and the airbags have
been deployed and there's some possible
need for some assistance here um if it's
a very severe accident the car might be
able to know that and immediately call
for accident if it's not sure maybe
alert is raised to the driver's mobile
phone uh and they can either say yes
they need help or if they don't reply
that might be an indication that they
need help as well and a call can be put
out to Emergency Services uh that could
be an ambulance it could be fire police
the car sensors might determine which
ones of those are required um and if
there's a fire concern calling the fire
department as well the insurance data
could be collected probably not the most
important thing to to deliver right away
but we can certainly collect that and
make that available through an API later
and then all the things that are going
on around that accident so an alert can
be issued so that other cars uh can
understand that an accident has occurred
at a particular place the traffic apps
that they're using can be made aware of
this accident and can assess what impact
that's having on the traffic and whether
or not they need to move around on a
different route uh hospitals may be
notified that uh there's certain
injuries that might be coming in and if
there's damage to the infrastructure a
case can be open so you see here this is
not just one industry involved these
apis are going to be talking to uh to
many different Industries government
Health Care insurance uh Auto uh apps
social media all kinds of things can
happen uh based on one particular
scenario and so it's not going to be
just one party that's interested but a
whole ecosystem supporting uh the help
that needs to be given to a particular
person that's been in an
accident next scenario um a computer
computer is going home from work at the
end of the day they're going by train
they get to the train station and they
see that their train is running 10
minutes late um they uh are a a banking
customer and that bank happens to have
an ATM at the station and they have uh
opted in to being marketed to for
selected products that they're that that
they like and so they have nearfield
communication on on their phone and the
ATM recognizes that they're in the area
and it starts to put together some
opportunity to Market to this particular
person so the weather apis might be used
to determine that it's an extremely hot
day
and this person's train is running 10
minutes late so what we're going to do
is push an advertisement uh uh to that
um customer of the bank uh for their
favorite ice cream that's on sale uh at
a retailer there at the train station
and we're going to give them a 10%
discount if they buy in the next 10
minutes which happens to be the delay of
the train right so all this goes
together we then uh push that
advertisement to the to the customer the
customer goes into the retailer shows
the advertisement on their phone and the
retailer will make money the consumer
package goods company that's selling the
ice cream will make more money and the
bank will get compensated for part of
the transaction for identifying the
customer and getting that customer to
come into the store so again an
ecosystem kind of relationship between
Banks retails consumer package Goods uh
all working together with weather apis
involved as
well last example a huge winter storm is
is predicted uh and weather apis are
tracking the the s it of the storm and
the path of the storm and interested
parties who are trying to figure out how
they're going to get home at the end of
their day are starting to get notified
that this storm is coming in and so the
information from the weather apis is put
together with their profile information
uh that uh will tell them um you know
that knows what their typical work hours
are what their route home is and what
the path of the storm is through the
weather apis and plan what possible
actions they might take whether that's
leaving early or taking a different
route and so on so the individuals can
choose to act and and leave work uh
status updates can be communicated
directly to them through their mobile
phone or better yet through their
connected car so that they're not
dealing with their mobile while they're
driving in the storm um and then
alternate routing can happen to take
place if necessary so that they can get
uh to where they're trying to go uh if
there are road closures uh things like
that because of maybe the travel
accident scenario that we talked before
they would get notified and uh be able
to move around that uh in a more smooth
fashion and then in addition we can
start pushing the status updates out to
social media so that others can see
what's going on uh with the road
conditions and the road clearing
estimates so these three examples are
just examples of multiple Industries
working together uh in an ecosystem and
where this API economy is going to go
over time these are not the first
scenarios that you're going to work on
as a company so start with those simple
scenarios and and work forward from
there I've written lots of blogs uh on
on this topic best place to start uh is
on uh the URL at the top of this page
this is an A A Blog that I've written on
API use cases for every industry and if
you start here you get some good
recommendations that apply across
Industries including the idea of looking
at what other Industries are doing uh
that blog will link to 20 different
industry specific blogs that I've
written with the use cases in the six
categories that I mentioned earlier so
you can get some sample use cases in
your specific industry for uh for what
you might do to start off with and maybe
some Advanced uh scenarios as well so
this is uh again a very hot topic one of
the things that businesses really need
to think about as they start to move
into the API economy and hopefully these
blogs and this video will help you uh
move forward successfully