Into the great wide open:
Building Blocks for a Successful API Program

How do we find the right way towards an open organization? What roles, skills and processes characterize a successful API program? This whitepaper, written in cooperation with the independent consultancy INNOPAY, offers answers to these questions and is intended to encourage companies from all sectors to seize the opportunities of API-based business models.

More than 23,800+ APIs worldwide...

...were recorded in the API directory programmableweb.com at the beginning of 2021 – a tenfold increase in only 10 years. That shows: APIs are not a trend, but a fundamental part of the digital economy.

"Should every company build its own API program? We are convinced of that! Because digital interfaces are the infrastructure of the 21st century’s open data economy."

Joris Hensen, Founder and Co-Head of Deutsche Bank API Program

The Deutsche Bank API program offers external partners from all industries digital interfaces to connect with the bank. It enables companies to seamlessly integrate banking products into their own services and to refer them to their own users while benefiting from commissions in return. Additionally, Deutsche Bank API Program also enables the reverse. With customers' consent, external partners can access data of Deutsche Bank's private and business customers to create personalized offers and benefit from the bank's large customer base.

The whitepaper at a glance

Chapter 2

The Strategic Potential of APIs

  • How digital interfaces are paving the way for new business models
  • The win-win-win principle: mutual benefits for end users, API partners and your own company
  • Why every company should build its own API program

Chapter 3

Case Study: The Deutsche Bank API Program

  • From idea to implementation: what it takes to successfully establish your own API program
  • Business meets engineering: roles, skills and processes in an interdisciplinary API team
  • Monetizing and scaling of API products and open banking

Chapter 4

Building Blocks of an Open Organization

  • Internal transformation: how organizations need to transform to establish an API program
  • API development process: what it takes to develop and successfully market relevant API products
  • Success factors for developer portals: from API documentation to community management

Further highlights from the white paper