I am, periodically, asked by friends in the technology sector* whether the discussion around APIs is equivalent to the Web 2.0 buzz at the beginning of the decade. In many circles, the words of Shakespeare are quoted when referring to conversations about new technology:

…it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing

In truth…most people who quote that leave out the reference to idiots (a minor kindness).

The discussion of APIs, however, differs greatly. I could enumerate, in painful detail, exactly how APIs are affecting/have affected the industry today. But most of you, as readers, are already familiar with the concept.

Instead, let me provide you an example of the interest that is being generated in the concept of Open APIs.

This evening, at the Twilio office in San Francisco…36ish people will gather to be part of the Open API Economy Meetup. That, in and of itself, is not terribly surprising. What is important, is taking a look at the topics that are slated as potentials for discussion:

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PaymentsAPI.com launched today!

This blog, managed by IP Commerce, is focused on the discussion surrounding API strategies and the payments industry.  Myself, as well as several other folk from IP Commerce & other industry participants, are partnering together to further the discussion about the topic of APIs.  As I have reiterated, over the last week, the experience that IP Commerce has with software companies & developers looking to add payments to software is something that should be shared.  That is, truly, what PaymentsAPI.com is about.

I remain convinced that better voice-of-customer is beneficial for the entirety of the industry.  We have that customer experience and are excited to share what is required to truly deliver comprehensive, open APIs for payments.

The first post Now Open Payments API goes into greater detail about the “why” for the launch and I encourage you to read it.

You may wonder how this affects this blog.

It doesn’t…really…what it does enable is me to continue to comment on payment industry trends, technology trends in general.  In addition, I will be broaching some more detailed technological questions/answers that have arisen over the past year.  If there are topics related to payments, in general, that you desire covered Contact Me and I am happy to oblige.

More information for the industry.  More discussions of APIs.  More opportunities for all of us to learn and benefit

Whilst writing my series on IP Commerce Platform updates last week, I spoke about the concept of governance as it relates to Federated Identity and Commerce Business Rules.  It would appear that the discussion of governance was rather prescient, albeit unintentionally*, given other discussions late last week.

There was a series of inter-related commentary related to the topic of platform governance that deserve mention. I have pulled brief quotes from each of the posts, but encourage you to read them in their entirety.

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Over the course of the last 5 days, we have discussed several elements that were announced in a Press Release on June 7.  These discussions have included:

• Commerce APIs
• Federated Identity
• Commerce Business Rules

All of these bits of technology enable important, required components to building a holistic payments workflow that includes Value-Added services alongside payment services and coupled with data services.

But how do they all function together?

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Federated Identity, as discussed yesterday, is about governance and security in commerce workflows but more is required to sufficiently drive the workflows that software companies are building, for their customers.

Federated Identity is one element in the equation of governance.  The other key component, which is unique to IP Commerce APIs and Managed Commerce Services Platform, is called Commerce Business Rules which provides the workflow engine element in addition to their contribution to governance.

Commerce Business Rules are about enabling the unique value that cloud-based solutions can provide to software companies.  Ultimately, adding payments to software is only a portion of successfully building a solution that meets customer needs.

Commerce Business Rules, because of their cloud-based nature, allow for the tailoring of payment acceptance to match required workflow(s).

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