Community
IBM Community Home
Business Analytics
Business Automation
Cloud Pak for Data
Data Science
DataOps
Hybrid Data Management
IBM Japan
IBM Z & LinuxONE
Internet of Things
Middleware
Power Systems
Public Cloud
Security
Storage
Supply Chain
Watson Apps
Log in
Announcements
Blogs
Groups
Discussions
Events
Glossary
Site Content
Libraries
on this day
between these dates
Posted by
Announcements
Blogs
Groups
Discussions
Events
Glossary
Site Content
Libraries
on this day
between these dates
Posted by
Skip to main content (Press Enter).
Sign in
Skip auxiliary navigation (Press Enter).
Middleware
Topic groups
Application Infrastructure
DevOps
Integration
Management, ITSM, and AI Ops
Spectrum Computing Group
Expertise Connect(EC) Group
User groups
Events
Upcoming Middleware Events
On Demand Webinars
IBM Expert TV
Virtual Community Events
All IBM Community Events
Participate
Getting Started
Community Manager's Welcome
Post to Forum
Share a Resource
Blogging on the Community
Connect with Middleware Users
All IBM Community Users
Resources
IBM Support
IBM Cloud Support
IBM Champions
Demos
Cloud Integration Expert Labs & Learning Community
Meet the Middleware Team
Marketplace
Marketplace
IBM Middleware User Community
Being part of a community means collaborating, sharing knowledge via forums and blogs, and supporting one another in our everyday challenges. Together, we can connect and network to empower each other. Get involved today.
Join / Log in
Skip main navigation (Press Enter).
Toggle navigation
Content types
Announcements
Blogs
Groups
Discussions
Events
Glossary
Site Content
Libraries
Date range
on this day
between these dates
Posted by
Meet Your IMWUC Community Managers!
API Connect
Integration
View Only
Group Home
Discussion
339
Library
28
Blogs
195
Events
0
Members
1.8K
Back to Blog List
API Use Cases for Every (?) Industry
By
Alan Glickenhouse
posted
Sun November 01, 2015 03:54 PM
Options Dropdown
Mark as Inappropriate
0
Recommend
What is the most common question I am asked about APIs? The answer is, “can you give me an example in my industry?” About 15 months ago I started writing a series of blogs giving API examples for every industry. First I introduced a way to structure the discussion in a blog called, “
Identifying good candidates for APIs
”. I then tackled every industry IBM lists on its
industry page
showing sample API scenarios.
The complete list of industry use case blogs is included below. But wait, before you scroll down and find your industry, here are a few suggestions about how to use these blogs:
The first thing to point out is that we try to keep these blogs short. Each one is touching on a few potential use cases to spark ideas and demonstrate possibilities. These blogs are not meant to be the complete list of use cases. As your efforts progress, you will find many additional use cases.
Second: think about the value chain for your APIs. What is the value of your API to the developer who uses it? What will the value be that they provide to the end user of the App that they create? If you can’t find value for each participant in the value chain, rethink your API.
Third: Look beyond your industry. There are patterns and opportunities that you can find by looking at other industries. Over a year
ago I was at a Connected Car conference and an API leader from
Fitbit
was walking around the conference and stopped at the IBM booth. I asked him why Fitbit was at a Connected Car conference. His answer, “just trying to get some different ideas”. Seems like a good idea to me.
Fourth: Look beyond your industry again. Another thing to understand is how your industry relates to others. I call this, “the industry next door”. APIs can unlock partnerships that cross industries. As an example, when people buy a car, they might need a bank loan and insurance. Think about your industry, but also the industries that might use your APIs to send you more customers and more business.
Fifth and finally, Remember that to achieve success you should always put controls around the APIs so that you know who uses the APIs and how much and can map this to the results. With this visibility, you can use the analytics to determine which techniques are working and which are not.
Here is the list of industry blogs showing API use cases:
Aerospace and Defense – “
APIs for Aerospace and Defense Blast Off
”
Automotive – “
What’s driving APIs in Automotive?
”
Banking – “
Banking on APIs
”
Chemicals and Petroleum – “
Drilling into API usage in the Chemical and Petroleum Industry
”
Consumer Packaged Goods – “
APIs for CPG – Managing Bathrooms to Supply Chains
”
Education – “
Learning your ABCs using APIs – APIs in Education
”
Electronics – “
No Shock, the Electronics Industry is Charged up about APIs
”
Financial Services – “
Financial Services – Planning to Retire on APIs
”
Government – “
Government APIs – Do more with less
”
Healthcare Payers – “
Healthcare APIs – A cure to accessing Healthcare Systems
”
Healthcare Providers – “
Healthcare Providers – A Prescription for APIs
”
Insurance – “
APIs for the Insurance Industry – Avoid the risk of falling behind
”
Life Sciences – “
APIs: A Prescription for Challenges in the Life Sciences Industry
”
Manufacturing - "
Building APIs for the Manufacturing Industry
"
Media and Entertainment – “
Media and Entertainment – Hooray for APIs!
”
Metals and Mining – “
Unearthing API Use Cases in Metals and Mining
”
Retail – “
Today’s Special – APIs for the Retail Industry
”
Smarter Cities – “
ReshAPIng Cities – Using APIs to Build Smarter Cities
”
Telecom – “
Telecom and APIs – Now we are talking
”
Travel and Transportation – “
APIs are Taking Off in Travel and Transportation
”
Utilities – “
APIs for Utilities: Let’s do something about the Weather!
”
Software - "
Software Industry API Use Cases - Eating Our Own Cooking
"
What industries did I miss? Let me know if I did not cover yours.
Connect with me through comments here or via twitter
@Arglick
to continue the discussion. You can also
read my earlier blogs
.
#apistrategy
#Travel
#MobileApps
#BusinessStrategy
#Education
#Transportation
#Metals
#APIscience
#auto
#insurance
#experienceAPIs
#APIsecurity
#Life_sciences
#Smarter_Cities
#IoT
#petroleum
#Financial
#industry
#Industries
#Banking
#Defense
#api_economy
#ibm
#Aerospace
#api_strategy
#InternetofThings
#ibmapimgt
#Mining
#Chemicals
#retail
#apimgt
#telecom
#Automotive
#API
#connected_car
#APIManagement
#Mobile
#Healthcare
#analytics
#government
#think_apis
#Electronics
#APIEconomy
#apis
#utilities
#Innovation
#api_management
#bigdata
#social
#CPG
#Life_Science
#media
6 comments
1 view
×
Reason for Moderation
Describe the reason this content should be moderated (required)
Permalink
Comments
Alan Glickenhouse
Mon July 24, 2017 01:10 PM
Oh, and one more thought. I'm not saying that I won't do one covering your suggestion. I just have so many blogs in the queue right now, it will probably take a long time until I get to this. So, the series may be a better option to get the information you need in a more timely way.
Alan Glickenhouse
Mon July 24, 2017 12:52 PM
Thanks for your comment and suggestion. In order to keep the industry list finite I went with the IBM industry list found on the external web site - https://www.ibm.com/industries/en-us/?lnk=min. From a weather perspective the closest one that I’ve already written might be the utilities blog - https://developer.ibm.com/apiconnect/2015/01/08/apis-utilities-lets-something-weather/.
I do recognize that all of these blogs are very broad and may not be specific to any individual company in the industry. So, recognizing this I have started a new blog series on business drivers and the techniques to help you identify specific APIs for your business. This will roll out over the next few months. I published the first one last week and plan to roll this out at a rate of one per week. Here is a link to the opening blog - https://developer.ibm.com/apiconnect/2017/07/20/api-economy-4-business-drivers-7-use-case-categories-series-overview/
Archive User
Mon July 24, 2017 09:03 AM
What about API candidates for the sector Environment and Weather?
Global warming and environment hazards now a days are a matter of concern.
Alan Glickenhouse
Mon January 16, 2017 01:07 PM
Scott, sounds like a good idea. Thanks!
Scott Satterwhite
Sun January 15, 2017 07:54 PM
Hi, could you add the following to IBM's list of Industries and to your list of API Use Cases? Computer Services/Software. This includes companies like: Microsoft, Google, Oracle, Facebook, Salesforce, Uber, VMware, Intuit, LinkedIn, Autodesk, Intuit, Twitter, Airbnb...
Anonymous Member
Thu April 14, 2016 12:21 PM
This message was posted by a user wishing to remain anonymous
[…] it is believed that there is an API for every industry, there are sectors where APIs are relatively underrepresented. Chris Wood has taken a look at some […]
Middleware
Topic groups
Application Infrastructure
DevOps
Integration
Management, ITSM, and AI Ops
Spectrum Computing Group
Expertise Connect(EC) Group
User groups
Events
Upcoming Middleware Events
On Demand Webinars
IBM Expert TV
Virtual Community Events
All IBM Community Events
Participate
Getting Started
Community Manager's Welcome
Post to Forum
Share a Resource
Blogging on the Community
Connect with Middleware Users
All IBM Community Users
Resources
IBM Support
IBM Cloud Support
IBM Champions
Demos
Cloud Integration Expert Labs & Learning Community
Meet the Middleware Team
Marketplace
Marketplace
Copyright © 2020 IBM Corporation. All rights reserved.
Powered by Higher Logic