RL - Insurance

Chapter: Risks Associated with APIs 11 liability. Additionally, establishing and enforcing local and/or global standards yields consistency and lowers the possibility of error. Finally, implementation must balance flexibility and control. The speed and flexibility offered by an API environment comes with some downside. Without adequate design, oversight, or any principles, the approach can lead to a plethora of services, confusion among developers, and reliability issues. Traceability and audit trails may be substandard. However, if there are too many controls, developers (both internal and external) will find it difficult, time-consuming, and costly to deal with the technology. API MANAGEMENT To manage their risks, leading insurers build or invest in API management gateway utilities. These systems facilitate the establishment of design guardrails and enforce their ongoing implementation. Celent reviewed product details of leading providers of such software, and their common features are summarized in Table 2. Table 2: API Management Features FEATURE DESCRIPTION SECURITY Includes identity management, verification, and management of account instructions. DEVELOPER PORTAL Provides a workbench from which users can design, construct, debug, and test. LIFECYCLE MANAGEMENT Enables continuous DevOps control, from onboarding to release; continuous regression testing and version management are key. STANDARDS REPOSITORY Establishes a central location for the codification and version management of API design, construction, use, and management. ARCHIVES/LIBRARY Provides a catalog from which users can search, and check APIs in and out. INTEGRATION UTILITY Allows for the creation and management of prebuilt integration connectors and adapters solutions to internal and external systems. Ensures that clients can access services in a way that is native to their environment. THIRD PARTY MANAGEMENT Provides a single gateway to interact with third parties, including a marketplace allowing insurers to monetize APIs. ANALYTICS AND MONITORING Delivers visibility into the use and performance of APIs while in development and production. Tactical data provides direction from an operational standpoint; trend analysis indicates, on a longer-term basis, if API usage is on track with goals. Source: Celent The mapping below relates API management features to the risks that must be managed. The color of the circles indicates the relative degree to which a feature mitigates each risk. Insurers implementing API infrastructure can refer to this analysis during their risk review activities.

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