How do you go about launching and managing an open API program while navigating the challenges of a big corporation’s culture? When it comes to digital transformation, the WHY is easy to understand. It’s figuring out HOW to undergo that transformation, and how to move an entire organization into that direction, that is tricky. No innovation comes without challenges, and opening APIs always raises concerns about security or intellectual property. So how can you strike a balance between delivering value to the innovators out there, and staying aligned with your organization’s strategy? Having provided APIs to large businesses for over two decades, last year we underwent a transformation to launch our open API program. Our journey required aligning business goals and getting the buy-in from numerous stakeholders, setting up the right program structure, and putting in place new business processes and governance models. This talk covers key learnings, common pitfalls to avoid, and useful tactics to lead the transition of your organization to a (truly) open API culture.

1. Shaking foundations:
How to move
from a Corporate to
an Open API mindset
Maria Garcia Luengo
The Platform Summit, Stockholm
23 October 2019

2. Brace yourselves
Change
is coming...

3. Resistance
to change
• Fear of the unknown
• Threat to status quo
• Skepticism about need
for change
• Ambiguity
• Workload increase

4. “So life in the Shire
goes on very much as it
has this past Age.
Full of its own comings
and goings, with
change coming slowly,
if it comes at all.
For things are made to
endure in the Shire”
(The Fellowship of the Ring, J.R.R. Tolkien)

5. A journey of
a thousand
miles begins
with a single
step

6. Starting point:
Research
Internal
(Stakeholders, products,
business, tech capabilities,
internal processes, etc.)
External
(Competition, customer
needs, best practices)

7. Walking
into
meetings
like...

8. We’re doing ok so far
We’ve always done it this way
It’s not a good time
We don’t have
the bandwidth
It’s not in the budget
We’re too busyWe have other priorities
It’s not our job
Let’s not reinvent
the wheel!
It’s too risky

9. 8-Step Process for
Leading Change
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Sense of
urgency
Guiding
coalition
Vision Volunteer
army
Remove
barriers
Quick
wins
Build on
change
Anchor
changes
Create a climate for
change
Engage & enable the full
organization
Sustain change
(Leading Change, Dr. John P. Kotter)

10. Save the Empire? I’m busy today...
Chapter I:
Creating a
sense of
urgency
• Risk of not
doing anything
• Missed
opportunities
• Data, facts
• Storytelling

11. 73%
of companies consider
leadership support the
biggest enabler of
innovation success
Chapter II: Building
a guiding coalition
(Benchmarking Innovation Impact 2018, Innovation Leader)

12. Chapter III:
Forming a
strategic vision
• Make the vision
tangible
• Help others see
what you see
• Prototyping
• Concrete
examples
When a simple trick can open your mind

13. Ninjas
Chapter IV: Enlisting a volunteer army
Samurais
• Agile
• Highly adaptable, innovative
• Experimentation. Learn and iterate
• Ultrareliable
• Predictable, proven standards
• Strong Governance
Gartner’s
Bimodal IT

14. Internal discussions be like...
55%
of corporations
consider
politics & lack
of alignment
the biggest
obstacles to
innovation
(Benchmarking Innovation Impact 2018,
Innovation Leader)

15. Chapter V:
Enabling action by
removing barriers
The Open API road of
trials:
• Security risks
• Data risks
• Business risks
• Legal risks

16. Intruders
API Management
Platform
Security & Performance:
With great power,
comes great responsibility

17. Your internal FAQs:
• What data can we open?
How?
• Will it threat our business?
Answers:
• Data Governance
• API Design Governance
• Pricing model validation
• Centralized, cross-business-
unit collaboration

18. I can’t read it...
It seems to be
written by a Lawyer

19. Show me the money!

20. Chapter VI: Generating
short-term wins
Every achievement counts. Communicate
your success stories early and often
From ROI to opportunities:
• Customer reach
• Partnerships
• Identify trends, use cases
• Products improvements
• Processes efficiency
• Time to market
• Branding (innovation)

21. Chapter VII:
Building on change
Start small:
• Simple use cases
• Low-risk APIs (GET)
• Minimum Viable
Product
Learn, iterate, and keep
adding on capabilities
Think Big. Prototype Small. Scale Fast

22. ©AmadeusITGroupanditsaffiliatesandsubsidiaries
22
One API program
to rule them all
Chapter VIII:
Anchoring changes
• Masters of the 2 worlds
(Private + Open)
• Keep communicating
• Continue role as
Innovation advocate

23. Ask the community!
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Sense of urgency
Guiding coalition
Vision
Volunteer army
Remove barriers
Quick wins
Build on change
Anchor changes

24. 24
Thank you!
Maria Garcia Luengo
developers.amadeus.com