The shift toward API-first development has moved from a technical trend to a business imperative. Recent industry research reveals compelling evidence that organizations adopting API-first strategies are not only accelerating their development cycles but also achieving measurable competitive advantages in the marketplace.
The API-First Movement Gains Enterprise Adoption
The momentum behind API-first development continues to accelerate across enterprises. According to Postman's 2024 State of the API Report, 74% of respondents now describe their development approach as API-first, representing a significant jump from 66% in 2023. This eight-percentage-point increase in just one year signals that API-first is no longer an emerging practice—it's becoming the standard.
What makes this trend particularly noteworthy is the speed at which organizations are executing on API development. The same Postman research shows that 63% of developers can now produce an API in under one week, demonstrating how standardized API-first approaches are streamlining development workflows and reducing time-to-market for new capabilities.
Quantifying the Return on Investment
Beyond adoption rates, the financial impact of API strategies is becoming clearer through rigorous analysis. A Forrester-modeled study examining Azure API Management found that organizations achieved 50% faster time-to-market for new services and products. The study also documented substantial cost savings from retiring legacy infrastructure and significant productivity improvements in both API development and policy configuration processes.
Perhaps more striking is research published by Forbes indicating that firms implementing comprehensive API strategies experienced 12.7% more growth in market capitalization over a four-year period compared to companies that didn't prioritize API adoption. This correlation suggests that APIs aren't just operational tools—they're strategic assets that can drive measurable business value.
A Market Poised for Explosive Growth
The investment flowing into API infrastructure reflects this growing recognition of their strategic importance. Market research from MarketsandMarkets projects the API management market will expand from approximately USD 7.6 billion in 2024 to USD 16.9 billion by 2029, representing a compound annual growth rate of roughly 17.1%.
Even more dramatic is the projected growth of API marketplaces. Grand View Research forecasts the global API marketplace market will reach nearly USD 49.45 billion by 2030. This represents not just the infrastructure for managing APIs, but the entire ecosystem of API-driven commerce and integration.
The Visibility Challenge Holding Organizations Back
Despite this momentum, significant challenges remain that prevent organizations from fully capitalizing on their API investments. Research from Axway surveying approximately 600 senior IT and business decision makers revealed a troubling lack of visibility into existing API assets.
The study found that 78% of organizations don't know how many APIs they currently have. Additionally, roughly 74% believed that more than 20% of their APIs were unmanaged—existing in shadow IT environments without proper governance, security, or lifecycle management.
This visibility gap creates multiple problems. Organizations may be duplicating effort by building APIs for capabilities that already exist elsewhere in the company. They're also creating security and compliance risks through unmanaged endpoints, and missing opportunities to maximize the value of existing API investments through better cataloguing and reuse strategies.
The Strategic Implications for Device Management
For companies in the device management space, these research findings highlight both an opportunity and an imperative. The API-first trend creates demand for platforms that can easily integrate with diverse technology stacks through well-designed APIs. Organizations are increasingly selecting vendors based on their ability to fit seamlessly into API-driven architectures rather than requiring custom integration work.
The visibility challenges identified in the research also suggest a market opportunity for solutions that help enterprises better manage and govern their API ecosystems. Companies that can provide both powerful API functionality and clear visibility into how those APIs are being used will have a competitive advantage.
The Infrastructure Imperative
The research data points to a clear conclusion: API-first development has crossed the chasm from early adopter practice to mainstream business strategy. The organizations showing 12.7% higher market capitalization growth aren't just technologically advanced—they're business-strategically positioned for the digital economy.
For device management platforms, this means API capabilities can no longer be an afterthought or add-on feature. They must be architected from the ground up to support the API-first workflows that enterprises are standardizing on. The companies that recognize this shift and build accordingly will be positioned to capture a disproportionate share of the growing API management market.
The question isn't whether APIs will become central to enterprise technology strategy—the research shows they already have. The question is whether organizations will build the visibility, governance, and strategic frameworks needed to fully capitalize on their API investments.
About Inlayer
Inlayer provides device management solutions that help enterprises deploy, manage, and secure connected devices at scale. Inlayer's API platform is designed for developers and system integrators, offering the flexibility and integration capabilities that modern businesses require.
Ready to explore how API-first device management can accelerate your business? Contact their team to learn more.
