Understanding Business Value

When deciding to implement an API for your company, one critical piece of information that is frequently glossed over is the value the API can bring to your business. For most products, there is a direct tie to revenue, but with an API, the purposes can be quite different. The problem comes when the goal for the API is unclear, because the inevitable outcome of that is an apparently unsuccessful product. You need to make sure to understand the Business model, have Use cases that support it, and metrics to measure how well you're meeting those goals.

One really great resource for understanding this is the ebook A Practical Approach to API Design which covers the understanding of use cases and business value, and how to tie those into your API development strategy.