CA Technologies Korea (hereinafter CA) stated that many Korean companies are engaging in digital innovation by utilizing Application Programming Interfaces (APIs).

This survey on the current status and outlook of global enterprise API usage was commissioned by CA and conducted by IT industry analysis firm Freeform Dynamics, targeting 1,442 senior IT and business executives across nine industries in 16 countries worldwide. The Asia-Pacific region included seven countries, including South Korea, Japan, and China.

According to the report, Korean companies adopted APIs for the purposes of mobile app development (71%), back-office system integration (69%), web application development (68%), allowing access for external developers (62%), and external service integration (56%). They also cited rapid development of new apps that increase revenue (79%), reduction of IT-related costs and risks (78%), and revenue generation using data (78%) as major drivers of API utilization, indicating that it is primarily related to business rather than technology.



Furthermore, it was found that many companies are still struggling to establish grounds to support the necessity of APIs. In Korea, fewer than 3 out of 10 companies managed to persuade budget management executives to secure funding or establish the value of APIs from a business perspective. Most Korean companies were well aware of the important strategies required for successful API utilization, but only a few put them into practice.

While 75% of Korean respondents stated that they should hire sufficient developers, only 18% actually put this into practice. 72% agreed that persuading budget executives to secure funding is important, but only 26% were implementing that strategy. Similarly, 70% of respondents stated that establishing the importance of APIs from a business perspective is crucial, yet only a quarter took action.

Michael Choi, President of CA Technologies Korea, stated, “Korean companies were well aware that APIs are the foundation of the application economy and an essential condition for success. In today’s business environment, where software is central to every business, companies must go beyond simply adopting APIs and strategically utilize and manage them.” He added, “As a leader in API management, CA provides a secure and developer-friendly IT environment to help customers maximize API usage and drive large-scale mobile and IoT strategies.”