APIs and emerging economy - driving digital transformation through e-government

University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Computer and Information Science, Večna pot 113, Ljubljana, Slovenia

^* Corresponding author: denis.trcek@fri.uni-lj.si

Abstract

Digital transformation is increasingly determining the development of societies through ubiquitous deployment of modern information technologies. One of the main drivers that are still not paid sufficient attention are application programming interfaces (APIs). These are not essential just for new services development and adoption, but have further reach and may result even in creation of new industries. Their importance is therefore not to be overlooked for further development, especially by taking into account that the main focus is still on developers (i.e. bottom-up approach). However, higher level business views (i.e. top-down approach) are to be considered in de facto and de iure APIs development, deployment and standardization processes, which is currently not the case. Therefore this paper presents a framework for facilitating APIs (services) evolution by considering top-down business views and their proper addressing. The approach builds on lessons learnt with complex services architectures, and their higher-level derivatives. In line with these lessons it defines implementation strategies at technological and business levels. The whole contribution is conceptualized around e-government services, because governments are key players in each and every economy, and their impact in digital transformation is therefore vital.