Change is the only constant in life…and business.
This has never been more true. Today businesses are coping with everything from pandemic-induced remote work challenges to new categories of competitors to increasingly demanding customers. The need for organizations to become more nimble and responsive is acute.
Yet, today’s system and application structures are built to resist change. For example, have you ever asked a software engineer, who is nearing the completion of a new application, to please change some key functions in the program prior to launch? Don’t.
To be honest, there are good reasons for this - security, reliability, usability, to name a few - all crucially important factors. Applications and the architectures that support them are built as fundamental, unchanging platforms - like the foundation of a house.
So how does a company square the need for constant change with information systems devoted to stasis? The answer? It’s very hard. We believe, however, that there is an opportunity to capitalize on a new technical trend to simultaneously improve organizational flexibility while not jeopardizing the core IT foundation stones.
APIs are not new. For years, they’ve been an integral component of the computing fabric we all use everyday. Until recently, APIs were mainly the concern of technical infrastructure organizations, useful for integrating systems, connecting various front-ends with disparate back-ends, basically the “pipes”.
But recent events have revealed APIs to be useful for far more than just plumbing. In many cases, APIs are direct (and secure) interfaces to business information that fast moving, dynamic teams need. Normally, business users would access this information via applications.
But what if the information they need is not currently available via an existing application? The aforementioned change resistance now, here, spells trouble. Adjusting a current app, or developing a new one from scratch, is time consuming and expensive, which in many cases, means nothing happens.
Set up properly, APIs can help address this need for unpredictable, ad hoc information access. They can allow users to leapfrog the need for any changes to the existing application environment by enabling them to use interfaces that are already in place - web, chat, voice, even SMS.
The Signalpattern platform is built on the premise that APIs can, and will, become a critical new asset for organizations as they begin to anticipate, accommodate and master the increasingly dynamic business environment.
Anyone who remembers when Google appeared on the scene will recognize how true this is. 5G networks and their associated edge computing frameworks represent a similar sea change in speed. While it may not seem like much of a boost now on your phone, once the new network installations are complete, combined with new systems that take advantage of MEC frameworks, the difference will be stark and there will be no going back.
Supporting this new wave of innovation is a core goal for us. Many of the new service offerings that will help businesses take advantage of this new speed will be presented as APIs. For the technology to reach its full potential, these services will need to get incorporated into every aspect of our computing life. Signalpattern excels at helping organizations explore new capabilities, try new things, build prototypes and roll out revolutionary new products and services.
Leveraging our decade of experience working with the world’s largest CSPs, we have developed a portfolio of Signalpattern-based products and services that focus on helping CSPs demonstrate, sell and support the full capabilities of the 5G/MEC platform - both public and private.
Contact us for more information.
