Improving digital customer experience through an API first approach

Many businesses' foundational legacy systems prevent them from utilising new digital technologies and generating novel experiences for their stakeholders. In order to develop an IT strategy that supports the speedy adoption of emerging technologies, many find it challenging to modernise or expand their old systems. Besides, these organisations connect new systems to their legacy databases and software using point-to-point integration when they do attempt to modernise their legacy systems. This creates tight dependencies between systems and results in an infrastructure that is fragile, expensive, and difficult to maintain. Organisations must adopt an API-based integration strategy, or "API-led connection," in place of point-to-point integration for a better legacy modernisation plan. Points of discussion 1. Adopting an API-first strategy means that every aspect of your products or services will be used or accessed via various platforms, channels, and devices. This also means that it is important to create functionalities that can be exposed as a reliable, reusable, and consistent API. Noting all these, can you tell us how an API first model can create an impact on the digital customer journey. 2. Talking about API, and Bimaplan being one of the pioneers in building an API platform for embedded insurance in India, do you see an opportunity in digital insurance products through the use of shared data, open APIs, and open-source technologies in India. 3. Implementing an embedded insurance strategy requires more than just software development expertise. To properly set it up, one need to be able to use the underlying technologies and tools. What according to you are the important factors to consider in order to build a successful API-based architecture in insurance. Speaker Bio: Vikul Goyal, is the founder and CEO of Bimaplan, an insurtech startup which is driving insurance adoption through technology. Vikul's previous startup, Carcrew, an online marketplace for automobile spares and services, was acquired by TVS, a large auto conglomerate based in India. Previously, he worked as an Investment Professional at Bessemer Venture Partners and GSF Accelerator. He is an active angel investor and has invested in startups across fintech and consumer internet sectors. Vikul has a Bachelor of Technology in Mechanical Engineering from IIT Guwahati and has an MBA from Harvard Business School.