In today’s digital transformation journey, APIs are taking on an increasingly central role — but how can we be sure that our API strategy is truly generating value?

The answer lies in defining and monitoring objective KPIs (Key Performance Indicators), which allow us to concretely measure the effectiveness of our API Governance. 

Why API Governance Needs Objective KPIs

To successfully navigate the API landscape, organizations need a reliable compass. KPIs serve exactly this purpose, offering a way to objectively measure the success of governance initiatives and identify areas for improvement.

There are many benefits to a metrics-based approach: from verifying the quality of developed APIs, optimizing their reuse, to ensuring high security standards. One particularly significant aspect is the impact on time-to-market: by continuously monitoring KPIs, organizations can greatly accelerate their API development and deployment processes. 

In this context, platforms like ApiShare play a key role by centralizing the collection and analysis of metrics and providing a unified view of governance processes. 

The Difference Between Governance and Management KPIs 

To fully understand how APIs work, it’s important to distinguish between governance and management. While they may seem similar at first glance, these two domains require different approaches and metrics. 

Governance KPIs focus on strategic and long-term aspects: how are we standardizing our APIs? How effectively are we complying with regulations? How aligned are we with our overall strategy? These indicators help maintain a holistic view and guide the evolution of our API strategy. 

Management KPIs, on the other hand, focus on operational and technical aspects: performance, availability, latency. These are essential for daily monitoring, but not sufficient to evaluate the overall effectiveness of governance. 

A Structured KPI Model 

To bring clarity to this world of metrics, an organizational model has been developed, structured around four key dimensions, each with its own objectives and specific indicators. 

Standardization and quality form the first pillar: here we monitor how well APIs adhere to corporate standards, the average number of patches per version, and the percentage of APIs that could be consolidated to remove duplication. 

The strategy and alignment dimension focuses on the coverage of business functionalities and the level of internal API reuse. These indicators show how effectively the API portfolio supports business goals. 

The compliance and process dimension is increasingly relevant in today’s regulatory landscape, especially with new regulations such as NIS2. Here, process compliance is closely monitored to ensure not only adherence but also security and reliability. 
Finally, lifecycle and market fit assesses how quickly APIs are brought to market and, more importantly, how much they are actually used. Time to Delivery (TTD) has become a key indicator in a market demanding ever greater agility. 

KPIs in Detail: Measuring What Really Matters 

Not all metrics are created equal. The key is identifying and tracking those indicators that truly impact the success of the adopted strategy. Let’s take a closer look at the most meaningful metrics in each performance evaluation area. 

Standardization and Quality: The Foundation of Effective Governance 

API quality is not an abstract concept — it can be measured with concrete indicators. The three most important KPIs in this area are: 

• Percentage of APIs compliant with corporate standards: This shows how effective you are at maintaining a consistent API portfolio. A high compliance rate (ideally >90%) means you're building a robust and predictable API ecosystem. 

• Average number of patches per version: A key indicator of API maturity. A high patch count may point to issues in design or testing, while a downward trend suggests a maturing development process. 

• Percentage of duplicate or redundant APIs: This helps identify optimization opportunities. Duplication wastes resources and can lead to inconsistencies and maintenance difficulties. 

Strategy and Alignment: Turning APIs into Business Value 

Strategic alignment ensures APIs truly support business objectives. Two metrics stand out in this area: 

• Business Function Coverage 
  A KPI that answers a key question: how effectively are our APIs digitizing business processes? The formula is simple yet powerful: 
  
  % coverage = (Business functions covered by APIs / Total business functions) x 100 
  
  

• Internal API Reuse
  The reuse level is a direct indicator of API strategy efficiency. High reuse reduces development costs and indicates APIs are truly useful and well-designed. 

Compliance and Processes: Navigating the Regulatory Landscape 

In an era of growing regulation, compliance is no longer optional. KPIs in this area focus on: 

• Percentage of processes compliant with regulations, monitoring adherence to standards like NIS2 

• Average time to adapt to new regulations 

• Number of compliance violations detected and resolved

Lifecycle and Market Fit: From Theory to Practice

The real success of APIs is measured in the field. That’s why we closely track:

1. Time to Delivery (TTD) 
   This KPI measures the time from concept to deployment for a new API. A decreasing TTD indicates more efficient processes and higher organizational maturity. 
   
   

2. Distribution of APIs by Governance Status 
   This metric provides a snapshot of the API portfolio, showing: 
   - How many APIs are in development 
   - How many are actively used 
   - How many are being deprecated 
   
   

3. Actual Use of APIs Exposed to External Partners and Clients 
   % usage = (Actively used exposed APIs / Total exposed APIs) x 100 
   A low usage rate, for instance, might suggest a need to reassess the API exposure strategy.

Optimizing KPIs with ApiShare: Putting Data at the Service of Business 

Thanks to its end-to-end API governance capabilities, ApiShare provides the essential foundation for developing a data-driven approach to performance monitoring and optimization. 

The rich data collected by the platform forms a solid basis for: 

• Building customizable dashboards to display the most relevant KPIs for each stakeholder 

• Developing predictive analytics based on usage and performance patterns, anticipating trends and potential issues 

• Implementing automated data collection and processing workflows, optimizing time and resources 

• Creating detailed reports and effectively communicating project progress 

The real strength of ApiShare lies in its ability to centralize and correlate data from various API ecosystem touchpoints, offering an integrated governance view. This enables organizations to evolve toward a more mature and proactive approach to API governance. 

In a context of digital transformation, having a platform that provides reliable and structured data is no longer optional — it’s a strategic necessity for staying competitive and ensuring the success of digital initiatives.