In his 1966 book “The Psychology of Science,” American psychologist Abraham Maslow tackled the idea that those in the field of psychology needed to approach treatment from multiple perspectives, to take on new ideas, and not just continue using the same theories and techniques created by Freud and his followers so many years ago. Acknowledging that changing your point of view can be difficult, Maslow wrote “[I]t is tempting, if the only tool you have is a hammer, to treat everything like a nail.” We have all had this experience. We get so used to the way things have been done in the past, we sometimes don’t question the reasons for doing them.

In 2007, Apple launched the iPhone, effectively the first smartphone. With its touch-screen interface and ability to run lightweight apps, the iPhone revolutionized the mobile phone market. The arrival of the iPad tablet in 2010 increased the potential of mobile apps significantly, simply by offering a larger touch-screen.

In the wake of the iPhone and iPad has come a deluge of mobile devices, with Google’s Android operating system emerging as a serious competitor to Apple’s iOS technology. In addition to smartphones and tablets, the app paradigm is increasingly being used to enhance and connect all types of devices – from TVs to gaming systems to vehicles to utilities meters and beyond.

Mobile technology is revolutionizing the corporate IT landscape. Enterprises want to leverage mobile to maximize employee productivity, efficiency and availability. Meanwhile, employees are already taking the initiative by using their own personal mobile devices for business purposes. For enterprises, the benefits of enterprise mobility and the reality of the “bring-your-own-device” (BYOD) movement are becoming impossible to ignore.

Today, the UX of an app has come to embody the characteristics of a product or service that are important to the individual. It’s the recognized feeling one receives when interacting with the app, how pervasive the app becomes throughout one’s life and the lasting memory the individual has after connecting with the business.

But a good UX, while ideally delivering enduring business results, must overcome obstacles to be successful. For instance, not every app type has the same user experience. Web apps, while easier to maintain and extend to the mobile device, don’t always render well across different devices ultimately driving organizations to develop new native mobile apps in order to deliver the optimal user experience expected. But native apps possess their own challenges with security being a primary concern.

Today, digital is everywhere—cloud, mobile, social and the Internet of Things are changing the way we all work and play. This rapidly evolving digital world is also redefining the relationship between your business and your customers, who now expect a convenient, interactive experience from their preferred brands. Security is also a concern. Risk is rising, as both the enterprise and its customers exchange a growing amount of sensitive data.

It should come as no surprise that exposing business data outside of the enterprise creates a range of new security and management challenges. API Management solutions make it simple for even the most security-conscious organization to open their information assets without impacting data security or the performance of backend systems. So in the end, you can focus not on the risks of API monetization, but rather, on the rewards.

The rise of the application programming interface (API) represents a business opportunity and a technical challenge. For business leaders, APIs present the opportunity to open new revenue streams and maximize customer value. But enterprise architects are the ones charged with creating the APIs that make backend systems available for reuse in new Web and mobile apps.

The app, in many digital forms, mobile, cloud and the Internet of Things, has created the opportunity for enterprises to optimize interaction with employees, customers and business partners fundamentally new ways. Chooseing the right digital platform can be the difference between success and failure.

The application programming interface (API) is an emerging technology for integrating applications using Web technology. This approach is exploding in popularity because it builds on well-understood techniques and leverages some existing infrastructure. But it is a mistake to think you can secure APIs using the same methods and technology with which we secured the browser-centric Web. APIs are fundamentally different from websites and have an entirely unique risk profile that must be addressed.