I gave this talk at API Days Australia on September 15, 2021. It explores the intersection of the OLTP and OLAP worlds, and the role APIs play in bridging them. This talk introduces API-led Data Connectivity (ALDC).

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Composable Data for the
Composable Enterprise
Liquefying Data Capital through APIs
Matt McLarty, Global Leader of API Strategy
@mattmclartybc | matt.mclarty@mulesoft.com

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Data drives the digital economy
2
Personalized
UX
Optimized
operations
Process
automation
Data
products

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The Enterprise Data Reality
3
Lack of supply
Limited access
Poor quality, inconsistency,
fragmentation, saturation
Limited access control

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Digital Giants are Data Experts
4

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Shift in Data Thinking
5
Data is expensive to
generate in firm
Challenge of data is
storing and managing it
Firms make use only of
structured data
Data is managed in
operational silos
Data is continuously generated
everywhere
Challenge of data is turning it into
valuable information
Unstructured data is increasingly
usable and valuable
Value of data is in connecting it
across silos
https://www.davidrogers.biz/digital%E2%80%
90transformation%E2%80%90playbook/
Data is a tool for
optimizing processes
Data is a key intangible asset for
value creation
Chapter 4:
Turn Data
Into Assets

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Data processing: the old world
6
OLEP
(Events)
OLAP
(Analytics)
OLTP
(Applications)
Centralized
Internal-facing
Decentralized
External facing
ETL / ELT

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Data processing: the new world
7
OLEP
(Events)
OLAP
(Analytics)
OLTP
(Applications)
?
“Big data”
Machine learning
Cloud computing
UX expectations

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Data trends and technologies
8
OLEP
(Events)
OLAP
(Analytics)
OLTP
(Applications)
Cloud data warehouses
Machine learning
Apache Spark
Data lakes
Data engineering
ELT
Event streams / Kafka
Event sourcing
Microservices
Personalization
Predictive interactions
“Reverse ETL
”
Eventual consistency

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Focus on value
9
Don’t get stuck in the weeds of
data trends and technologies:
focus on value

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Old world data value chain
10
Value Capture
Data collected from
user-facing applications
Value Creation
Data insights produced using
analytics (e.g. BI)
Value Delivery
Applications updated
based on analytical
insights
Batch SDLC

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New world data value cycle
11
Value Capture
Data collected from
user-facing applications
(e.g. user context
metadata)
Value Creation
Data insights produced using
analytics (e.g. ML)
Value Delivery
Applications updated
based on analytical
insights (e.g. model
deployment)
Near
real-time

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The data value cycle requires fluid data
12
Having the most data does not equal
having the most data value
Data value is maximized by providing access to the
right data in the right context at the right time
Measure data liquidity, not data volume

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Asset liquidity
13

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Liquefying data
14
APIs are the most liquid form of data
Bigco.com
Consumers
Cash is the most liquid asset
Suppliers
Contractors
Bigco.io
Consumer
Channels
(Mobile, Web)
3rd Parties
(SaaS, Partners)
Assisted
Channels
Internal Apps
& Data
Connected
Devices
Distributors
Infrastructure

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Liquefying data through APIs
15
APIs make data composable
Composable data is liquid data

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Example: COVID Data Platform
16
Secure and
standardized
model
ingest & normalize
MuleSoft
Anypoint
Platform
deliver
Tableau
Prep
Data Sources
Data warehouse
store
Tableau
MuleSoft
Tableau Public
AWS Data
Exchange
Data partners
Salesforce
Traction on
Demand
SI/ISV Partners
MuleSoft Public
COVID Data
Tracking API
Crisis Response
Developer Portal
curate
Coming
soon!
Coming
soon!
Hyper API
validated by industry experts
consumers
APIs to ingest
raw data
APIs to expose
core data entities
Context-specific
APIs for consumers
Context-specific
APIs for consumers
Context-specific
APIs for consumers
Context-specific
APIs for consumers

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OLTP/OLEP
OLAP
APIs in the data pipeline
17
Crude
Data
APIs
Contextualized
Data
APIs
Ingest Prepare Store Analyze Deploy
Core
Data
APIs
Data Engineering Pipeline
User-facing
Applications
Data
Sources
Users
Channels

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API-led Data Connectivity (ALDC)
18
Crude Data APIs
Core Data APIs
Contextualized Data APIs
Consolidate & curate
Compose & correlate
Collect
Value Capture
Value Creation
Value Delivery

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Control Plane
Data Plane
API-enabled Data Network
19
Crude Data APIs
Core Data APIs
Contextualized Data APIs
● Discoverability
● Deployment & scaling
● Traffic control
● Security & compliance
● Observability & monitoring
● Strategic governance

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Summary
20
Focus on data value, not data volume
Measure data liquidity: right data, right context, right time
APIs are the most liquid form of data
Enable a scalable, governable data network through APIs

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For more information...
21
COVID Data Platform
Value Engineers Whitepaper -
https://www.thevalueengineers.nl/download/developing-apis-for-ecosystem-business-models-a-case-study/
API Days Presentation - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PU2_iDeD0x4
Composable Data Blog Series
Capitalizing on data economics
Composable data for the composable enterprise
MuleSoft Data Integration Resources
Introducing Anypoint DataGraph

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Thank you!