How M&A’s Can Make or Break Your Tech Stack: A Cautionary Tale from the APIM Space
You’re a multi-billion dollar organization involved in numerous mergers and acquisitions, and your next buyout could revolutionize your product offerings. But have you considered the potential chaos it could unleash on your tech stack?
Better yet, let’s reframe the question: What happens to existing technology when two behemoths collide?
M&A’s present serious risks to a company’s existing technology infrastructure and standardized practices. The challenge is often akin to trying to interlock puzzle pieces from disparate sets, with complications arising in several critical areas.
For example, one entity may operate on AWS while the other is entrenched in Azure, creating a complex path to harmonization.
The Real-Life Impact: A Case Study
I recently had a conversation with a prospective customer that got me thinking. They had built an API* developer portal based on one API management vendor’s ecosystem. Cue a merger, and a company mandate to switch to a different APIM.
What’s the outcome?
They’re now building an entirely new developer portal from scratch, even though the one they had was perfectly functional. And here’s the tough part: they’re being forced to build it in Drupal because that’s the technology the APIM chose to use a decade ago. If you’ve ever dealt with Drupal, you know it’s like navigating a maze blindfolded. It works, but it’s old.
Drupal aside, you can’t begin to imagine the cost of building not one, but two external developer portals. From re-mapping APIs to new gateways, to rebuilding API consumer journeys… talk about inheriting tech debt. Your API teams should be focused on generating more value among developers, customers, and partners — not reinventing the wheel time and again.
The Issue at Hand: Rigidity vs. Flexibility
The problem here isn’t just about having to switch APIMs; it’s about the rigidity that existing platforms force upon companies.
At a time when tech is shifting faster than you can say ‘AI start-up,’ doubling down on building an environmentally siloed developer portal is a gamble you can’t afford.
The Ripple Effect: Beyond APIM
And if you think this is just a problem limited to the API management space, you’d be mistaken. Whether it’s genAI, CRM systems, data lakes, or any other critical piece of your tech stack, the need for flexibility is constant.
Mergers and strategy shifts are not just potential disruptions; they are inevitable. Preparing for them should be a core part of your overall tech strategy.
The Path Forward: A Nod to Flexibility and Integration
Gartner’s recent Market Guide for API Gateways highlights a crucial point: the future lies in API management frameworks that allow for both multi-instance and multi-vendor networks.
This isn’t just a suggestion; it’s a blueprint for staying ahead of the curve.
The goal is deeper integration, robust security, and speed. And this is not just about being adaptable within the APIM space; it’s about future-proofing your entire tech stack for whatever twists and turns come your way.
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*API: Application Programming Interface (Digital Connections/Integrations)
