"Assuming that all applications and functions will use the same APIs is the road to ruin." #readingToday  

The biggest issue for users is to avoid the many traps there could be along the way towards the API economy. Assuming that all applications and functions will use the same APIs and capabilities is the road to ruin. Developers will continue to create their own APIs under the misapprehension that theirs is the best possible way. It makes far more sense to assume that different applications and functions will move their APIs along at different speeds and to apply a flexible API management tool over the top.

Ensuring that all the different APIs can work together requires a system that can act like Douglas Adams' proverbial Babel Fish: it needs to be able to accept anything in and make sure that what comes out is understandable to the system dependent on it. This is where skill and domain expertise are required – this is where suppliers will win or lose.