This panel was moderated by John Dages, Technology Solution Director at Fusion Alliance and included (left to right): Shawn Chapla, Technology Consultant at Fusion Alliance, John Heckler, Senior Engineering Manager at Kroger, and David Imhoff, SVP of Core Software Engineering at Fifth Third Bank.
Every business wants to move with agility in the digital world. Most make customer-facing digital transformation plans — which is critical — but miss out on the backend technical frameworks that make digital aptitude possible.
In a rapidly changing business environment, being able to pivot technologically can make or break a company’s viability. But how can you translate technical capabilities to concrete outcomes your leadership and business users can understand?
How to build support for composability across the business
Most C-level leaders are not technology experts, so to gain their sponsorship and alignment for the shift to composability, you’ll need to tie the technical gains you anticipate to concrete business objectives. After all, moving to a more composable, API-first framework is a culture change that calls for a new mindset.
Many organizations find that the key to unlocking support for composability is tying the change to the organization’s long-term journey toward digital transformation. The API-first approach dovetails easily to that bigger picture, as a composable enterprise tends to be quicker to market and more efficient with developer resources, to say nothing of the profit associated with monetizing your API marketplace.
As you start changing, be sure to quantify incremental value in terms of business goals and profit. Some examples might include:
- Showing how API and component reuse avoid future costs
- Demonstrating the ways that APIs and composable frameworks enable business wins
- Measuring time and cost to market for new initiatives
The composable enterprise is a long game. In the short term, your organization may see building an API catalog or establishing a new architecture as a bottleneck to their plans. Proving value — both initially and along the way — can go a long way toward bringing the business with you on your path to modernizing your enterprise architecture.
About our panelists
David Imhoff is the SVP of core software engineering at Fifth Third bank, where he drives the bank's domain service API strategy. David has 17 years of software engineering and cybersecurity experience at Fifth Third, General Electric, and Cincinnati Bell where he has built cyber detection capabilities, led large software organizations, and is currently building out the core banking replacement for Fifth Third.
David holds a BS in Information Technology from the University of Cincinnati and an MBA from Xavier University. He is passionate about mentoring and loves to help elevate the next generation of technology professionals. And he enjoys spending time with his wife and two daughters, golfing, and watching the Cincinnati Bengals.
John Heckler is a Sr. Engineering Manager at Kroger responsible for Kroger's API Program and Platform. John has over 25 years of experience in software architecture and development, over 15 years of managing development teams, and a passion for building and motivating high-performing teams.
John holds a BS in CS from Bowling Green State University and a Master of Computer Science from the University of Dayton.
Shawn Chapla is a Consultant at Fusion Alliance in the Technology Practice area, focusing on helping customers accelerate their business through API- and cloud-driven digital transformation. Prior to joining Fusion, he spent more than 40 years delivering technology solutions in the pharmaceutical, defense, and computer systems industries.
