ABLOY’s Transformation Journey into the API Economy
For over a century, ABLOY has been a leader in producing high-quality locking hardware. Our journey began more than 100 years ago, and since then, we’ve continually evolved to meet the changing needs of our customers. In 1987, we embarked on our digital transformation, recognizing early on the importance of integrating our solutions with emerging technologies. Integration capabilities have become a fundamental expectation in our industry, and we’ve been providing various interfaces and integration options for over a decade.
Navigating Industry Disruptions
Today, our industry faces significant shifts driven by global trends:
- Climate Change and Urbanization: Environmental changes are prompting population relocations, leading to increased urbanization. This shift requires us to rethink user experiences and develop new use cases for our products.
- Aging Population: As the global population ages, there’s a growing demand for accessible and user-friendly security solutions.
- Economic Priorities and Political Tensions: Global economic shifts and geopolitical tensions affect everyone, influencing market dynamics and customer needs.
- Digitalization: Advances in technology offer new ways of operating and bring innovative capabilities to our industry.
These factors challenge our customers to reevaluate and rebuild their operations. It’s our mission to support them through this transition.
While providing robust locks remains essential, it’s no longer sufficient in today’s interconnected world. The focus has shifted toward managing access rights—determining who can enter specific areas, when they can do so, and under what conditions. Whether it’s granting one-time access or setting time-bound permissions, allocating access rights has become a critical aspect of security management for our customers.
The Power of Integrations and Workflows
Integrations play a pivotal role in enhancing our customers’ operations:
- Time and Labor Savings: Automating workflows through integrations reduces manual effort, leading to cost savings.
- Improved Security: Linking access management systems with tools like HR systems ensures that, for instance, when an employee leaves the company, their access rights are promptly revoked.
- Enhanced Visibility: Smart locks provide audit trails and usage logs, helping identify unauthorized access attempts or highlighting locks that may require maintenance.
- Customized Solutions: By integrating with various systems, we can tailor solutions to meet specific business needs, adding greater value for our customers.
While point-to-point integrations have served us well, they are no longer sufficient to meet the complex demands of modern businesses.
Embracing Ecosystem Thinking
To deliver greater value, we’ve shifted toward an ecosystem approach. This means creating interconnected systems that work seamlessly together. For example:
- Commercial and Residential Solutions: Integrating booking systems, invoicing, and access control allows us to offer 24/7 availability and self-service options to customers.
- Smart Buildings: Combining building management systems with elevators, lighting, and access control creates intelligent environments that enhance efficiency and user experience.
- Operational Optimization: Integrating task management, time and attendance, HR systems, and access control ensures that the right personnel have access to the right places at the right times.
By collaborating with other solutions and working within ecosystems, we unlock numerous possibilities for adding incremental value to our customers.
Introducing ABLOY Cumulus: An API-First Solution
In 2021, we launched ABLOY Cumulus, our first product range designed with an API-first mindset. This keyless solution is built for easy integration, aligning with our ecosystem approach.
Key Benefits:
- Ease of Integration: Utilizing modern REST APIs, integrating ABLOY Cumulus takes days rather than months, as was the case with older systems.
- Flexible Access Rights Management: Easily share access rights with individuals who need temporary or specific access, such as in shared economy models or co-working spaces.
- Enhanced Value Propositions: Enables anomaly detection, preventive maintenance, and other advanced use cases that benefit end customers.
However, with a diverse product portfolio that includes multiple product groups and solutions, we recognized that updating one product line wasn’t enough. We needed a comprehensive transformation to bring all our offerings into the API economy.
The Need for Organizational Transformation
To scale effectively and meet the specific needs of our customers, we had to address the limitations of our existing systems. Many of our products still relied on older technologies like SOAP APIs and point-to-point integrations, which were resource-intensive and challenging to manage at scale.
Launching the ABLOY Goes API Economy Program
In 2022, we initiated the ABLOY Goes API Economy program. We conducted an internal survey to identify areas requiring improvement and collaborated with experts to guide our transformation. We identified eight key workstreams:
- API Ecosystem Strategy: Defining our priorities and identifying which ecosystems to engage with.
- Impact on Sales Functions and Channels: Equipping our sales team with the knowledge to understand and communicate our API capabilities.
- Reference Solutions for Different Segments: Developing tailored solutions for specific customer segments.
- Partner Management and Experience: Building strong relationships with partners and ensuring they have the necessary expertise.
- API Management Tools: Implementing tools for API gateways, analytics, versioning, and more.
- Product Management Alignment: Ensuring consistency across all product groups in how we approach APIs.
- API Economy Marketing and Communication: Raising awareness of our API capabilities and participation in ecosystems.
- Legal Considerations: Establishing contract templates and security protocols, given the sensitive nature of the security industry.
Bridging the Gap: Transforming Sales and Product Management
Sales Transformation
Our sales team, experienced in selling traditional hardware like padlocks, needed support to adapt to selling integrated, API-driven solutions. The focus shifted from discussing physical product specifications to understanding customer workflows and identifying pain points. By engaging in conversations about business processes and how our solutions can add value, our salespeople can better meet customer needs.
Product Management Alignment
Consistency is crucial for a seamless developer experience. We standardized our APIs by:
- Adopting REST APIs: Transitioning from SOAP to REST APIs to align with modern development practices.
- Complying with OpenAPI Specifications: Ensuring our APIs meet industry standards.
- Unified Terminology: Establishing a company-wide terminology bank to maintain consistent language across products.
- Implementing Event-Driven Architecture: Enabling features like audit trails and real-time alerts.
- Adopting Zero-Trust Policies: Enhancing security through stringent access controls.
By aligning our product management practices, we make it easier for developers to work with our APIs, leading to higher adoption rates and more efficient integrations.
Lessons Learned and Key Takeaways
Our transformation journey taught us that succeeding in the API economy requires more than just technology:
- Comprehensive Documentation: Clear, accessible documentation is essential for developers and partners.
- Defined Processes and Guidelines: Establishing common ways of working ensures consistency and efficiency.
- Effective Partner Management: Building and maintaining strong relationships with partners is critical for mutual success.
- Marketing and Communication: Raising awareness of our capabilities is necessary to engage with potential partners and customers.
- Reevaluating Business Models: Transitioning from hardware sales to service-based offerings requires new monetization strategies and infrastructure.
- Empowering Our Team: Providing knowledge and building confidence among our employees enables them to embrace new approaches and technologies.
Embracing Knowledge and Courage
The shift to the API economy is as much about culture as it is about technology. We recognized the need to empower our team with the knowledge and courage to engage in this new landscape. Whether it’s a salesperson who’s been with us for decades or a new team member, everyone needs to understand the value of APIs and how they can enhance customer solutions.
By fostering an environment where employees feel confident discussing integrations and ecosystem partnerships, we can better serve our customers and stay ahead in the industry.
Our journey into the API economy is an ongoing process of transformation and growth. By embracing ecosystem thinking, modernizing our technologies, and aligning our organizational practices, we are positioning ABLOY to continue delivering exceptional value to our customers.
We invite others embarking on similar journeys to consider the holistic approach needed for success. It’s not just about adopting new technologies but also about evolving business models, empowering teams, and building strong partnerships.
Thank you for joining me in exploring our transformation story. If you’d like to learn more or discuss further, feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn. Wishing you all success in navigating the API economy.