##  [Kristof Van Tomme - The API portal is dead, long live the Platform- and Interface portals](/event/apidays-new-york-2023/kristof-van-tomme) 

 This talk was presented at **APIDays New York 2023, Developer Success & Developer Portals** **track** on 17 May. We are glad to present the video recording and the talk summary.

Visit the [talk listing page](https://pronovix.com/event/apidays-new-york-2023) for an overview of all presentations!

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  ### [**KRISTOF VAN TOMME**](https://www.linkedin.com/in/kvantomme/ "Kristof's LinkedIn profile")

*Co-founder, CEO* of [Pronovix](https://www.linkedin.com/company/pronovix/)



 

 

 

  ## Kristof's [PRESENTATION](https://youtu.be/loEPZdYJOEk "Link to Kristof's presentation (YouTube) ") (VIDEO RECORDING)





 

### Internal vs. External Portals

- Two distinct types of portals emerging: internal focused (platform portals), and external focused (interface portals).
- Core thing: internal portals are fairly different.
    
    
    - Internal:
        
        
        - Employee directory
        - API Scorecards
        - Catalogue completeness
        - Gitops
        - InnerSourcing
- External:
    
    
    - Customer onboarding
    - Lead validation
    - Dev Marketing & Sales
    - Monetisation
    - Key provisioning

### Past

- 8 years ago, developer portals were primarily seen as **a feature for APIM**, they were like an **interface for an APIM solution**.
- Aim: **reduce friction** for developers.

### The Present of Developer Portals

- Evolving further: devportals are becoming a central place for developers for very specific purposes.

**Internal portals**: API governance, developer onboarding, service catalogue, DevOps portal, InnerSource portal. The different purposes are **merging into** their own category/tool including any or all mentioned beforehand.

**External portals**: marketplace, monetisation, partner ecosystem, developer rRelations. External portals are also merging with developer documentation to create developer hubs.

**Platform portal (internal portal)**: enable & encourage reuse. It’s about creating an internal developer platform which will facilitate development inside of the organization.

**Interface portal (external portal)**: constrain how the world interacts with you. It’s about creating an interface with the outside world.

### Enabling Constraints

Alicia Juarrero was a guest at Pronovix’s Complexity Podcast, where she explained the role of enabling constraints.

Enabling constraints is what **complex adaptive organisms** use to manage the complexity of the world.

- To let in what feeds them
- To interact with symbionts
- To keep out what harms them

> ”*APIs are essential for AI readiness, because they help to constrain the information flow.*”

### Platform and Interface

The two economies model:

- **Economy of differentiation**: accelerate, novelty, niche, experiment, incubate. Creating differentiated products.
- **Economy of scale**: regulate, reduce, reliability, consolidate, refresh. Reducing variability to regulate/create more reliable things and reduce costs.

There is a third economy as well, the **Economy of Scope**: accelerate, enable, resilience, common resources, negotiate shared value.

### Internal Platform Portals

The Scope economy acts as a clutch, it’s reusing what’s already given. It’s about the creation of reusable shared resources that help a company to **accelerate development** and **reduce maintenance and infrastructure costs**.

Best way to get **a platform** is to enable its convergence through a **stigmergic process** on a platform portal.

### External portals

They are about **differentiation and capturing value** in the market.

- A developer brand that differentiates your organization.
- Differentiated interfaces that uniquely fit to a need of a significant market segment.

### Core Thoughts

APIs will evolve from products to utilities.

> ”*Having one might be a differentiator, but this will quickly become table stakes.*”

Eventually external APIs will become a utility as designs standardize.

Interface portals: shifting from being APIs only to become their own thing with a broader purpose.

### Summary

- Building one portal for all purposes is risky.
- Splitting these 2 functions (platform & interface portals) gives a **clarity of purpose**.
- Processes & tools **to connect** them.



 

 

 

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