Learn how we helped a leading European automotive brand API Modernization with Kong – reducing incidents by 94%, boosting operational efficiency by 46%, and securely managing over 50 billion API calls each year. Discover how a structured modernization strategy can deliver agility, governance, and resilience.
Why API Modernization Matters
API Modernization is essential for organizations that want to remain competitive in the digital economy. Legacy API gateways limit flexibility, expose security gaps, and slow down innovation. As businesses expand their digital operations, managing growing API ecosystems across hybrid environments becomes increasingly complex.
Modern API platforms such as Kong Enterprise provide a cloud-native foundation that delivers scalability, automation, and security. These platforms help enterprises deploy faster, improve governance, and enhance developer productivity while maintaining control and compliance. A unified, automated API platform enables stability, agility, and a stronger base for continuous innovation.
The Case for Change
Many enterprises still depend on legacy API management systems that were designed for smaller, less complex environments. These systems struggle to support modern digital requirements, creating challenges that limit growth and speed to market.
1. Rigid Architecture
Older API gateways are difficult to scale or adapt. Each new service or integration increases the burden on IT teams, slowing delivery and driving up operational costs.
2. High Ownership Costs
Manual management and complex licensing models increase expenses. Without automation, maintenance becomes time-consuming and costly, reducing the return on digital investments.
3. Fragmented Governance
When visibility is limited and policies are applied inconsistently, security and compliance risks rise. A lack of central governance slows decision-making and introduces avoidable complexity.
4. Delayed Time-to-Market
Disconnected tools and manual deployment processes create bottlenecks. Every delay affects customer experience and the organization’s ability to compete.
API Modernization resolves these challenges by introducing automation, centralized governance, and improved lifecycle control. Kong Enterprise and similar platforms integrate governance into CI/CD pipelines, enabling policy enforcement, automated testing, and reliable delivery across hybrid environments.
With integrated analytics and automation, teams gain consistency, visibility, and speed. API management shifts from a maintenance burden into a driver of business agility and long-term value.
Success Story: Driving API Excellence in Automotive
A leading European automotive manufacturer faced a fragmented API environment with over 800 services across multiple teams. The legacy gateway lacked scalability, governance, and advanced security controls, which led to operational inefficiency and frequent incidents.
With our support, the organization adopted Kong Enterprise in a hybrid cloud architecture as part of its modernization strategy. The migration followed a phased approach to minimize risk and maintain business continuity.
Results achieved:
- Secure management of over 50 billion API calls each year.
- 94 percent reduction in incidents, improving reliability.
- 46 percent increase in operational efficiency through automation and better onboarding.
- Strong governance and standardization across all API teams.
This transformation shows how API Modernization, guided by CBTW and powered by Kong, can transform a complex API landscape into a secure and scalable digital ecosystem
How CBTW Delivers API Modernization with Kong
At CBTW, we apply a structured and proven methodology to accelerate modernization with precision and minimal disruption. Every engagement begins with a comprehensive API Ops Baseline Assessment that reviews governance, automation, and security maturity.
Our modernization framework includes:
- Assessment and Planning: Create an API inventory, identify dependencies, and evaluate readiness.
- Migration Strategy: Define the best path – Lift and Shift, Optimize, or Greenfield – to meet business objectives
- Execution and Validation: Conduct incremental migrations with automated onboarding, CI/CD integration, and performance testing.
- Continuous Optimization: Use analytics and monitoring to refine performance and improve governance.
Our team ensures alignment across technical and business stakeholders, driving both efficiency and reliability through each phase of modernization.
Building a Future-Ready API Ecosystem
A modern API ecosystem depends on automation, observability, and consistent governance. Kong Enterprise supports these priorities with developer portals, service mesh integration, analytics, and real-time monitoring.
CBTW integrates these tools to help organizations:
- Apply governance automatically across multiple environments.
- Embed security and compliance into development workflows.
- Enable developers to manage APIs independently through self-service portals.
- Track usage and performance through centralized dashboards.
The result is a resilient and adaptable ecosystem that grows with business needs.
API Modernization with Confidence
API Modernization is an essential step toward secure and sustainable digital transformation. Partnering with CBTW and leveraging Kong’s advanced API platform allows your organization to accelerate innovation, enhance governance, and reduce operational complexity.
Our structured migration approach ensures that modernization efforts deliver measurable outcomes. From initial assessment to post-migration optimization, every step is designed to align technology improvements with business value.
