APIs are the silent powerhouses of the digital economy. They fuel mobile experiences, enable seamless partnerships, and unlock entirely new revenue streams. Yet in many organizations, they remain misunderstood, treated as mere lines of code rather than strategic business assets. Anubha Gaur is working to change that. As Executive Director at Quest Diagnostics, she leads enterprise-wide digital transformation programs that turn APIs into growth engines. She specializes in building secure, scalable, and reusable API ecosystems that drive measurable business value while enabling innovation at speed.
“APIs are not just the technical interface,” Gaur explains. “They are the business product. Whether it is enabling a mobile experience, forging partnerships, or streamlining operations, APIs can deliver measurable, secure, and reusable solutions that align directly with business goals.” With deep expertise in DevSecOps, Site Reliability Engineering, API Management, and cloud-native solutions, Gaur has transformed digital platforms across healthcare, finance, manufacturing, and government. Her work combines technical mastery with strategic vision, enabling organizations to compete and thrive in complex digital ecosystems.
Shaping API Strategy Around Business Vision
For Gaur, API product management begins with clarity of purpose. “The first step is to understand the business strategy,” she says. “What is the vision? What are the goals? Is the priority innovation, entering new markets, or strengthening the core platform? These answers guide the API strategy so it fits into the broader business context.” This approach creates an “API-first mindset” where APIs are designed as products that scale, generate revenue, and provide superior user experiences. By bringing what she calls “outside-in” thinking into an organization, Gaur ensures technology teams and business leaders are aligned around delivering value, not just building infrastructure.
Driving Change and Overcoming Resistance
Reframing APIs from technical utilities to business drivers often meets resistance, Gaur notes. ‘Innovation is about agility—how do we move faster, how do we unlock experimentation?’ Her approach is to start small, focus on quick wins, and evangelize across departments. By speaking in terms of business value rather than technical complexity, she builds trust and accelerates adoption.
One example came during the COVID-19 pandemic when Gaur’s team wrapped legacy healthcare systems with API layers to rapidly share critical data with the partners. “We built once but leveraged it in multiple places,” she recalls. “A small investment created a huge impact on availability and reusability, without overhauling core systems.”
Building Future-Ready API Organizations
For enterprises aiming to excel in API product management, Gaur emphasizes two priorities: talent and culture. “Our people, even the leaders, must understand the philosophy of APIs from both business and technology perspectives,” she says. This includes training existing staff, bringing in external expertise, and cultivating internal change agents.
Security is equally critical, especially as APIs expose sensitive data. Teams must be equipped to safeguard this information while also tracking adoption, usage, and monetization opportunities through analytics. Building a future-ready API organization requires a culture that views APIs as vital business assets. “At the enterprise level, building an API mindset is not easy. It is a journey,” Gaur says. “You need strategic quick wins, strong partners, and disciplined execution to showcase value early and secure wider support.”
APIs as Catalysts for Digital Transformation
Gaur’s leadership balances patience with urgency. Patience to navigate cultural change and urgency to deliver tangible results quickly. She advises leaders to align strategy with execution, focus on early adoption by key business units, and demonstrate measurable value. Enterprises that master API product management, she believes, will be better prepared for emerging technologies such as generative AI, more deeply integrated into partner ecosystems, and able to deliver innovative services faster than the competition. “Organizations that lead in this space will not only adopt change faster,” Gaur concludes. “They will accelerate their digital transformation journey.”
Readers can follow Anubha Gaur’s insights on LinkedIn or visit her website.
