Scaling API Governance: Lessons from the “Future Is Federated” Webinar

On May 21, 2025, we hosted a webinar, "The Future Is Federated: Scaling API Management Across Complexity", featuring Daniel Kocot (Head of API Consulting at codecentric AG), Vedran Cindrić, and Harsha Chelle (both from Treblle), focused on tackling the challenges of modern API governance at scale.

In this summary, we’ve distilled the most impactful lessons and insights from the webinar. You’ll learn:

• Understand why centralized API governance struggles as ecosystems scale

• Learn how to embed federated governance using practical frameworks and tooling

• Discover techniques to connect APIs with measurable business outcomes

• Explore how to support empowered developer teams with visibility and control

5 Key Takeaways from The Future Is Federated Webinar

While the conversation surfaced many valuable insights, we’ve expanded on five of the most impactful takeaways:

1. Break the Centralization Bottleneck

“API ecosystems are becoming too large and distributed for centralized management alone.” - Daniel Kocot.

Daniel opened with the reality that modern platforms span multiple clouds, regions, and autonomous teams. He explained how a monolithic CoE quickly becomes a gatekeeper, delaying releases and encouraging the development of shadow APIs. Federated management distributes control to the edge while keeping global standards intact.

As API ecosystems grow, it’s not just about decentralizing control, it’s about making smarter decisions at every level. Explore how API Intelligence is shaping the future of API management.

2. A Shared Specification Framework brings clarity 

“A specification framework is a set of standardised rules and guidelines that govern how APIs are discovered, registered, managed, and secured in a federated environment.” -  Daniel Kocot.

Vedran, Harsha, and Daniel discussed how having a well-defined specification framework formalizes naming, versioning, security headers, OpenAPI conventions, and more, and by embedding them directly into the CI/CD pipeline, teams can move fast while staying aligned with enterprise-wide standards.

“Federation doesn’t mean ‘freestyle’” - Vedran Cindrić.

An internal API Catalog complements federated governance by giving distributed teams visibility into existing APIs—who owns them, what they do, and how to use them. With tagging, documentation, and change notifications, catalogs reduce duplication and encourage reuse across the org.

3. Tie every API to a business outcome

“Use the API Business Model Canvas and Value Proposition Canvas to connect API strategy to measurable outcomes and sustainable growth.” - Daniel Kocot.

Daniel and Vedran emphasized the use of two strategic tools: the API Business Model Canvas (ABMC) and the API Value Proposition Canvas (AVPC). ABMC helps define API consumers, monetization paths, and KPIs, while AVPC clarifies value for those consumers—making every design decision traceable to measurable outcomes.

4. Balance autonomy with system-wide visibility

“Better API maturity, visibility, and understanding can unlock massive business outcomes.” - Harsha Chelle.

Harsha stressed the importance of implementing a Diff-Control policy, a process for automatically detecting and reviewing changes to API specifications over time, alongside compliance reporting and observability dashboards to give central teams the insight they need while letting their engineering teams ship daily.

Observability dashboards play a critical role in federated models—giving central teams oversight into performance, errors, and data compliance across hundreds of APIs without blocking teams from shipping.

5. Federation is a mindset shift, not just a model 

Federation isn’t a tooling upgrade; it’s a fundamental shift in how organizations approach governance, collaboration, and delivery. By combining a solid Specification Framework, business-first canvases, and developer-centric tooling, you can scale API delivery, maintain security, and prove value, all without sacrificing team autonomy.

“Federated API management is moving forward.” - Daniel Kocot

Tools like Treblle’s Alfred AI assistant can help developers across domains make smarter design and security decisions—reducing the burden on centralized experts and scaling institutional knowledge.

Conclusion

Overall, the webinar wrapped with one clear message: Federated API management represents more than a governance adjustment; it’s a strategic operating model designed for high-velocity, large-scale development environments.

This architecture empowers cross-domain teams to deploy APIs rapidly, across cloud, region, or business unit while maintaining enterprise-wide visibility over risk, cost, and compliance.

These takeaways are just the beginning—watch the full webinar recording to dive deeper into strategies, tools, and frameworks for federated API success.