API management is a comprehensive approach to designing, publishing, documenting, and analyzing APIs in a secure environment. It involves creating an API strategy that aligns with business goals and implementing the necessary infrastructure and processes to ensure APIs are reliable, performant, and secure. Benefits of API management include reusability and efficiency, enhanced security, improved performance and scalability, better developer experience, increased visibility and analytics, flexibility and agility, and supporting various use cases such as microservices architectures, compliance and regulatory requirements, API monetization and ecosystem development, API security and access control, and API lifecycle management. Key components of API management platforms include the API gateway, API developer portal, and API analytics, which form a comprehensive platform for securely exposing APIs, engaging developers, and gaining valuable insights into API usage and performance.