A custom API is a unique interface built to allow different applications to interact with your system. Unlike generic APIs, a custom API is specifically designed to meet the needs of your project, enabling tailored functionality like retrieving data, processing requests, or integrating with third-party services. Building a Custom API gives you complete control over how your application communicates with others.

In this article, you will walk through building a Custom API with Node.js, step-by-step, implementing essential CRUD operations—Create, Read, Update, and Delete, so you can create your own powerful and efficient API.

Setting Up the Project

To get started, you need to have Node.js installed. If you haven’t installed Node.js, here’s how to do it:

• Go to the Node.js official website.
• Download and install the latest stable version for your operating system.

Once Node.js is installed, you can verify by running the following commands in your terminal:

         node -v
         npm -v

Creating the Project Direct

Let’s create a simple directory for your API project.

• Create a new folder for your project:

                 mkdir custom-api
                 cd custom-api

• Initialize a new Node.js project:

                npm init -y

This creates a package.json file, which will manage the dependencies and configurations for your project.

Installing Dependencies

You can continue with the terminal or can switch to VS Code. I’m switching to VS Code. Need Express to build the API. Express is a minimal web framework for Node.js, simplifying routing, handling requests, and creating servers.

To install Express, run:

     npm install express

Creating the Server

Now that we have Express installed, let’s create a basic server.

1. Create a new file called app.js in the project folder.
2. Add the following code to create a basic server:

const express = require('express');
const app = express();

// Middleware to parse JSON bodies
app.use(express.json());

// Root route
app.get('/', (req, res) => {
  res.send('Welcome to the Custom API!');
});

// Start the server on port 3000
app.listen(3000, () => {
  console.log('Server is running on http://localhost:3000');
});

To run your server, use:

    node app.js

Now, open your browser and navigate to http://localhost:3000. You should “ee “Welcome to the Custom “PI!” displayed.

Defining Routes (CRUD Operations)

APIs are built on routes that handle HTTP requests (GET, POST, PUT, DELETE). Let’s set up a few basic routes for our API.

Example: A simple API for managing a collection of items

1. In app.js, define the routes:

You can find the complete source code for this project on GitHub.

Here’s what each route does:

• GET /books: Retrieves all items.
• GET /books/:id: Retrieves an item by its ID.
• POST /books: Adds a new item.
• PUT /books/:id: Updates an existing item.
• DELETE /books/:id: Deletes an item.

Testing the API

You can test your API using tools like Postman.

Conclusion

Congratulations, you’ve built a Custom API with Node. You’ve learned to create CRUD operations, test your API, and learned how to handle requests and responses. From here, you can scale this API by adding more features like authentication, database connections, and other advanced functionalities.

Thank you for reading!

Postman is an application programming interface (API) testing tool for designing, testing, and changing existing APIs. It has almost every capability a developer may need to test any API included in Postman.

Postman simplifies the testing process for both REST APIs and SOAP web services with its robust features and intuitive interface. Whether you’re developing a new API or testing an existing one, Postman provides the tools you need to ensure your services are functioning as intended.

• Using Postman to test the APIs offers a wide range of benefits that eventually help in the overall testing of the application. Postman’s interface is very user-friendly, which allows users to easily create and manage requests without extensive coding knowledge, making it accessible to both developers and testers.
• Postman supports multiple protocols such as HTTP, SOAP, GraphQL, and WebSocket APIs, which ensures a versatile testing set-up for a wide range of services.
• To automate the process of validating the API Responses under various scenarios, users can write tests in JavaScript to ensure that the API behavior is as expected.
• Postman offers an environment management feature that enables the user to set up different environments with environment-specific variables, which makes switching between development, staging, and production settings possible without changing requests manually.
• Postman provides options for creating collection and organization, which makes it easier to manage requests, group tests, and maintain documentation.
• Postman supports team collaboration, which allows multiple users to work on the same collections, share requests, and provide feedback in real-time.

Newman In Postman

Newman is a command-line runner that is used to perform commands and check Postman’s response. The Newman can be used to initiate requests in a Postman Collection in addition to the Collection Runner.

Newman is proficient with GitHub and the NPM registry. Additionally, Jenkin and other continuous integration technologies can be linked to it. If every request is fulfilled correctly, Newman produces code.

In the case of errors, code 1 is generated. Newman uses the npm package management, which is built on the Node.js platform.

How to install Newman

Step 1: Ensure that your system has Node.js downloaded and installed. If not, then download and install Node.js.

Step 2: Run the following command in your cli: npm install -g newman

How to use Newman: 

Step 1: Export the Postman collection and save it to your local device.

Step 2: Click on the eye icon in the top right corner of the Postman application.

Step 3: The “MANAGE ENVIRONMENTS” window will open. Provide a variable URL for the VARIABLE field and for INITIAL VALUE. Click on the Download as JSON button. Then, choose a location and save.

Step 4: Export the Environment to the same path where the Collection is available.

Step 5: In the command line, move from the current directory to the direction where the Collection and Environment have been saved.

Step 6: Run the command − newman run <“name of file”>. Please note that the name of the file should be in quotes.

Helpful CLI Commands to Use Newman

Performance Testing in Postman

API performance testing involves mimicking actual traffic and watching how your API behaves. It is a procedure that evaluates how well the API performs regarding availability, throughput, and response time under the simulated load.

Testing the performance of APIs can help us in:

• Test that the API can manage the anticipated load and observe how it reacts to load variations.
• To ensure a better user experience, optimize and enhance the API’s performance.
• Performance testing also aids in identifying the system’s scalability and fixing bottlenecks, delays, and failures.

How to Use Postman for API Performance Testing

Step 1: Select the Postman Collection for Performance testing.

Step 2: Click on the 3 dots beside the Collection.

Step 3:  Click on the “Run Collection” option.

Step 4:  Click on the “Performance” option

Step 5: Set up the Performance test (Load Profile, Virtual User, Test Duration).

Step 6: Click on the Run button.

After completion of the Run, we can also download a report in a.pdf format, which states how our collection ran.

A strong and adaptable method for ensuring your APIs fulfill functionality and performance requirements is to use Newman with Postman alongside performance testing. You may automate your tests and provide comprehensive reports that offer insightful information about the functionality of your API by utilizing Newman’s command-line features.

This combination facilitates faster detection and resolution of performance issues by streamlining the testing process and improving team collaboration. Using Newman with Postman will enhance your testing procedures and raise the general quality of your applications as you continue improving your API testing techniques.

Use these resources to develop dependable, strong APIs that can handle the demands of practical use, ensuring a flawless user experience.

The Evolution of Java and Its Significance in Enterprise Applications

Java has been the go-to language for enterprise software development for decades, offering a solid and reliable platform for building scalable applications. Over the years, it has evolved with each new version.

Security Enhancements of Java 17

Long-Term Support

Java 17, being a Long-Term Support (LTS) release, is a strategic choice for enterprises using MuleSoft. The LTS status ensures that Java 17 will receive extended support, including critical security updates and patches, over the years.

This extended support is crucial for maintaining the security and stability of MuleSoft applications, often at the core of enterprise integrations and digital transformations.

By upgrading to Java 17, MuleSoft developers can ensure that their APIs and integrations are protected against newly discovered vulnerabilities, reducing the risk of security breaches that could compromise sensitive data.

The Importance of Long-Term Support

1. Stay Secure: Java 17 is an LTS release with long-term security updates and patches. Upgrading ensures your MuleSoft Applications are protected against the latest vulnerabilities, keeping your deep, safe data.
2. Better Performance: With Java 17, you get a more optimized runtime to make your MuleSoft application run faster. This means quicker response times and a smoother experience for you.
3. Industry Standards Compliance: Staying on an LTS version like Java 17 helps meet industry standards and compliance requirements. It shows that your applications are built on a stable, well-supported platform.

Getting Started with Java 17 and Anypoint Studio

Before you start upgrading your MuleSoft APIs to Java 17, it’s important to make sure your development environment is set up properly. Here are the key prerequisites to help you transition smoothly.

Install and Set Up Java 17

• Download Java 17: Get Java 17 from the Oracle Java SE or Eclipse Adoptium Downloads page, or use OpenJDK for your OS.
• Install Java 17: Run the installer and set JAVA_HOME to the Java 17 installation directory.
• Verify the Installation: Confirm Java 17 is installed by typing java-version into the terminal or command prompt.

Download and Install Anypoint Studio 7.1x Version

• Choose the Right Version: Use Anypoint Studio 7.17 for full Java 17 compatibility or 7.18 for preview features.
• Download Anypoint Studio: Visit the Anypoint Studio download page link –https://blogs.mulesoft.com/news/anypoint-studio-7-17/

Upgrading to Java 17 and Anypoint Studio

As we begin upgrading our MuleSoft Application to Java 17, we have undertaken several initial setup steps in our local and developed environments. These steps are outlined below:

Step 1

• Update the Anypoint Studio to the latest version 7.17.0.
• Please Note: If Anypoint Studio isn’t working after the update, make sure to follow Step 2 and Step 6 for troubleshooting.

Step 2

• Downloaded and installed Java 17 JDK in the local system.

Step 3

• In Anypoint Studio, we must download the latest Mule runtime, 4.6.x. For that, click on ‘Install New Software…’ under the Help section.

• Click on the Mule runtimes and select and install the 4.6.x version.

Step 6

• Now, close Anypoint Studio.
• Navigate to the Studio configuration files in Anypoint Studio and open the AnypointStudio.ini file.
• Update the path for Java 17 in the Anypoint Studio ‘ini’ file as mentioned below.
• Restart the Anypoint studio.

Step 7

• In Anypoint Studio, navigate to the Run section at the top and select Run Configurations.
• Go to the JRE section and select the Runtime JRE – Project JRE (jdk-17.0.11-9-hotspot).
  
• Go to preferences select tooling, and select Java VM Studio Service – Project JRE (jdk-17.0.11-9-hotspot)

So, our setup is complete after following all the above steps, and you can deploy your MuleSoft application on Java 17!

Conclusion

Upgrading to Java 17 is essential for enhancing the security, performance, and stability of your MuleSoft APIs. As a Long-Term Support (LTS) release, Java 17 provides extended support, modern features, and critical security updates, ensuring your applications stay robust and efficient. By installing Java 17 and configuring Anypoint Studio accordingly, you position your MuleSoft integrations for improved performance.

When setting up an online store or marketplace, you must consider the complete business process system. You must determine which services your resource will use and examine third-party integration alternatives throughout the development stage.

Please see below a list of integrations to add to a B2B marketplace website or any other ecommerce resource.

Payment Integrations

An ecommerce site’s purpose is to be your primary source of income. It implies that the customer must be able to pay in a timely and secure manner. As a result, the website should provide a secure payment mechanism. To connect it, you’ll need to use third-party software. When planning a payment system, keep the following aspects in mind:

• Security of the service – Security becomes a major issue when dealing with money
• Amount of commission – It makes no sense to pay more than is required
• The ease with which the payment procedure may be completed – Don’t require the customer to make more clicks.
• The simplicity with which the system can be connected – It’s preferable if the process of integrating software and systems to set up a payment gateway is as straightforward as feasible

The payment gateway should provide the following features:

• A flexible commission structure
• The capacity to make and receive payments with confidence
• User help is available around the clock
• User interface/user experience (UI/UX) that is intuitive and simple to use
• The capacity to accept all common payment methods.

Scheme for using a payment gateway:

1. The consumer receives an invoice to pay after making an order in the web store.
2. The customer is referred to this system when the order information is passed to the specified payment service. The buyer can choose how he wants to pay here:

• • Using electronic money
  • Bank cards
  • And other payment methods

And, of course, he must fill out all the required fields.

3. The data should then be double-checked. The transaction is being carried out if everything appears to be in order. This is where the security element comes into play
4. In the event of a successful or unsuccessful transaction, the payment system directs the customer to the online store’s website and tells its server of the transaction’s outcome.

See below different 3^rd party payment integration services:

1. PayPal
2. Card Connect
3. Authorize.Net
4. Stripe
5. PayflowPro

Shipping Integrations

When discussing third-party connectivity possibilities, the shipping gateway should not be overlooked. Delivery is, without a doubt, one of the most important variables affecting customers’ decisions.

There are a lot of issues to consider, such as whether the delivery service will be free or not. When will the shipment be delivered, how it will be delivered, and so on. Everything appears to be pretty straightforward from the buyer’s perspective: a customer selects a shipping provider, makes a few clicks, and waits for order intake information.

However, if you want to put the outlined system into effect, you’ll need to work with carriers and incorporate third-party applications.

The shipping gateway must include the following features:

• The procedure of placing an order and creating an invoice is simple.
• A simple method for handling orders
• The ability to keep track of the package
• A reliable grading system
• Timeliness and speed of delivery

See below are popular 3^rd party shipping integration services:

1. FedEx
2. UPS

Live Chat Integrations

We appear to have covered virtually all the most common ecommerce settings, although the list is far from exhaustive. Live chat is another useful technique for increasing the productivity of an online business.

The reality is that people want to get the information they need fast and easily. And using an online chat to deliver such information directly is a terrific approach to do it. As a result, the consumer is more likely to take on additional activities, such as buying a service, purchasing a product, and so on.

A live chat must include the following features:

• Viewing is simple on any device.
• Work in tandem with your retail management system’s CRM and other components.
• Order a callback – if the operator is currently unavailable
• Easy-to-use user interface (UI)
• The capacity to send a file to someone else.

See below are popular 3^rd party live chat integration services:

1. LiveChat
2. Zendesk
3. HubSpot
4. ChatBot

E-mail Marketing Integrations

One of the most important ecommerce connections is email marketing. You can make more tailored offers by sending emails, which means you have a better chance of getting a consumer to buy your goods.

By the way, you may segment your subscriber lists using specific ecommerce tools so that each one receives just letters about themes that he is interested in. The e-mail marketing service must provide:

• Mailings that are personalized
• The capacity to send transactional emails
• Email communication through many channels
• Automation of Bulk Mailing Lists
• Automatically generated product suggestions for consumers
• Templates for Letters

See below are popular third-party e-mail marketing integration services:

1. Campaign Monitor
2. Constant Contact
3. Mail Chimp
4. SendinBlue

Analytics Integration

We indicated earlier in the text that certain third-party connectivity solutions (such as a marketing system or even a live chat) include analytical capabilities. This time, though, we’re discussing a strong analytic tool that allows online platform owners to monitor user behavior and, depending on the information gathered, make modifications to their products to enhance revenue. The analytics system must contain the following features:

• Building graphical statistics
• User behavior analysis
• Tracking traffic channel performance
• Product audience survey
• Smart Link to track activity
• Data storage and access without limitation

See below are popular third-party analytics integration services:

1. Google Analytics

The Key Takeaways with Third-Party Integrations

You have two alternatives for integrating third-party application programming interfaces (APIs), do it yourself or hire someone to do it for you. The second option is highly recommended. This would produce greater outcomes, but it would come at a higher expense. However, since we’re talking about ecommerce, profits will almost likely follow, and the project will be completed. For more information or questions, contact our commerce experts today

Spend a few minutes with one of our Red Hat technical experts, Matthieu Rethers, as he discusses the advantages and disadvantages of managed clusters, as well as differences between them on various cloud platforms, when you should use them, alternatives to managed clusters, and how Red Hat OpenShift fits into the picture.

When should developers use managed clusters?

That’s a moot question for developers because, from their point of view, it’s always managed whether it’s by your organization or an IaaS vendor. But, I’d say that a developer’s main goal is delivery, so anything that helps them do that faster is golden. It’s the same reason why we don’t program in assembly anymore – we’ve built these abstraction layers so we can focus on differentiators and business value. Plus, I don’t think many developers under pressure want to spend weeks learning how to deploy a Kubernetes cluster, so for them, managed is definitely the way to go.

Many have already learned to trust IaaS vendors with their hardware for the infrastructure folks, so software is the next logical step. A managed service: 1) gives them the ability to get familiar with the technology and form their own opinion over time, maybe to the point where they would feel comfortable taking over; 2) reduces their capital expenditures; and 3) allows them almost immediately, to focus on other critical things like automation, security, reliability, etc.

As far as I’m concerned, I’ll always recommend the managed approach first and then evaluate it. But I’ll admit, there are times when having complete control is a requirement – but remember that managed doesn’t mean sealed either. You can still configure a lot of things on your own.

What are some pros and cons to leveraging a managed cluster on Amazon EKS, Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE), and Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS)?

Like with any managed service, you get many benefits right out of the box. An organization that’s new to Kubernetes can be productive immediately. If all you want to do is run a few Java services on your cluster, and you’re told it will take two weeks before you can actually publish them in a production environment, you might reconsider using containers for the time being. To be fair, installing Kubernetes has become much easier over the past couple of years, but any production workload will have requirements beyond basics, and you’ll lose that initial momentum.

If you’re new to the cloud, these managed services will allow you to skip a few steps and focus mainly on Kubernetes. If, on the other hand, you’re already using a cloud vendor, it will feel like using any other service. Now, if you’re wondering about a self-managed cluster on-prem, it’s going to be a bumpy ride – I wouldn’t even consider it an option if you’re trying to get into containers quickly.

Miscellaneous advantages of managed services include:

• Cluster upgrades
• Prescriptive approach
• Easy provisioning (EKS now integrates with Fargate but watch for limitations like storage)
• Integration with other vendor services

Now the big concern should be vendor lock-in. Because Kubernetes is very flexible, there are several choices that vendors have to make to deliver a production-grade service, so if you don’t like those choices in the future, it might not be easy to go back to a self-managed cluster or transfer to a different vendor. You’re also at the mercy of the vendor for upgrades and features availability – most of them will be behind and provide only the most common denominator, and that’s understandable. For non-greenfield situations, it might not even be a good fit, to begin with.

Are there major differences between how managed clusters work on these platforms?

There are some differences, as vendors will try and set up Kubernetes clusters in a way that can integrate with their other services, and that’s a good thing – that way, it’s a one-stop-shop for all infrastructure needs. They run different versions of the engine and features and bundle features differently depending on the point of view and best practices. Make sure you’re comfortable with those choices because, as I said before, once you’re committed to a vendor, it might be difficult to change. Of course, if you’re currently running IBM or Microsoft products, they make it a lot easier to transition, so that’s certainly something that will weigh heavily in the balance. Most IaaS have free tiers – I strongly recommend trying before you buy, and sometimes, it just comes down to feelings.

What alternatives are available to managed clusters?

Kubernetes is becoming easier and easier to install and supports a wide array of deployment options from bare-metal to virtualized environments to the cloud, so self-managed is always an option.

For greenfield applications, you won’t have to deal with all the constraints of a pre-container era, and you should be able to get started quickly. If you have a lot of legacies to deal with, things might get a little dicey.

Now, if you’ve already invested a lot in your bare metal infrastructure, self-managed is a good way to leverage it and squeeze the last drop off of your machines. If you’re lucky and already have a solid virtualized environment, you’ll have a good head start.

Where does OpenShift, a container platform, fit into these other options?

OpenShift is an enterprise platform from Red Hat that runs Kubernetes at its core. I like to think of Kubernetes as Tony Stark and OpenShift as Iron Man. You have the awesome brain, but suit up, and now you can go and blow up giant alien ships in distant galaxies.

As I explained before, Kubernetes alone isn’t enough – you need security, networking, logging, monitoring, integration with your cloud infrastructure, etc. Most of the time, you get some form of that through the managed service in IaaS, but you’re confined to the vendor’s boundaries.

OpenShift delivers all of that and more but in a cloud-agnostic fashion. You can also run it on your own infrastructure on-prem or in the cloud. Because all of those features are encapsulated inside the cluster itself, you can easily move your entire infrastructure from one cloud to another, and you can do multi-cloud. The main advantage is you only have to learn it once and apply the same principles everywhere you go.

Remember that cloud providers are ultimately not in the software business. They typically use tools built by other people and package them in a way that helps them sell more infrastructure services. That’s great, but Red Hat’s focus, on the other hand, is to deliver a great tool regardless of your environment, and their long-term commitment to Open means no lock-in. As a matter of fact, many OpenShift enhancements make it back to the upstream Kubernetes project and eventually to EKS, AKS, and others. It’s very telling that all the major cloud providers now offer a managed OpenShift service as part of their catalog.

By the way, the reasons to go managed are the same as the ones listed above, but OpenShift comes with a lot of options right out of the box, so the learning curve isn’t as important of a factor if you decide to go self-managed. In the cloud, upfront costs will be higher than EKS, GKE, or AKS, but OpenShift licensing is probably a drop in the bucket for most organizations, starting at about $20k when you bring your own infrastructure. When you consider what you get in return, this should be a no brainer (one study shows ROI over 500%) – this is the enterprise platform.

Any final thoughts?

Just know that running any Kubernetes cluster at scale on your own is no walk in the park – don’t be fooled by the apparent simplicity of that “hello world” video on YouTube. Sure, you can get a cluster running anywhere quickly, but there’s a lot of stuff to consider to go from that first service to running anything in a production environment.

There’s a reason why vendors can charge a premium for these services. Unless you already have a team of experts in Kubernetes (and I’m assuming you wouldn’t be reading this if you did), count on spending a lot of time and money getting up to speed. It’s sure to be way more than a managed service subscription, and if things go wrong, you’re on your own.

So, if there is any chance you can go managed, please do. Our team of experts is here to help you.

Organizations have caught on to the power of APIs.

API strategies mandated by leadership drive the highest rates of productivity and innovation. By leveraging APIs to integrate applications, data, and devices, organizations can take a more agile, flexible approach to digital transformation.

Perficient’s partner MuleSoft recently announced its 2020 Connectivity Benchmark Report on the state of IT and digital transformation. The global survey of 800 CIOs and IT decision-makers (ITDMs) at organizations with at least 1,000 employees highlighted that digital transformation is a must for businesses. About 92% of respondents are undertaking digital transformation initiatives or plan to in the next year.

However, integration challenges still exist for about 85% of organizations, stalling digital transformation and negatively impacting revenue, speed to market, and customer experiences.

Businesses are struggling to overcome a common challenge. Of the almost 900 different applications used by the average organization, only 28% of those applications are integrated. As a result, more than half of businesses are unable to provide connected experiences for their customers and their employees.

The 2020 Connectivity Benchmark Report highlights new opportunities and challenges for businesses as they digitally transform.

IT must innovate faster, and with fewer resources

Traditional IT models are broken and organizations are forced to find new ways to accelerate project delivery and reuse integrations.

• When IT cannot keep up with business demands, projects slip. More than half (59%) of organizations were not able to deliver on all of their projects last year, creating a backlog for 2020.
• IT faces the constant balancing act of keeping the lights on and innovating. With current IT operating models, about 70% of IT’s time is spent running the business instead of focusing on innovation and development.
• Organizations struggle to maintain the pace of the digital world. About two-thirds (64%) of ITDMs find it difficult to introduce new technologies because of their IT infrastructures.
• New technology investments only increase the need for integration. The top four IT investment priorities for 2020 are security, big data and analytics, multi-cloud strategy, and AI/machine learning – all of which require integration with existing systems.

Businesses are failing to capture the full value of APIs without a company-wide strategy

About 80% of businesses are currently using public or private APIs, but few have developed a strategic approach to enable API usage across the business.

• Company-wide API strategies are necessary to drive true value and reuse. Only 12% of organizations have to abide by company-wide API integration strategies for all projects. More than half implement APIs on a project-by-project basis or use a strategy that is siloed within certain parts of the business.
• Businesses do not have an easy way to share APIs. Only about 42% of code, APIs, and best practice templates are available for developers to reuse. Most organizations also do not have an effective way to share APIs or integrations.
• New business users are emerging, amplifying the need for reuse. Outside of IT, the top three business roles with integration needs include business analysts, data scientists, and customer support.
• Citizen integrators lack critical internal resources. About 70% of ITDMs say they have a strategy in place to enable non-technical business users to easily integrate apps and data sources with APIs. Despite this, 67% do not have a team that is dedicated to drive the sharing and reusing of APIs.

API reuse is directly linked to the speed of innovation, operational efficiency, and revenue

By establishing API strategies that promote self-service and reuse, businesses put themselves in a much better position to innovate at speed, increase productivity, and open up new revenue streams.

• Most organizations are making integration harder on themselves by not designing APIs for reuse. Among organizations that leverage APIs, 52% use them as part of the development process for new projects and 52% use them to build integrations. On the other hand, less than half say their APIs are reusable.
• Organizations are not activating API ecosystems. Of those leveraging APIs, only 26% of organizations are driving innovation with partner and external developer ecosystems by exposing them to third parties.
• When designed with intent, APIs drive business outcomes. Organizations that use APIs benefit from operational improvements such as increased productivity, increased innovation, and greater cross-team agility for self-serve IT.
• APIs are the new revenue stream. On average, nearly one-third of businesses’ revenue is generated by APIs or by API-related implementations.

Click here to learn more about how MuleSoft and Perficient can help you achieve your organization’s digital transformation goals with APIs.

At the start of 2020, MuleSoft elevated Perficient to Premier Partner status within the MuleSoft partner network. We are excited to announce our partnership elevation and continue growing our relationship on both ends with a trusted leader in digital experience and business optimization.

MuleSoft Anypoint Platform is the only product connectivity platform for designing, developing, and managing APIs and integrations. In 2018, Salesforce acquired MuleSoft, which has allowed Perficient’s Salesforce and MuleSoft practices to closely align and accelerate digital transformation for our customers.

“We are very excited to reach Premier partner status. With our vast experience and background in integration and API management, we started our MuleSoft practice 3-4 years ago and have grown to a good size organically. By collaborating with our strong Salesforce practice and combining our expertise in healthcare and commerce, we expanded considerably in 2019. Based on market opportunity and value MuleSoft offers, we are confident that we will have even greater success in 2020. Thank you to MuleSoft for seeing the potential in us and we value your partnership.” – Raj Palla, MuleSoft practice director

Our MuleSoft practice provides thought leadership and deep insight around connectivity solutions and implementation best practices through our integration and API assessments, strategy roadmaps, and governance offerings, which set the standard for successful implementations in-line with the MuleSoft Catalyst Delivery Methodology.

Our MuleSoft solution expertise includes:

Strategic Solutions:

• MuleSoft Readiness Assessment
• MuleSoft Catalyst Quick Start

MuleSoft Delivery:

• MuleSoft architecture
• Design, development, and testing
• Mule Runtime Configuration – Cloudhub/on-prem/Runtime Fabric (RTF)
• CI/CD and DevOps
• API management, audit, analytics, and diagnostics
• Security and identity
• Integration with applications such as Salesforce, SAP, OMS, and other backend systems

Governance:

• MuleSoft Center for Enablement
• MuleSoft standards and best practices

If you’re headed to Dallas for MuleSoft CONNECT, make sure to stop by Perficient’s booth to learn more about our MuleSoft expertise and how we can help you solve your integration, SaaS, and API challenges with MuleSoft Anypoint Platform.

In today’s ever-changing technology environment, enterprises need to adapt to change faster than ever before. By adopting modern software and updated processes, you will be able to transform your IT environments and deliver services better and faster than your competitors.

Agile integration could be the solution. It combines three architectural capabilities – distributed integration, APIs, and containers – to make your business more agile, power new processes, and deliver a more competitive advantage. (Here, “agile” is referring to the flexibility, adaptability, and ability to move quickly, not agile development.)

Usually, agile methodologies tend to focus on software development, improving and streamlining how you build and deploy your applications. But infrastructure agility enables you to create an environment that encompasses all of your IT systems, including your legacy software.

Agile infrastructure, or integration, breaks down the complexities of your existing systems, disparate data, and customer expectations, and brings them together in one place.

How to adopt agile integration

Historically, your IT teams plan for software deployments months – even years – in advance. They’re dealing with so many moving parts and legacy infrastructure that could result in the loss of hundreds of thousands of dollars if something goes wrong.

To stay relevant, you need to plan, build, and deploy IT updates quickly. By aligning integration technologies with agile and DevOps technologies, you can create a platform that enables development teams to change quickly and meet the demands of your business.

How do you change the development process and introduce more agile practices?

Changes need to occur at both the organizational and cultural level, as well as at the technical level. Your technical infrastructure is only the beginning. You need everyone in your organization on board and supporting the adoption of agile processes. If there is resistance to change, you won’t be able to upgrade, add, or remove development capabilities effectively and efficiently.

The three pillars of agile integration

1. Distributed integration: When high-level integration patterns are deployed within containers, you can deploy them at the scale and location you need for specific applications and teams. Instead of traditional, centralized architecture, a distributed architecture can enable your IT teams to define and deploy the right integration patterns at the right time, with agility.
2. APIs: Stable, well-managed APIs can have a huge effect on your teams’ collaboration, development, and operations. They bring key assets together in stable, reusable interfaces, which can then be used and reused across your organization. APIs can be deployed alongside containers to different environments, allowing users to interact with different sets of APIs at the same time.
3. Containers: For both APIs and distributed, containers work as the underlying development platform. Containers allow the exact service to be deployed within a specific environment in a way that makes it easy and consistent to develop, test, and maintain. Using containers as your integration platform helps you create a more transparent and collaborative relationship between development and infrastructure teams.

How Red Hat solutions can enable agility

Red Hat integration solutions can help you connect your diverse applications and data sources and create a more agile, cohesive development environment.

• Red Hat Integration: a comprehensive set of integration and messaging technologies to connect applications and data across hybrid infrastructures

  • Application and data integration across hybrid cloud
  • API connectivity and management
  • Container-native infrastructure
  • Real-time messaging and data streaming
  • Self-service for business users
  • Reduced time-to-market

• Red Hat Fuse: a distributed approach that allows IT teams to deploy integrated services where required; API-centric, container-based architecture decouples services so they can be created, extended, and deployed independently

  • Container-based integration
  • Integration everywhere
  • Hybrid deployment
  • Built-in iPaaS with low-code UI/UX

• Red Hat AMQ: a flexible messaging platform that delivers information reliably, enabling real-time integration and connecting Internet of Things (IoT)

  • Data propagation in a microservices world
  • Self-service messaging, on-demand
  • Real-time integration
  • Multilingual client support
  • Multiprotocol and language-based support
  • High performance, security, and reliability

• Red Hat 3scale API Management: easily manage your APIs on an infrastructure platform built for performance, customer control, and future growth

  • API traffic control
  • API program management
  • OpenShift integration
  • Support in the cloud, on-premises, or hybrid cloud
  • Red Hat Fuse integration
  • Comprehensive security

Interested in learning more about Red Hat technologies and solutions? Read about its IT optimization solutions, cloud-native development capabilities, and automation expertise.

What are microservices?

It is an approach to application development in which a large application is built as a suite of modular components or services. The microservice architecture enables the rapid, frequent, and reliable delivery of large, complex applications. It also enables an organization to evolve its technology stack.

Microservices are:

• Highly maintainable and testable
• Loosely coupled
• Independently deployable
• Organized around business capabilities
• Owned by a small team

Technology patterns, practices, and tools are constantly changing. To help better understand microservices and how they can play a part in development, Red Hat is hosting its Microservices Day in Dallas on February 6.

The event will feature thought leaders from Perficient and Red Hat who will highlight the latest toolsets and practices needed to successfully deliver applications with microservices. A full list of speakers and the event agenda can be found here.

Topics include:

• Navigating cloud adoption and modernizing application development
• Cloud and Kubernetes native development
• Serverless applications, integration, and workflows
• Understanding microservices applications with Istio Server Mesh
• Contract-first design and APIs

Register today!

What: Microservices Day Dallas

Who Should Attend: Developers, software engineers, VPs, IT directors and managers, architects, system administrators

Where: Renaissance Dallas at Plano Legacy West Hotel, 6007 Legacy Dr., Plano, TX, 75024

When: February 6, 2020

Time: 9:00 am-4:45 pm

On Tuesday, Nov. 5, Red Hat hosted a Red Hat User Group (RHUG) at Surly Brewing Company in Minneapolis, where attendees heard a technical presentation about Azure Red Hat OpenShift (ARO) from two of our Microsoft directors, Steve Holstad and David Palfery.

The RHUG format provides a space for attendees – regardless of skill level or area of interest – to network with peers, learn about new open-source software, and teach others about Red Hat solutions.

Tuesday’s Minneapolis RHUG was very well attended and provided a unique setting for the discussion.

Key business drivers for IT leadership:

Business Drivers

• Adopting solutions that are certified, validated, and supported by enterprise service-level agreements (SLAs), services, and support
• Boosting innovation with existing skill sets and investments
• Accelerating time to value for new products and services

Operations Drivers

• Integrating new technologies into existing pipelines and tools
• Ensuring all applications meet deployment and security requirements
• Ensuring compliance across all operations and infrastructure
• Improving management and deployment efficiency with automation

Development Drivers

• Moving projects from development to production quickly and easily
• Implementing microservices, web-scale applications, and containers
• Quickly deploying desired tools from a central repository
• Gaining access to resources quickly and easily

The current version of OpenShift (v3.11.146) has a number of unique capabilities, including logging aggregation into Azure’s implementation. Logging data can provide insights about your applications and help you troubleshoot past problems or prevent new ones, improve application performance or maintainability, and automate actions that would otherwise require manual intervention.

Azure logs are categorized into three types:

• Control/management logs provide information about Azure Resource Manager create, update, and delete operations
• Data plane logs provide information about events raised as part of Azure resource usage
  • Examples: Windows event system, security, and applications logs in a VM; diagnostics logs that are configured through Azure Monitor
• Processed events provide information about analyzed events/alerts that have been processed on your behalf
  • Example: Azure Security Center alerts where Azure Security Center has processed and analyzed your subscription and provides concise security alerts

The next version of OpenShift will have Azure Monitor Integration – currently, you need to install your own sidecar pattern if you want to pull from standard out or use application insights in your code. OpenShift 4.x will provide a streamlined process for this manual workaround.

As part of their presentation, Steve and David also presented an OpenShift on Azure eShop demo that fully demonstrated the features of OpenShift. The demo outlined how to:

• Deploy to ARO
• Production-grate routes, certificates, and domains
• 100% Azure DevOps automation through builds and release pipelines
• 19 services/pods – provide real-world complexity
• Integration with Azure PaaS services through open service broker

Interested in finding a RHUG in your area? Click here for a list of future Red Hat events.

The following is the fourth blog in a series about why healthcare organizations are moving to the cloud.

In this series so far, we have looked at how the cloud brings robust data security, the time and cost savings the cloud brings, and the ways cloud connects data for healthcare organizations. In this blog, we will examine how cloud can improves the consumer experience.

Cloud enables an enhanced consumer experience

Healthcare organizations are increasingly moving to the cloud because of the improvements it brings to the patient experience. As discussed earlier, cloud brings data together on the back end. This can be crucial for the consumer, because not only do they have improved access to their information, but so does everyone who requires it.

More and more, patients expect and demand instant, online access to their health records, and grow impatient with repeatedly providing current and vital details to various healthcare professionals. These details could – and should – be obtained by referencing a unified health data file.

In many cases, healthcare organizations face the challenge of keeping pace with online consumer experiences. The bar set by Amazon, Google, and other large online content and service providers applies to all industries – including healthcare. Not all healthcare companies can match the budgets of Microsoft or Apple, but consumers don’t consider that. They want their online experience making an appointment with their doctor to be as easy as buying a pair of shoes online, and they want the ability to do it whenever and wherever they want.

Fortunately, many cloud-based applications provide a head start for most standard healthcare use scenarios. A template or proof of concept is often already available from cloud-based solution providers. And in some cases, a cloud-based solution is the only option available. A case in point is the large AI-powered search solution company Coveo, which stopped offering custom search tools hosted on customers’ on-premises data centers. Their core requirement of “cloud only” is becoming the norm across the industry.

Finally, cloud offers an ideal, flexible foundation for future expansion. The cloud is not a place, but instead a collection of tools to modernize business processes and enable transformation. Data transfer technologies such as APIs can be easily integrated with most cloud-based solutions. These tools, in turn, improve patient-facing interactions on websites and other digital platforms, providing a smoother, modern experience to the user.

Learn more

Downloaded our guide from here and continue to check out our blogs to learn more about why healthcare organizations are moving to the cloud.

Digital innovation continues to disrupt industries at lightning speed. Today’s organizations are transforming their entire business – from strategy to operations, technology to culture – to better deliver value to their customers. In 2017, we compiled the top 10 trends leaders needed to know when it came to their digital transformation journey. In this 10-week blog series, we’ll further explore each trend and address how you can continue to modernize your business for success.

Today’s digital commerce businesses are under more pressure to deliver engaging, well-designed, and frictionless experiences across all channels.

Don’t believe me? Pick up your smartphone, and take a look at your apps. How many do you use exclusively for researching products, shopping, and even making purchases?

Just taking a quick look at my phone, the top five digital commerce/retailer apps include Target, Instacart, Amazon, Wayfair, and Lowe’s.

Why are these among my top five? It all comes down to overall customer experience. These apps provide the shopping experience to find and buy items when, where, and how I want.

Target, for example, has me hooked as a customer because:

1. I can create a shopping list on my phone that I use when shopping in-store.
2. The app now includes Cartwheel offers so I can select discounts and coupons for frequently purchased items, which saves money on each trip.
3. And my recent favorite: order items on the app, and pick up my order via Target’s new drive up service.

This last perk combines the easy shopping experience of the mobile app with the technology to track your arrival and provide the ultimate convenience – no need to leave your car! (And honestly, it’s probably saving me money without the impulse purchases that typically happen on a Target run.)

Nearly 200 million U.S. consumers will shop via mobile devices in 2017, but only about half will actually make purchases on their smartphones  – eMarketer

Our evolving connected world – and we as consumers – keep raising the bar in terms of our expectations. Staying ahead of digital commerce trends can help your brand establish a solid foundation for digital transformation.

Here’s an update on some of the top digital transformation initiatives for eCommerce.

Google Search Impacts Mobile Commerce

Google announced in late 2016 that its primary ranking emphasis would be awarded to mobile websites. This news prompted B2C and B2B commerce sellers to accelerate their initiatives for building mobile-first, responsive designs to maintain and enhance their overall organic ranking.

According to Tech Crunch, Google began rolling out “its mobile-first indexing of the web (in March 2018) after a year and a half of testing and experimentation.”

However, mobile-first designs are only half the battle for digital commerce sellers. Site performance is equally as important. Beginning in July 2018, Google also intends to use page speed as “a ranking factor for mobile searches.”

53 percent of mobile shoppers abandon websites after three seconds of load time

Google’s data indicates that a majority of people initiate Google searches on mobile – a trend that’s been on the upswing since 2015. Combine that with forecasts of mobile commerce (mcommerce) sales doubling by 2020, and it’s no wonder that companies with digital commerce sites must up their game when it comes to the mobile experience.

Whether you’re in B2B or B2C eCommerce, creating a great mobile experience goes beyond building an app or making sure your website is mobile-optimized. Learn more about fully embracing all aspects of mobile in our guide Creating a Mobile Strategy to Transform the Enterprise.

IoT and Omni-Channel Accelerate Customer Expectations

The explosion of connected devices creates endless channel opportunities to engage and sell to customers. The content and user experience on these devices drive new commerce rules of engagement.

As consumers, we expect brands to adapt quickly and serve up remarkable experiences across various channels and devices. Agile development processes, Software-as-a-Service, and virtually limitless cloud infrastructure continue to evolve – all in an attempt to help brands keep pace with consumer expectations.

Taking a closer at IoT within digital commerce, the retail spend for implementing this technology is estimated to reach $2.5 billion by 2020. The following use cases demonstrate how IoT can influence and optimize digital commerce businesses:

• Inventory management: Using IoT sensors and radio-frequency identification (RFID) it’s now possible to manage inventory in real-time. The technology improves monitoring and tracking of items while reducing human errors in reordering.
• Warehouse operations: Implementing IoT sensors and systems can also eliminate over-stocking of items in warehouses. Other types of sensors that streamline warehouse operations include temperature-monitoring sensors to maintain appropriate temperatures for perishable items and sensors on forklifts and equipment to send alerts for predictive maintenance.
• Supply chain management: IoT systems can improve supply chain efficiency, which ultimately optimizes digital commerce operations and fulfillment. Sensors and systems can ensure the smooth transport of goods from one place to another and track items from production to delivery.
• Consumer experience: Data collected by IoT systems can also help digital commerce businesses personalize advertising by recognizing consumers’ shopping habits, search trends, and online browsing. Customer service can benefit from IoT by reporting product issues before they occur. This gives companies an opportunity to proactively address and resolve issues.

As for omni-channel, Forrester defines it as the coordination of traditional channels (marketing, selling, and fulfillment) and supporting systems to create a seamless and consistent customer experience. Customers interact with brands across a variety of devices and channels but have come to expect a seamless experience.

For example, buy online and pick-up in store – considered a new trend just over a year ago – has gained popularity with more retailers offering this option. Refer back to my earlier praise for Target’s new drive-up service, or how many national and regional grocery chains (Kroger and Wal-Mart, for example) let you shop online and pick-up your groceries curbside.

As a customer, you might pay a little more than you would shopping in-store. However, the convenience is well worth it if that’s the experience you want.

For more ideas on innovating your commerce business model, spend some time with our guide How to Transform Your Commerce Business Models.

Data Drives Personalization

With today’s connected and well-informed consumers, higher levels of personalization and engagement are essential for creating loyalty.

Commerce businesses have been dedicating the vast majority of their marketing dollars to simply gaining new customers. Customer acquisition will always be important, but many retailers now see the enormous value of returning customers. (Read more about this in Keeping Up with Connected Customers.)

Connecting content and commerce systems can improve customer engagement. However, access to data and customer insights ultimately help you decide where and how to optimize your digital commerce strategy.

The ultimate goal of personalization in digital commerce is to not only deliver contextually relevant messages and offers, but also use data and insights to provide a personalized, unified customer journey.

Regarding smart personalization, Jim Hertzfeld, our Chief Strategist for Customer Experience, has this to say:

Personalization is a fundamental piece of any digital strategy. Customers expect it, the data is there, and the technology is within reach. Getting started may seem overwhelming, but it doesn’t have to be. You can start small and grow your strategies over time.

APIs are Creating Headless Commerce

Most commerce platforms cannot keep up with increasing demands to leverage content that helps sell products and services. And, most content management systems cannot handle the complexity of commerce transactions.

Application programming interfaces (APIs) and rest services are creating “headless commerce,” so sophisticated content creation and management will drive online marketing and digital commerce sales.

What Is Headless Commerce?

This approach “decouples” the front and back ends of a digital commerce platform. In other words, “the content presentation layer (i.e., content and experience management system) is separated from the business logic and functional layer (i.e., existing commerce stack, integration, and commerce management.)”

With this approach, an eCommerce business can tailor development for areas that are underperforming or focus resources to optimize high-performing areas of the site.

What Benefits Do APIs Provide?

Incorporating APIs allows digital commerce sellers to connect the dots, turning customer “data into practical, useable business intelligence.” Presenting contextually relevant information is crucial for both B2C and B2B commerce sellers to stay competitive.

Types of APIs that are most often used in eCommerce provide:

1. Product information – brand images, product descriptions, and product specifications
2. Social proof – Twitter comments and Facebook likes
3. Site search – advanced search features to help visitors quickly find products by brand, category, etc.
4. Personalization – content organized and presented to match the needs of every shopper/customer
5. Marketing automation – personalize the experience for returning customers, or adding customers to specific email marketing lists based on items viewed or purchased
6. Shipping – allows the business and customer to track shipment of products
7. Price comparison – link your product catalog to an API and receive reports that compare your pricing to competitors
8. Recommendation engine – create suggested lists of products to buy, or show items that complement the product(s) in your cart
9. Affiliate – widgets that link to products on Amazon, for example
10. Anti-fraud – helping businesses keep up with credit card scams and flag completed sales that match fraudulent practices

Whether you’re a “pure-play” or “click-and-mortar” eCommerce seller, using APIs to merge commerce and content systems leads to more frictionless commerce and, ultimately, a vastly improved online shopping experience.

The Path Forward Is an Evolution

When taking on digital transformation initiatives for eCommerce, remember that it’s an ongoing process. The path forward will be unique to your business.

You have to start with your customers in mind. This knowledge feeds into your business strategy and objectives. Choosing the technology that supports it all comes last.

The technology will move your business forward, but your customers are the guiding principle.