In the coming year, sawmills and manufacturing facilities will see an increased use of mobile solutions designed for their unique needs. Tech companies and even individual businesses are forging a path by taking advantage of APIs.<\/p>\n
APIs are pieces of code that make it easy for software apps to talk to each other. They\u2019re like channels for sharing information. If a program has an API, other applications can use it to send and receive data to and from that program.<\/p>\n
Fantasy football is a real-world example of APIs in action. Fantasy sites can use the NFL\u2019s API to pull the latest player statistics. When the new stats are pulled in, the fantasy site recalculates the player rankings and user points.<\/p>\n
So why do APIs matter for enterprise software? In short: integrated business apps. Businesses can replace isolated programs with a united ecosystem of tools.<\/p>\n
Imagine a mobile sales app. When a rep creates a new order, the app uses an API to push information from the rep\u2019s phone to the business\u2019s ERP system. When the ERP receives the information, the order is created. There\u2019s no need for the rep to manually sync his phone or update the record later. APIs make the process seamless.<\/p>\n
APIs have two major implications for the building materials industry. First, tech companies can more easily create products for a wider range of needs. At DMSi, we\u2019ve used the APIs in our Agility ERP to create a host of integrated products. Most recently, we developed Agility | Mobile Warehouse Tools, a simple alternative for customers whose operations don\u2019t require our full WMS solution.<\/p>\n
Second, APIs will let forward-thinking businesses take charge of their technology toolsets. Trying to customize your ERP system for every imaginable scenario is an expensive and time-consuming endeavor. If, however, a business can access the APIs in its primary software platform, it can easily create powerful, integrated apps without disrupting the existing system\u2019s business logic.<\/p>\n
DMSi customers can access Agility\u2019s APIs to use as they see fit. Recently, DMSi customer Premier Hardwoods, Inc. (Jamesville, NY) built a mobile app to streamline remanufacturing. Workers on the line use their mobile phones to scan bundles of rough lumber. The app passes those tags through our APIs into our Agility ERP system and reserves the material to a work order. As the rough lumber gets surfaced, the workers use the app to specify what material was made, and the app uses Agility\u2019s APIs to create and print tags as the output material comes off the line. All of the information inputted on the app runs through our APIs and then through Agility\u2019s remanufacturing logic. Since we designed the APIs, we keep our business logic safe while allowing our customers to program their own applications.<\/p>\n
APIs provide a major opportunity for businesses struggling to find technology products that fit every aspect of their operations. They\u2019re central to DMSi\u2019s development strategy, and we\u2019ll continue to leverage them as we create more integrated solutions for our customers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In the coming year, sawmills and manufacturing facilities will see an increased use of mobile solutions designed for their unique needs. Tech companies and even individual businesses are forging a path by taking advantage of APIs. APIs are pieces of code that make it easy for software apps to talk to each other. They\u2019re like […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[97],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3052","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n