The application programming interface (API) is a piece of middleware technology that helps programs talk to each other and improves business workflows. Previous schools of thought categorized APIs as a tool to be kept within the business however recent innovations with APIs show the technology is capable of doing so much more. Thanks to API innovations and evangelists, we’re now on the verge of a new API golden age where businesses rise and fall by the strength of their integrations.

Whether you’re adding to your app ecosystem or working on a full digital transformation business strategy, your aim is a smooth enterprise integration process. But when you’re working with multiple programming languages, brands, or operating systems, it can get complicated quickly. API integration is now critical to business functionality in an increasingly technical world. It’s the best way to avoid compatibility issues with all your apps and opens the door for future implementations.

Most organizations today have some form of digital transformation strategy in the works. But a large share of these projects fail. Why is this? IT specialists will tell you that apart from misalignment between the goals of IT and business leadership, the main obstacle to a successful digital transformation is the adherence to obsolete data silos.

From Silicon Valley startups to established corporations, more and more companies are shifting to a composable enterprise architecture. And it is easy to see why. The world of business technology is growing fast and in unpredictable ways. Businesses need to stay competitive by keeping pace with — or better yet, ahead of — emerging tech. Composable enterprises allow for this flexibility by establishing the groundwork for integrating new applications and functionalities.

On Friday we released DreamFactory 4.6. This is the most significant UI release since the 3.0 overhaul, including the following interface improvements.

What are the most cringeworthy things about your software tools? To find out what customers hate the most, we surveyed 350+ developers and data science professionals to better understand the pain points of the tools they use. Specifically, we looked at what is their biggest software tool turnoff? Then, we aggregated that information by which professional title they fall under.

When you write code, you learn quickly that it can be an exacting process. Spaces and semicolons mean something very different to a computer than they do to us. So what’s the best way to document your API in a way that both humans and machines understand? For starters, here are some practices for naming your API endpoints. Did you know you can generate a full-featured, documented, and secure REST API in minutes using DreamFactory? Sign up for our free 14 day hosted trial to learn how!

As our world becomes increasingly digital, businesses everywhere feel the push to adopt new technologies. This is no longer a demand specific to the technology sector. Rather, all industries are required to improve and transform their business models. Businesses everywhere and of every size find benefits to embarking on digital transformation, from giving them a competitive edge in a cutthroat market to a wealth of data from the customer journey.

Microservices are a hot topic in the tech world and with good reason. These tiny systems form the backbone of a composable enterprise and most digital transformation strategies. They provide unmatched flexibility to businesses previously bound by monolithic application suites. But they present potential downsides when it comes to data management. In this article we’ll explore in more detail the relationship between microservices and master data management.

As stakeholders in more organizations look toward digital transformation strategies, they need to take a closer look at how to modernize their software. An overhaul of an IT system can be expensive and risky, even if the results pay off. What is not often examined however is the role of APIs in supporting enterprise IT transformation initiatives.