We’re going to say you already have a Logic App set up that handles your order process. Now you want to bring in relevant order data from an on-premises system that uses SOAP APIs.

First you’ll need to search “custom connector” and provision it in the Azure portal, which takes a few clicks. Then you’ll need to choose SOAP as the API endpoint and upload your WSDL file.

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Next give your custom connector a name, an icon, and a background colour for easy recognition.

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At this stage you can add an authentication type, such as OAuth. Or if not required, you can skip this step.

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Now you have the chance to name the actions that you uploaded with your WSDL file.

×

Return to your Logic App and add an action where you want the SOAP API to interact with your app.

×

Search for your custom connector and select it.

×

Select which of the connector’s actions you want to trigger here.

×

Finally, you can use logic such as a For each loop to perform the custom connector’s action on data flowing through your Logic App.

×

And you have now successfully created a SOAP API integration with Azure Integration Services.

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What company wouldn’t like to repeat the success of Google or Amazon? Well, the good news is you can access the technology behind it: APIs (Application Programming Interfaces). A recent report says that over a third of current technology leaders create a quarter of their revenue thanks to APIs. And a sound API strategy is the first step to exploiting that potential for your business.

As the undisputed leader for enterprise integration, MuleSoft supplies the API technology. But building a bespoke API strategy requires different skills. That’s where a trusted MuleSoft Partner makes the difference. Drawing on a partner’s experience and expertise, your strategy is much more likely to succeed.

The MuleSoft team at egforit Software brings hands-on knowledge and tested practices to optimise each client’s API journey. So how do we do it?

1. Identify Your Goal

It’s important to clarify your use case for APIs from the start. We’ll work with you to define the experience or business moment you want to create. It might be delivering an omnichannel strategy with mobile apps and web portals, or adding IoT capabilities to give customers real-time service information.

2. Define Your Strategy

At this stage, our team will help you align stakeholders, define business outcomes, and validate the ecosystem and business models. With support for the whole API lifecycle, we plan everything right from the start.

3. Align Your Organisation

Your goal is to be customer-centric. To achieve that, you’ll need an agile ecosystem of employees, customers, partners, and independent developers, aligned with the customer in mind. We’ll help you overcome the organisational barriers to change.

4. Create Your Technology

Using APIs, our MuleSoft technicians connect the data needed for your end experience to happen. MuleSoft enables us to design, build, test, secure, manage, and retire APIs in a single platform.

5. Maximise Your Platform

MuleSoft training is a great way to engage your ecosystem. Bringing everyone firmly on board, we help you maximise adoption and get the best return on your API investment.

Are you about to embark on an API journey?

Find out how you can benefit from a trusted MuleSoft Partner.

The post Achieving Your API Strategy with MuleSoft appeared first on egforit Software.

The egforit Software team were among 2,500 people who attended MuleSoft Summit Cairo 2018.

That makes this the biggest MuleSoft summit to date. And as we heard from the fantastic speakers, MuleSoft has even greater things in the pipeline.

To start with, we heard from MuleSoft speakers including CEO Greg Schott, EMEA Head Raj Mistry, and founder Ross Mason.

The recurring theme was how to take a mix of enterprise applications that looks like this…

…and turn that opaque, hard-to-manage group of applications into something like this.

The good news is, this transformation isn’t magic!

As MuleSoft’s Egypt , middle east Partner, egforit Software has wrought this change for thousands of businesses.

Visit our dedicated MuleSoft site to find out more.

The core MuleSoft proposition is this: with integration and APIs, you can move from mud to crystal.

What’s more, you can make the shift reliably and at your own pace.

But before we get technical, why is this transformation so important?

The Challenges of Opacity

Over the years, many enterprises have taken on layer upon layer of applications to meet different needs.

The difficulty of managing these opaque layers creates extra strain on IT resources.

Your staff may resort to “shadow IT”, breaking up enterprise data among insecure SaaS platforms.

On top of this, issues quickly arise when you need to apply new security policies across these applications.

There may be data hidden within your “ball of mud” that could be turned into intelligence or services – but you can’t see it.

As MuleSoft’s Ross Mason put it at MuleSoft Summit Cairo 2018, “For the modern enterprise, it isn’t about the large eating the small, it’s about the fast eating the slow.”

Can your enterprise afford to sacrifice its speed to unconnected systems?

The Benefits of Transparency

MuleSoft’s API approach solves all of these issues. By creating APIs throughout your application layers, you gain a 3D view of everything.

Now you can react quickly to cyber threats and manage any group of applications easily.

You can ringfence areas to respond to changing data regulations, or swap and change elements without disrupting other applications.

In short, you can leverage your existing architectures with transparency, security, and agility.

At MuleSoft Summit Cairo 2018 we heard from Amitabh Apte, director of digital foundations integration at Mars, how APIs are transforming this global enterprise.

Without “big leaps” in architecture or infrastructure, Mars has expanded its APIs from initial piloting to a re-usable library of increasing value.

MuleSoft Sneak Peek 2019

Mark Dao, MuleSoft chief product officer, began with the inspiring words, “There are no legacy systems – only legacy mindsets.”

The moral: every enterprise has a wealth of unmined applications, and you need MuleSoft to bring them to the surface.

And MuleSoft Summit Cairo 2018 presented a raft of new products that are making this easier.

Dao introduced:

• Advanced API Business Analytics, for analysing your API traffic and performance
• Advanced API Portal, for driving engagement and conversion to API programs
• Machine-Learning Based Automapper, for automatic data mapping suggestions
• Anypoint API Manager, for tokenisation, applying policies across APIs, and setting up “edge domains”

While MuleSoft innovations coming in 2019 include:

• threat detection
• machine-to-machine protection
• Anypoint monitoring

Introducing Your MuleSoft Integration Partner

Is your enterprise ready to turn that ball of mud into crystal?

Ensure a reliable transformation with the guidance of an integration expert and MuleSoft Partner, egforit Software.

Visit our dedicated MuleSoft site to find out more.

Explore Our MuleSoft Site

The post What We Learned at MuleSoft Summit Cairo 2018 appeared first on egforit Software.

Salesforce have been rapidly expanding their business capabilities and reach recently, forming new strategic partnerships with the likes of IBM, Dropbox and Google to name but a few. However their latest move is clearly the most bold to date. Making the largest acquisition in its history, Salesforce have agreed buy MuleSoft in a deal valued at $6.5 billion (£4.59 billion).

 MuleSoft Press Release Announcing The Deal

MuleSoft released an official press release “Salesforce Signs Definitive Agreement to Acquire MuleSoft“.

“MuleSoft provides one of the world’s leading platforms for building application networks that connect enterprise apps, data and devices, across any cloud and on-premise.

MuleSoft will power the new Salesforce Integration Cloud, which will enable all enterprises to surface any data—regardless of where it resides—to drive deep and intelligent customer experiences throughout a personalized 1:1 journey.

More than 1,200 customers, including Coca-Cola, Barclays, Unilever and Mount Sinai, rely on MuleSoft to change and innovate faster, deliver differentiated customer experiences and increase operational efficiency.”

It’s great news for everyone here at egforit Software, Egypt , middle east MuleSoft Partners and long-time CRM Saleforce consultants. We think MuleSoft is a great fit for Salesforce. This deal is about integrating customer information across all channels, but particularly unlocking that information from legacy systems. It means more investment and yet more rapid development of the partner products and services we provide our customers.

Integrating Customer Information And Unlocking Legacy Systems

The acquisition comes a year after MuleSoft went public and spent the year increasing sales, with Q4 in 2017 seeing a 60% jump on the previous year during the same time period, as MuleSoft rapidly expands it’s global reach. However, this deal is primarily about the functionality and capabilities MuleSoft will bring to Salesforce, rather than the potential revenue.

The core of this deal is about integrating customer information across all channels, more specifically unlocking that information from legacy systems.

“One of the consistent themes we hear from CEOs is a frustration, if you will, and a yearning to unlock data from legacy systems,”
Keith Block, Salesforce.com Inc. vice chairman, president and COO, is quoted by Light Reading [9] as saying on a conference call with financial analysts Tuesday afternoon discussing the acquisition.

“Data locked in their legacy systems is holding them back,” Block said. By unlocking that data, “they will be able to make smarter, faster decisions,” and provide highly differentiated, customized customer experiences. Unlocking that data is essential to digital transformation”, he said.

Anypoint Platform: API’s And Integration

MuleSoft offers a cloud service called Anypoint that allows developers to connect different apps together within an ‘Application Network’ connecting cloud, Internet of Things, mobile, on-premise and legacy systems. The Anypoint Platform allows enterprise integration and apps to work together and share data, in a simple to manage and endlessly scalable solution

“For example, healthcare providers need to be able to deliver personalized care by unlocking data stored in electronic medical records, ERP systems, cloud applications and proprietary systems. For financial services, nearly 90% of IT spending is now focused on compliance, maintenance and operations, leaving little room for innovation. And the US government has been working on modernizing its system for years. Unleashing data in legacy systems could be a significant opportunity for every industry”. Block said.

The underlying drive for the acquisition is Customer Relationship Management and will mean the Anypoint Platform will be used for a new Salesforce Integration Cloud, although there are no official roadmaps published as yet. It is clear that MuleSoft will remain a vendor-neutral platform for information integration.

| Further Resources |

MuleSoft’s Anypoint Platform | Business Integration with MuleSoft®  | Buy MuleSoft Licences

Integrate Your Business With egforit MuleSoft® Solutions

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Imagine this: the clock strikes midnight and APIs no longer exist.

Off goes your alarm and you reach for your smartphone: Facebook, Twitter, and every other social network isn’t working. Your weather app has no information to help you choose the appropriate outfit for the day and Google can’t find any traffic updates to help plan your travel. If you like to browse the morning headlines then you’re out of luck – the news app has gone silent.

Without APIs, we’re left with “application islands” – a world of isolated data and applications that can’t communicate. Without the ‘digital glue’ of APIs to hold systems together, the technologies we have come to expect and rely on simply won’t work… and it doesn’t just stop at social media.

A World Without APIs

Instant messaging applications give way to phone, email, or SMS – assuming that none of the back-end systems of your network provider use APIs to deliver their service. Global communication as we know it is gone. Without APIs, any and all services run from remote or cloud-based servers cease to function.

Say goodbye to Youtube, Netflix, FreeSat, Sky+, or Tivo; you’ll have to rely on video entertainment services delivered by cable. Online bookings won’t work; everything from the cinema to flight and rail travel will only be bookable via interaction with a human being.

You can’t check your banking information online anymore; you’ll have to visit a branch for details and an ATM to withdraw cash – again, assuming that ATM back-ends are API-free. Shopping online is a thing of the past – it’s back to physical catalogues and coupons sent via paper post.

We’ll be amazed by how many seemingly safe, non-cloud services fall down because some parts of their systems rely on APIs. The standardisation, reuse, and global sharing of APIs mean that companies and individuals everywhere leverage them for their business. Processes, services, and activities around the world will grind to a halt.

A Future Without APIs

So, what next? Consumer expectations of seamless connectivity and services are a product of APIs. Without them, business strategies will resemble those of 20 to 30 years ago, when success was dictated by a company’s size and resources.

Organisations worldwide utilise APIs for digital transformation and business growth, adapting to the disruption caused by the 4th Industrial Revolution – disruption that has suddenly stopped. Businesses no longer need to adapt for survival, and those that have failed to keep technologies and processes up-to-date may even be better off.

 Build, customise, and manage APIs with MuleSoft’s Anypoint Platform

APIs are a democratiser in business, levelling the playing field so that SMEs and startups can compete with FTSE-100 companies. In our new API-free world, the web-startup from home scenario is no longer possible, and global offerings have to be fundamentally reassessed. The exponential increase in technological development slows to a crawl and businesses’ growth requires a different kind of innovation – innovation that might be a struggle for many to achieve.

An entire generation of people has grown up with API-powered technologies and services at their fingertips, absorbing information in a totally different way to generations past. The human thought process has evolved; problem-solving now demands the approach of “ask Google” and instant access to information through the internet. This new generation, shouldering the burden of society’s future, will have to learn about technology all over again. It will be a long time before we regain the technological functionality we once had, if it ever happens at all.

Why It’s So Important To Understand This

APIs, thankfully, aren’t going anywhere. They’re integral to the way our technologies, society, and culture have evolved – which is why businesses can’t afford to ignore them.

APIs are a core part of the disruption in Industry 4.0 and many believe that API-led connectivity is the solution to meeting the increasing demands on IT. A 2016 report about connectivity showed that 91 percent of business IT decision makers globally have an API strategy in place, or plan to have one by the end of this year. For the remaining 9 percent, time is running out to maintain a competitive edge.

There’s no time like now to start forming your API strategy. Need some help? You know who to ask.

Let’s Strategise

Related Articles:

• API 101: What Are Web APIs?
• Digital Transformation: Tools, Challenges & Goals [Infographic]
• Bridging the IT Delivery Gap
• Business Success in the 4th Industrial Revolution

The post The Importance of APIs: Imagine a World Without Them appeared first on egforit Software.

What is the 4th Industrial Revolution?

‘The 4th Industrial Revolution’ or ‘Industry 4.0’ is a topic that has been picking up momentum in discussion for the past few years – propelled to the forefront of conversation as the focal point of the World Economic Forum earlier in the year.

So what is it? Let’s take a look at the industrial revolutions that have come before:

	The 1st Industrial Revolution brought the transformation of labour, from hand-production to water and steam powered machines.
	The 2nd Industrial Revolution: The Technological Revolution. The industrialisation of Society connected disparate existing networks, the movement of people and ideas, the electrification of processes and production lines.
	The 3rd Industrial Revolution: Manufacturing goes digital. Technologies converge, web-based processes and new robots allow for ultimate customisation and bespoke production.
	The 4th Industrial Revolution marks the blurring lines between the real world and the technological world.

Advances in wearables, virtual reality, artificial intelligence, robotics, voice-controlled homes, Big Data Analytics and the Internet of Things – all are part of a new wave of ‘cyber-physical’ systems that are changing the playing field.

Human beings are connected to technology, to systems and to each other. The overlap of technology into our personal and professional lines is growing and it’s getting harder to see where one ends and the other begins.

What Does It Mean For Business?

Integrate Anything, anywhere – Cloud or On-Premise with MuleSoft® Anypoint Platform

Like any change, the 4th Industrial Revolution means disruption.
New technologies are evolving exponentially, increasing the demand on IT to deliver more, faster. With the old business & operational model, the gap between demand and delivery is going to get wider and wider.

The impact on business is already clear: only 12% of the Fortune 500 firms in 1955 were still in business in 2015. Companies that can’t meet demands will fail and there will be no shortage of competitors to take their place.

Adapt To Survive: Embrace the Disruption

Adaptation is critical, but it isn’t enough to simply react after demand has increased. The best defence is a good offence – businesses that survive will be the ones doing the disrupting.

The key is to act now; to reexamine the way we do business and change the approach to meet demands. This means more than simply digitizing systems as we did during the 3rd industrial revolution.

Industry 4.0 calls for digital transformation; innovation of products, services, the role of IT and the entire operational model. Connectivity is essential which will mean a shift to standardised, reusable assets such as APIs.

Many leading technology companies are already embracing the disruption and we’re thrilled to be partnered with them. Solutions such as MuleSoft’s AnypointPlatform are designed to support frictionless connectivity between systems and applications with API-led connectivity.

Business Intelligence tools such as IBM Cognos Analytics and SAP BusinessObjects offer powerful business insights. This business-critical data is vital for the process of reexamination and laying out the steps towards innovation.

Are you ready to embrace the disruption? Talk to the egforit experts about getting started.

Let’s Start Disrupting

Related:

• Bridging the IT Delivery Gap
• API 101: What Are Web APIs?
• Digital Transformation: Tools, Challenges & Goals [Infographic]
• egforit MuleSoft Partner Website
• MuleSoft Summit Cairo 2016 – October 19th

The post Business Success in the 4th Industrial Revolution appeared first on egforit Software.

What is the IT Delivery Gap?

It’s no secret that the world is changing. New technologies are emerging rapidly, such as IoT, Mobile, Big Data Analytics, SaaS and Cloud adoption – all evolving at an exponential rate.

The space between the demand and the delivery capacity is called the IT Delivery Gap. Unless IT budgets and resources grow at the same rate as the demand, IT simply cannot bridge the gap.

The traditional operating model is a project-based approach where IT projects are standalone and each new application is built from scratch. This operational model offers limited room for growth, with IT delivery capacity remaining unchanged. Meanwhile technologies continue to evolve and expand and the demands on IT increase.

We’re in a new age of industrial revolution and the future of the traditional model is inevitable: the IT Delivery Gap will grow and businesses will be unable to meet demands.

What are the solutions?

Increase the Pressure

A knee-jerk reaction to is to try increasing output to meet demand without any change to IT resources; the old, budget-driven ‘do more with less’ approach that can do more harm than good. Higher pressure on IT delivery may have the opposite effect than desired, compromising quality of work and reducing morale, which may negatively impact productivity.

Improve the Resources?

Some companies can afford to increase the IT budget, adding staff and enhancing tools, a stop-gap solution that can be costly if not applied carefully. It can increase output in the short term, but IT budgets aren’t limitless. Expansion of resources will reach maximum capacity and the IT Delivery Gap will just keep growing.

It also doesn’t fix the problem of the connectivity mess as new standalone applications are built and point-to-point connected to everything else. The typical reaction to prevent breaking to this fragile system is to freeze development and innovation – a one-way ticket to ultimate business failure.

Future-Proof Solutions: Change the Approach

Digital Transformation is essential and involves more than just ‘going paperless’. It calls for a change of the operational model, the role of IT and the culture of digital system development. The key is to create systems built for change; to innovate rather than reinvent.

Experts such as MuleSoft believe that API-Led Connectivity is the answer. APIs are reusable, sharable assets that speed up development and allow frictionless connectivity to other systems – the basis of an ‘Application Network’.

Reusing assets transforms the time and resources required to deliver IT projects and creates plug-and-play ability for fast, easy connectivity to anything, anywhere. User-friendly interfaces like the Anypoint Platform allow anyone to build and manage these APIs and connections, relieving pressure from IT teams and enabling self-service.

API 101: What
Are Web APIs?

Are you ready to transform your enterprise?It’s clear that the IT Delivery Gap is a growing concern for businesses and that change needs to happen fast. What’s unclear is who will adapt to meet the demands and who won’t. At egforit we’re already helping businesses to forge their plans for digital transformation and close the IT Delivery Gap for good.

Protect Your Future
Get egforit

Related:

• API 101: What Are Web APIs?
• Automation Sensation: Streamlining Customer Service & Management
• egforit MuleSoft Partner Website
• MuleSoft Summit Cairo 2016 – October 19th

The post Bridging the IT Delivery Gap appeared first on egforit Software.

Web APIs: What They Are and Why We Need Them

Successful modern businesses deliver seamless, convenient digital experiences  to their customers, while less-successful companies fall behind or disappear completely. They develop and innovate quickly to keep up with customer needs and demands, while others don’t.

How do they do it? You guessed it – Web APIs.

1 – What are Web APIs?

Web APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) get apps talking, aiding swift and flexible software development. They are software interfaces that provide frictionless connectivity between different applications and systems, allowing them to communicate and share data.

2 – How do Web APIs work?

Let’s take an example: using a mobile app to book tickets for a movie. How does it work? The mobile app is using APIs.

	One API speaks to Google Maps for info on cinema locations and another accesses the film listings and showing times for the branch you select.
	Once you’ve chosen the film, another API accesses information about available seating.
	Next, an API communicates with the cinema’s selected payment platform, allowing you to seamlessly pay for your tickets on the stop.
	Finally, another API then communicates the details of your booking to the cinema branch’s on-premise systems, so you can pick up your tickets.

Each of the different functions in the app are powered by APIs and the data sharing that they provide. The cinema’s on-premise/cloud applications share data about locations and film listings and the mobile app shares info about which seats the customer books.

3 – Why Do We Need Web APIs?

MuleSoft are experts in API-Led Connectivity
Talk to them directly at the upcoming event:
MuleSoft Summit Cairo

Without web APIs, these different functions wouldn’t work. Applications would need to be developed as stand-alone, relying on different methods of transferring data between them – most likely a manual process. This means increased development and personnel costs, with slower delivery times and reduced opportunity for innovation.

More importantly, many functions – like booking your tickets outside of cinema opening hours – may not be possible.

Today, there is high demand and expectation from customers and partners for fast, convenient communication and services. Without APIs, it would be impossible to meet those expectations, let alone keep a competitive edge.

4 – Should I Have a Web API Strategy?

Definitely. API strategies are a hot topic. According to a recent report from leading integration experts MuleSoft, 91% of IT decision-makers have an API strategy in place or plan to by the end of 2016.

This is because APIs are a huge part of digital transformation – an initiative that 96% of businesses globally are executing or planning to execute right now.

The value of APIs has been widely acknowledged as these reusable resources are key to faster and more innovative software development. There’s a global, enterprise-scale race to deliver the best quality systems and services, at the lowest costs. Nobody wants to fall behind.

When should you start your API strategy? Now.

Connectivity Benchmark Report highlights

5 – Where Can I Get Web APIs?

Web APIs are available everywhere, premade by digital service providers (e.g. location APIs for Google Maps). These are often ready to go, with clear instructions on how to make them work with other existing tools.

However, solutions such as MuleSoft’s Anypoint PlatformTM also facilitate the easy creation and management of custom-built web APIs for your specific needs. Tools such as these in the hands of your technical teams makes quick and easy work of composing APIs and integrating them, with minimal impact to your customer services.

For the added comfort of knowing your API strategy is in expert hands, you can also seek the advice and assistance of software consultants and developers.

At egforit, we can combine the best of both with our in-house integration and API specialists and our certified MuleSoft® partnership status. We can help you design, build and implement your API strategy, supported by the incredible power of the Anypoint PlatformTM – technology driven by API-led connectivity.

Find out more about the power of the Anypoint PlatformTM on our dedicated MuleSoft® partner site.

MuleSoft® API-Led Connectivity

egforit Featured API Projects:

Related:

• Automation Sensation: Streamlining Customer Service & Management
• egforit MuleSoft Partner Website
• MuleSoft Summit Cairo 2016 – October 19th

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