The Web Data Services Blog

“In order for us to integrate with our SAP system, we need an SAP adapter.”

“In order to migrate content to our FileNet WCMS, we need a FileNet Adapter.”

I’m sure you’ve all heard this before.

The reasoning?  Whenever you need to perform data or content migration, you need an adapter.  Or do you?

Companies like iWay Software created a nice business proving the need for adapters to business applications and data/content management systems.

But as the number of data sources and applications multiply, this strategy is proving obsolete. There are simply too many systems in the market to build individual adapters for, and the requirements for each adapter vary more and more with each use case.

Fortunately there is a faster, better solution.

Over the last 5 years any relevant business application or CMS made their system accessible through a web browser.  You can log in and search, view and even enter data through web forms.

Using a Web Data Services product like the Kapow Web Data Server, developers can now leverage this web interface to create custom adapters quickly and easily whenever they need them, and even better, exactly the way they want them. No need to buy a library of adapters, read tons of documentation and then tweak your system to work with the adapter interface.

I visit prospects and customers as often as my schedule permits, and more and more frequently I hear, “We implemented yet another integration/SOA framework only to find it obsolete before it’s even finished”. Needless to say, customers are abandoning the adapter route and whole-heartedly adopting the much more pragmatic Web Data Services solution where they can create adapters “on the fly”.

Consider this – what would be the value to your organization if you could create adapters on demand without the need to recode existing systems or work through bureaucratic procedures to gain application access?  Huge, right?

Please drop me a note and I would be more than happy to share some real-life stories from real-life global 1000 companies who have done just this, giving them unprecedented business agility.  It’s no longer a matter of when and how much, but rather taking an on demand, “just do it” approach to driving business agility.

Learn more:

• Harvest and Serve Web Data from multiple web sources with no coding
• Content Migration Demo loading data into CMS without adapters

By:  Stefan Andreasen

Content Migration is hard work.  Dealing with thousands of HTML pages can be costly, time-consuming, and painful.  At the CM Pros and Gilbane Boston event last week, we enjoyed the focus on Content Migration.  One workshop in particular, Content Migration – the Dirty Little Secret of Content Management, provided a thorough and comprehensive investigation of  various approaches to succeed with enterprise content migration projects and to overcome the numerous hurdles and headaches associated with content migration.  For a summary of the workshop, check out Irina Guseva’s write-up at CMSWire.

One clear message from the workshop is that automation is clearly a winning strategy when it comes to complex migrations involving unstructured content and large volumes of HTML pages.

Key Benefits of Automated Content Migration:

1.    Save Time – Cut time to market up to 90% through automated data access, extraction, cleansing, transformation and QA.  Eliminate content freezes.  Accelerate your time to market for your production CMS.
2.    Save Money – Reduce manual, error-prone processes and cut resource requirements saving up to 80%.
3.    Accuracy -  Look for error detection and the ability to integrate complex JavaScript and AJAX content, as well as on-the-fly exception handling through real-time error identification.
4.    Project Completeness – Finish projects ahead of schedule, within budget, and no disruption to operations.

The alternative?  Manual cut-and-paste and black-box approaches which are complex, error-prone, expensive, and often times unable to complete the job.

There are a few vendors making bold promises around content migration.  We’ve stepped in and had to finish several of their projects because their tools and processes couldn’t get the whole project done and the client was losing their patience with the multiple delays and increasing costs.

Here are a few things to consider when choosing a Content Migration vendor and solution:

1.   Automation is King – Intel was able to reduce the number of developers on a large content migration project from 45 down to 2.  Check out how Intel reduced costs 80% and got their content migration with Kapow Technologies done in 1/10th the time.
2.    Don’t waste your time custom programming to a CMS’s APIs. Especially in cases where APIs don’t exits, visual UIs like Kapow’s provide full access to all functionality for proper loading of your content.
3.    Place your trust in “No Coding” through a robust Visual IDE which will save you peace of mind, frustration, headaches, and maybe even your job (just kidding).  Which is to say, avoid coding with JYTHON for transforming your data.
4.    Insist on Real-time Error Checking – don’t get caught in the ongoing process of checking your logs or QA’ing your site, only to find out it’s broken and then having to re-write your script and start again.

Kapow Technologies offers the industry’s ONLY solution to completely automate content migration.  Learn more on our website.  Here are three great resources to get you started:

1.    Whitepaper:  The Definitive Guide to Automating Content Migration
2.    Webinar:  A new approach to Content Migration – A use case featuring Intel
3.    Demo:  Extract data and load into CMS without APIs or coding

By: Ron Yu

Our “No Coding” tagline has resonated with many of you.  Thank you for the support and positive comments in the media and your blogs.  Disruptive technologies often have the opposite effect e.g. making people uncomfortable.  The Kapow Web Data Server is truly a paradigm shift – radically changing how traditionally complex migration of data between source and destination systems or turning applications into web services is done.

Many customers have described to me the “aha” moment they’ve had.  Across the board, our customers kept saying to us, “the amazing thing about the Web Data Server is that it requires no coding”.  It’s great when your customers do your marketing for you!

Two revolutionary inventions with the Kapow Web Data Server are key to our ability to eliminate traditional coding associated with Business Intelligence, Data Integration, and application integration projects:

1.    Existing applications can be easily accessed as-is through their HTML/AJAX front-end through our point-and-click visual development tool, eliminating the need to deal with proprietary APIs.  Even better, it’s done in the context of the content owner or business user (through what they see in their web browser), eliminating any misunderstandings that occur when explaining to coders what needs to be done i.e. translating business/ functional requirements to technical specs.

2.    Instant, visual feedback allows results to be seen on the spot – delivering high productivity and time to market improvements.

We have several videos on our website demonstrating how users easily access, enrich, and serve web data with “no coding”:

•    Harvest the web for pricing and market intelligence

•    Access and serve web data from Linkedin, Jigsaw and more with no coding

In fact, the tool is intuitive and easy enough that even our marketers have been known to build their own Kapow robots to harvest web data.

But programmers love our product even more.  Why?  It makes them more productive.  With a visual interface, real-time feedback, and 100% accuracy, programmers get more done in a lot less time.

All Content Migration, data warehouse ETL, data integration and application development projects require an iterative process, from first attempt until solved.

With traditional methods, each iteration can take weeks and even months to get it right.  This is cumbersome and frustrating for most.

The Kapow Web Data Server cuts down each iteration to 3 simple steps (measured in minutes):

1.    Visually instruct what you want (without coding), just like working with the data in a web browser (point and click).

2.    See the end result in real-time, right in the middle of instructing how and what to do.  (Since this happens real-time, step 1 and 2 are basically the same… but would you  believe me if I called it a 2 step process?)

3.    Modify instructions based on the instant, visual feedback, i.e. go back to step 1.

This extremely quick turn-around per iteration with the Kapow Web Data Server allows you to get to 100% of what you want.  100% accuracy in 1/10th the time.  And did I mention “no coding”?

Don’t just take my word for it, please check out what Intel and Audi had to say about Kapow.

Technology continues to evolve.  The market demands it.  Register for our free trial.  It really works.

By:  Stefan Andreasen