Eddie Capel (Manhattan Associates): Embracing generative ai is accelerating
Manhattan Associates' annual customer event was all about application programming interfaces (apis). 'The logistics industry used unwieldy bridges to communicate between applications. Now we say, 'here is my catalogue of apis, use the one you want,'" said top executive Eddie Capel at Manhattan Exchange in Cannes, France.
Eddie Capel, ceo of Manhattan Associates made no bones about it at Cannes during presentations and in conversation with journalists. 'We are living in the api-first era.' Whereas this is familiar territory for IT professionals, for the logistics sector it means a big step. Capel: 'The api is the interface through which all our active applications, but also those of our partners, can communicate with each other. It allows our customers, partners and their own software suppliers to innovate. Only with a true api-first application architecture can we jointly realise integration and innovation power.'
Previously, system-to-system interaction was enabled with 'bridges', traditional interfaces that established direct connections between different applications or platforms, the ceo looks back. 'One of the problems with such bridges is that you can never really connect all the points you want to connect, and it takes a lot of time to build a new bridge,' Capel points out.
Apis are replacing and eliminating these traditional interfaces. "Our platform orchestrates the use of the full catalogue of api's at various points, involving allocation, shipment planning, transport selection, as well as staff allocation, right through to the entire payment cycle as we present it on the websites of the retailers who are our customers."
According to Manhattan Associates, the result of communicating via ap's is "a holistic fulfilment plan that delivers significant benefits, such as a transport plan based on the amount of cartons and pallets that actually need to be moved.