Why it could be time to update your web portal

Web portals connect employees, suppliers and customers directly into your business system wherever they are, enabling customers to place orders or employees to feed back information instantly. But many portals face a growing risk caused by their ageing API – the technology used to connect a portal to a FileMaker system.

An API is an interface between two different applications. It enables the web portal user's browser to talk back and forth with your FileMaker system, and it’s how your system interacts with the world out there. As your system becomes a seamless tool for managing your entire business, your portal only becomes more essential.

The power of portals

Why are portals so valuable? They give users who aren’t in your system a way of interacting with key parts of it in carefully controlled ways. So if your staff are out and about, they can enter data into the system, for example recording a delivery or providing details of audits. Your customers can use a portal to place orders or view new products. Suppliers can view orders and updates, while subcontractors can get access to project details.

Portals streamline processes, automate processes, enhance information sharing and build engagement. In short, they are transformative business tools.

Key infrastructure needs maintaining

This means a portal is a vital part of your essential business infrastructure. It’s easy to take for granted once it’s up and running but, like everything else, it needs maintaining.

If your portal was built before 2017, and possibly in the years after, it will use the PHP API. The problem is that Claris no longer support that API and instead have introduced their own API, the FileMaker Data API.

Your web portal will continue to work just fine using the PHP API – until you upgrade your FileMaker server or FileMaker version. Then, just like that, your portal will stop talking to your system.

Of course, you can simply avoid upgrading and stick to your old set-up (it works after all, and you’re too busy to deal with the disruption). But your FileMaker system won’t be receiving security updates to safeguard it against new cyber threats, and it will gradually become less compatible with other systems it interacts with. The longer you leave it, the worse the issues get. Eventually you’ll have to do something about it, and potentially in a mad rush.

A simple fix

There is a painless way to solve the threat to your portal: move to the FileMaker Data API and upgrade to the latest version of FileMaker at the same time. The operation does require some delicate surgery but it can be achieved with zero disruption. You won’t even notice that anything has changed, but you’ll have the peace of mind of knowing that your system is as safe and robust as it can be. Above all, you’ll have safeguarded that critical piece of infrastructure, your portal.

This is a service Decent Group offers. If you need any improvements or fixes to your portal, we can do those at the same time. All with the minimum of fuss and maximum efficiency.