Top 6 Posts from the Progress Blog in 2017

Happy New Year! We’ve recapped six of our top posts from the last year, talking about everything from machine learning to customer experience to REST APIs.

The new year has just begun, and it’s a good time to look back at the year that was. We took this opportunity to go through the top posts we published in 2017, and have come up with six of our most popular and influential posts that are definitely worth a read if you missed them (or another read if you didn’t). These posts represent a combination of some of our most highly viewed, widely shared, and impactful posts on the market.

As you begin your 2018, it’s also a good time to revisit your own 2017 successes and failures. Where did you meet your business objectives, and where did you come up short? Where can you improve your existing systems, and where can you add new functionality? Is this the year to embrace emerging technologies, like machine learning and chatbots?

Read on to see our top posts, and enjoy! And remember, we write this blog for you, to make your day easier and your company more successful. If there’s any content you want to see more of in 2018, feel free to let us know in the comments.

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6. Your Customer Experience Journey Begins with Your Employees

It may sound a little counter-intuitive at first, but studies make it clear that an engaged employee base is critical for creating an engaged customer base. Read more about why it’s important to get into an “employee-first” mindset, particularly when it comes to IT.

5. REST API Industry Debate: OData vs GraphQL vs ORDS

This post dives deep into the differences between OData, GraphQL and ORDS when it comes to adopting a REST API for your application or analytics/data management tool. It compares and contrasts the standards before giving our own recommendations. There were some great debates in the comments – feel free to join in.

4. How to Put Machine Learning to Work for Your Business

This article is the second in a two part series, and along with the first part provides an introduction to machine learning and why now is the time to adopt it in your business. It explores the confluence of events and technologies that make machine learning approachable today, and details steps you can take to get started. If you’ve been thinking about machine learning and how it might impact you or your industry, this is for you.

3. A Gathering of Minds—Women in Business and Technology

We’re cheating a little bit with this one, as it was posted in late 2016, but it really picked up steam in 2017 and was one of our most-read posts from the past year, clearly resonating with many of you. This post talks about the wide range of experiences women in business and technology, including women leaders from Progress, shared at an event hosted by our CEO, Yogesh Gupta.

2. 5 Universal Takeaways from the Health 2.0 Conference

The healthcare industry is in the process of reinventing itself, investing ambitiously in technology to help deliver better, patient-centric care. Health Clouds are one big way they’re doing that.

1. Chatbots are Here, and it is Just the Beginning

The technology behind chatbots is exploding in popularity, and there’s a good chance you have either recently implemented one or are considering doing so in the future. However, there’s a bigger question to consider around what the application of the future will look like, what the UX will be, and how you can be flexible enough to be ready for the changes while still delivering an amazing experience today. You can check out our thoughts on the current and future state of the market.