[ad_1]
Andrew Dunbar Expert in business transformation and digital strategy.
Getty
A company’s technical architecture is the foundation for building its business strategy. A company’s architecture provides the infrastructure and supports the processes that enable a company to create and deliver its products and services.
By ensuring that their technical architecture aligns with their business strategy, companies can create efficient and effective systems that maximize their business potential. But increasingly, “efficient and effective” means the ability to respond quickly to changing market needs and capitalize on opportunities before competitors. Unfortunately, rapid change is usually not an easy business system to design.
Composable architecture is a potential answer to this. As a leading digital consultancy firm, to help organizations refresh their infrastructure, both in terms of technical systems and the underlying business maturity required to take ownership of those systems. I’ve spent quite a bit of my career. Today, we find that composable architecture, often underpinned by scalable agile frameworks, is the preferred direction for many, but it takes a very long time to fully realize the benefits of this approach. Mature business and technical capabilities must work together. I get asked about the basics a lot, so I thought I’d share the basics of composable architecture.
Why composable architecture?
In essence, composable architecture is a design pattern that emphasizes the ability to assemble systems from loosely coupled components. It’s a way of dividing the architecture of a system into smaller, simpler components that can be easily combined and reused. Composable architectures are commonly used in software development, but can also be used in other areas such as product design. When it comes to user experience, composable architecture provides a flexible and responsive user experience that is easy to update and maintain.
In my experience, companies often want to move from monolithic to composable architectures because of the potential benefits of flexibility and scalability. Monolithic architectures can be difficult to maintain and update, as changes to the codebase can affect the entire system. A composable architecture allows each component to be changed or replaced independently, reducing update effort and deployment risk. In addition, the components are loosely coupled, making it easy to expand the system as needed and replace components when they become redundant or outperform by better options.
Components suitable for composable architecture include databases, application servers, web servers, caching systems, messaging systems, and authentication systems. Additionally, configurable components can include application programming interfaces, software development kits, libraries, and services. Examples of companies using composable architectures include Netflix and Google.
What are the challenges to consider?
However, it is not all smooth sailing. Concerns about moving to a composable architecture include increased complexity of systems that were not originally designed to work together, the need to manage more components, and the associated lack of standardization. will be
Additionally, using multiple components that weren’t designed to work together can lead to reliability and performance issues. The advantage of a monolithic architecture is that someone has already solved all the initial problems before it hits the market.
Therefore, when it comes to composable design, it is very important to allow components to interoperate and communicate effectively. This is typically done using an API. Another concern is that the loosely coupled components can make it difficult to ensure data consistency across all components. This requires some caution. Failure to ensure data consistency can result in denormalized, redundant data that is not always in sync.
How can I ensure a successful migration?
The first step in moving to a composable architecture is to look at the architecture of your existing system and identify which components can be broken down into smaller independent parts. This breakdown allows you to plan your system’s scalability and performance requirements. Once the components have been identified, they can be developed and tested individually before being incorporated into the final system. Obviously, it’s important to include a testing phase to ensure that the components can interoperate and communicate effectively.
A gradual migration to a composable architecture is also possible. Selected components in each phase can be developed and tested individually before replacing existing elements. This step-by-step process enables a smooth transition to composable architecture.
If you are considering contacting a professional software development company to help with this transition, make sure the organization you are working with understands the specific individual components. There is usually a core component to the technical solution that drives the migration. If you also hire comprehensive consultants, make sure they understand enterprise-level platform offerings and can oversee the company’s transition to composable architecture.
Remember, as this approach to technology becomes more prevalent, there is great value in bringing this expertise in-house by hiring experienced composable architects. We also recommend that organizations consider the delivery and change management aspects that come with this. It’s worth considering adopting a scalable agile framework (known as “SAFe”) approach to manage not only the migration of the platform but also its continuous evolution.
There are many moving parts in moving to a composable architecture. Having a strong and consistent view of the technology involved, the business strategy behind the initiative, and the plan to manage the company’s ongoing operations is key to success.
The Forbes Business Council is the premier growth and networking organization for business owners and leaders. am i eligible?
[ad_2]
Source link
