For more than a decade, businesses in all industries have undergone a digital metamorphosis. This evolution is marked by a transition from on-premises software solutions to cloud-based computing technology.

By leveraging cloud-computing resources, businesses can gain access to scalable assets, increase organizational performance, and optimize digital agility.

It’s a mistake to think about cloud solutions primarily as software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications. While these technologies are a valuable component of business modernization, they’re only the tip of the iceberg.

Businesses that create their own cloud-native applications can truly harness the power of discrete cloud technologies to deliver long-lasting competive advantages. As their name implies, cloud-native applications are “native” to the cloud computing environment. In other words, cloud-native software development involves creating applications in components optimized for deployment in the cloud instead of a physical computing environment.

What Is Cloud-Native Development?

In simple terms, cloud-native software development is the process of creating applications using core cloud-computing principles and resources. The architecture of cloud-native applications is highly scalable, responsive, and dynamic.

Cloud-native applications are designed to be deployed and run in cloud computing environments, and as such, they offer a number of benefits to developers. Some of the advantages of developing cloud-native applications include:

• Scalability: Cloud-native applications can easily (and often automatically) scale up or down to meet changing demand with consistent performance levels, making them well-suited for applications with fluctuating usage patterns.
• High availability: Cloud-native applications can be designed to be highly available, meaning they can withstand failures and continue to function even in the event of a hardware or software failure.
• Elasticity and Agile development: Using independent microservices isolates the effects of changes, making it easier for developers to iterate on their products and respond to customer needs.
• Cost efficiency: By leveraging the economies of scale offered by cloud providers, businesses can reduce their infrastructure costs and invest in building and improving their applications.
• Integration with cloud services: Cloud-native applications can easily integrate with other cloud-based services, such as databases, messaging systems, and analytics tools, which can simplify development and improve the functionality of the application.

Overall, the main advantage of cloud-native applications is that they are designed to take full advantage of the capabilities of cloud computing environments, which can help developers build and deploy applications more quickly, efficiently, and at lower costs.

Additionally, many cloud-native applications are “cloud-agnostic,” meaning they can be run on a range of cloud providers (hyperscalers) or function in multi-cloud environments. Much of the appeal of cloud-native software development lies in the ability to yield adaptable and versatile applications. Sometimes applications can benefit from services that are only available from certain cloud providers, which risks “vendor lockin,” so it pays to consider the trade-offs carefully.

Read more: Can Moving to Cloud Native Improve Business Agility?

Why Modern Businesses Need Cloud-Native Development

Like on-premises computing resources, software created with traditional application-development practices are bound by the limits of that technology. As such, they can’t provide the quality of experience that modern audiences expect.

Additionally, applications developed in an old-school environment often need re-factoring to try to match the performance of cloud-native alternatives when the former is introduced to a cloud environment.

By leveraging cloud-native development services, modern businesses can facilitate their digital transformation on a faster time horizon. Cloud-native processes enable businesses to serve their customers better and deliver a frictionless user experience.

Top businesses in virtually all industries leverage cloud-native development. Those that neglect to do so will fall further behind these trailblazers and find it challenging to maintain a foothold within their respective markets.

Adopting cloud-native processes is no longer an optional step—it’s become necessary for businesses that want to thrive in the digital marketplace.

Top Benefits of Cloud-Native Software Development

Your business can tap into the multiple benefits of investing in cloud-native software development. Specifically, your organization can:

1. Streamline the User Experience (UX)

When the goal of cloud native is to develop applications that can serve your business while adjusting to the speed of changing technology, the end user is always the priority.

Because of the improved speed of development and the ability to make changes during the development process, cloud native puts UX first. While there are many ways to enhance the UX, investing in cloud-native development is one of the most effective approaches.

2. Improves Development Strategy

Cloud-native applications enable developers to leverage two essential UX-centric methodologies: continuous integration (CI) and continuous delivery (CD).

Continuous integration is the process of merging code changes using automation. Multiple developers can merge code changes into a centralized project to streamline app development and generate a cohesive, fully functional product.

Continuous delivery addresses post-release application software updates. Instead of occasionally pushing out massive updates, CD involves delivering smaller updates more frequently. This short-cycle approach improves software delivery and performance while yielding a super UX.

Moreover, microservices can be easier to implement with quality assurance automation, which elevates achievable levels of code quality.

3. Protect Business Continuity

Making dynamic, user-friendly applications a central part of your business model can give you a competitive edge in the modern marketplace. However, if your application goes down, customer frustrations will mount, and your brand could experience lasting reputational damage as a result.

Since cloud-native apps can tap into stand-alone, scalable cloud resources, these products are far less likely to experience extended outages due to spiking utilization. Developers can more rapidly isolate and remedy the issue, as well as rapidly test changes when a cloud-native app experiences downtime, thereby protecting business continuity.

4. Meet Evolving Demands for Services

In the digitized marketplace, it seems as if customers’ expectations and demands are in a constant state of flux. Unfortunately, it can be difficult — if not impossible — to pivot rapidly using legacy application development processes.

Cloud-native architectures can give your organization the agility it needs to respond to sudden shifts in customer expectations. For instance, you could add a new feature that enables customers to communicate easily with your brand. You could also frequently update your app’s capabilities to improve overall performance and stay relevant in the digital marketplace.

Read more: Cloud-Native Application Development: How It’s Powering App Delivery

When Should Businesses Shift to Cloud-Native?

The short answer is “yesterday.”

In the long run, cloud-native software development outperforms traditional application development practices at every turn. Cloud-native development reduces risk, has broader scalability, and allows developers to make changes more quickly. Most notably, the speed of delivery is far and above one of the most compelling advantages of shifting to a cloud-native approach.

Your organization is undoubtedly using cloud-based computing resources in at least some capacity. You can complete the transition by modernizing your cloud-native development processes, too. Doing so will empower your business to regain a competitive edge within your respective industry.

At the same time, one should consider the downsides of cloud applications. Some cloud-native applications can be more complex than traditional applications, due to the need to integrate with multiple cloud-based services and manage distributed systems. This can create more opportunities for something to fail.

While cloud native applications can be cost-effective they can also be more expensive than traditional applications in certain situations, particularly if they require a large number of resources or if they have high usage patterns.

The Nexus Between Cloud-Native Development and Business Modernization

Today’s customers want the freedom to interact with brands across multiple touchpoints. This holds true whether your target audience consists of individual consumers or business-to-business (B2B) clients.

Modern businesses live up to this customer expectation by providing their clients access to user-friendly, intuitive, and dynamic applications. These organizations can expand their reach in the digital marketplace, connect with a broader audience, eliminate friction from purchasing processes, and generate more revenue, all by transitioning to cloud-native development.

Conventional, monolithic application development practices often present a significant hurdle to large-scale integrations, digital transformation and business modernization efforts. Your business can’t achieve its digital transformation goals without fully embracing the cloud-computing environment and its many resources.

Examining the Business Impact of Cloud-Native

The notion that cloud-native software development is the new gold standard isn’t just pure conjecture. This fact is supported by numerous case studies and research projects, including a recent business impact brief by 451 Research.

In the brief, the organization’s team reported that:

• 64% of companies develop at least half of their applications using cloud-native technology
• 49% of companies have partially or fully adopted Kubernetes
• 55% of companies have partially or completely adopted containers

451 Research analysts concluded that cloud-native software development has gone beyond the development process and evolved into a full-fledged methodology. As such, it should continue gaining momentum among brands passionate about actualizing digital transformation.

And that’s just the barest overview. Managers can review 451 Research’s business impact brief by downloading the report.

Why Choose Fingent for Cloud-Native Development?

Fingent’s suite of cloud-native software development services is designed to deliver maximum value to our clients. When leveraging Fingent’s cloud-native development services, your organization will experience:

• Consistent, High-Quality Results: As a client-oriented cloud-native development firm, Fingent focuses on providing high-quality, consistent results that exceed expectations. Our robust, agile teams and dynamic quality assurance practices ensure that our deliverables expressly meet your needs and address your most significant organizational pain points.
• Best-of-Breed Solutions: Fingent’s unique approach enables us to provide world-class cloud-native software development services that produce best-of-breed solutions. These cost-effective solutions will align with your budget and delivery timetable. With Fingent, you won’t have any last-minute surprises like budgeting issues or missed deadlines.
• Prebuilt Services: Fingent’s talented team can build truly custom solutions for your organization. However, we can also expedite development by leveraging prebuilt frameworks, applications, and microservices for common functions that are a staple of virtually all industries. Some of these prebuilt services include cognitive AI, shipment, and payment service functions.
• Pay-as-You-Go Models: With Fingent, you can transition away from speculative technology spending — that is, purchasing new machines and acquiring more infrastructure in anticipation that you will succeed. While it’s important to believe in your business and plan for its success, tying up resources on unneeded equipment for months or years will only harm your bottom line. But Fingent enables you to break the cycle of speculative spending and rely more on operational expenses (OPEX). Instead of letting new hardware gather dust in the data center until its eventual use, you can access additional servers on-demand via a cloud-native infrastructure.
• Scalability: As your business grows, you must have the flexibility to support additional users at a moment’s notice. However, scaling IT capabilities can too time-consuming, and costly if you are limited by monolithic software architectures.Take advantage of Fingent’s expertise to create your cloud-native capabilities that are able to support more users in more locations, all while accommodating a dynamic array of devices.
• Speed of Delivery: Fingent can help you stay on top by providing an expedited speed of delivery via cloud-native solutions. Skip the need to field a development team with the right mix of skills but assigning your project to Fingent. We facilitate an accelerated speed of delivery by shifting away from a “big bang” approach to project management when practical and instead focusing on achieving meaningful milestones across the project’s development life. We have the deep bench of personnel needed to keep projects moving ahead at the optimal speed.
• Transparent Project Management: At Fingent, we always keep our clients in the loop. We’ll routinely provide you with updates regarding the status of your cloud-native development project. We pride ourselves on setting firm deadlines and adhering to them.

If you’re ready to achieve business modernization and make your organization a standout player in your industry, take advantage of Fingent’s cloud-native services. Contact us to discuss your latest project.

Organizations are enhancing their competitiveness by prioritizing digital transformation as the global marketplace becomes increasingly crowded and interconnected.

Broadly speaking, the concept of digital transformation involves the systematic evolution of core and auxiliary business processes to take advantage of advances in computing and software systems to increase efficiencies.

However, no digital transformation initiative will be effective unless it involves an app modernization component.

Also referred to as “application modernization,” app modernization enables organizations to transform effectively, increase their competitiveness, and differentiate themselves within their respective industries.

What is App Modernization?

A “legacy” system uses outdated software or computing hardware to deliver important organizational capabilities but cannot interact with other systems or be updated effectively. App modernization is the process of addressing known issues in outdated legacy software. The issues may include:

• Software problems (“bugs”) that cannot be resolved fast enough,
• Missing features will take too long to add,
• Fragile code (changes tend to create new problems),
• Technology obsolescence (e.g., few programmers for the source code language used),
• A software vendor is out of business, etc.

Commercial off-the-shelf software (COTS) may not provide source code access, preventing an organization from addressing software issues. When pursuing app modernization for software for which source code is available, your organization can choose between one of three approaches:

• Revitalizing an application old applications
• Replacing an application technology with custom-built solutions
• Rehosting or re-platforming

Organizations that choose to revitalize old applications will be updating existing software with new capabilities and features. This may also include refactoring (editing the software to do the same things better).

Read more: Why choose custom software over commercial off-the-shelf solutions?

Other companies may elect to get rid of aging technology to replace it with new, custom-built solutions or with a COTS solution.

In some instances, though, to achieve performance improvements, you may just need to move your existing application onto a more powerful computing engine, typically today on a modern, cloud-based infrastructure — a process known as rehosting or re-platforming.

How do you know which is the best app modernization option for your needs?

Particularly old or antiquated legacy technology will need to be replaced, whereas newer solutions might be suitable for repurposing or retrofitting. Rehosting is the most pragmatic approach if an application still meets your business’s needs but is negatively impacted by your current infrastructure.

When updating existing software, your app modernization team will need to rewrite code to add new features to your solutions. While this can be a tedious and time-consuming process, it may be more efficient than rebuilding a new solution from the ground up.

Opting for the more labor-intensive choice of modernizing by replacing legacy systems may provide more substantial long-term benefits altogether, especially if the landscape of your industry has changed significantly since you installed your current technology suite. Proper planning will control how the migration to a new system occurs and to what extent a legacy system needs to be operational during the transition.

In order to determine which approach is most appropriate for your business, you should first consider whether your current application effectively meets your company’s needs. If it doesn’t, you will need to either repurpose or replace your technology, but if it does, a simple rehosting might be the most practical option.

Why You Need It, Especially Today

Application modernization is a core component of digital transformation. If your company’s current applications do not effectively meet its needs or promote efficiency, you will never be able to meet your digital transformation goals. In a 2019 IBM-Forrester survey, 40% of developers reported being more productive when on the cloud in a digital transformation.

Instead, you will always be working from a disadvantage, which could allow your competitors to encroach on your market share within your respective industry.

App modernization will not only enable you to fulfill your digital transformation goals, but it will also empower your business to operate more efficiently, enhancing the customer experience, paving the way for future growth, and boosting revenue.

Read more: Why Top Companies Are Investing in Application Modernization

What to Consider Before App Modernization

You cannot approach app modernization haphazardly, or you could experience significant and potentially prolonged disruptions to your company’s operations.

Remember, app modernization efforts will impact the functionality and performance of your company’s core software solutions, such as your customer relationship management platform and accounting software, so with that in mind, you must gauge the costs of an app modernization initiative.

Identify what goals you want to achieve, plan how long it will take to achieve those objectives, and seek the support of a third-party technology firm that will be able to provide an objective perspective and help you determine which approach to pursue when you start your journey toward app modernization.

Read more: The secrets to a successful app modernization journey.

Knowing Your Options in App Modernization

To decide which of these approaches is most suitable for your business, you must take an objective look at the state of your technology stack. Is the version of all elements of the stack up-to-date? Are frameworks and languages still “main stream?”  If your current solutions impede business growth, it is likely time to replace them or, at minimum, rewrite them.

Rehosting can be incorporated into your app modernization strategies in two ways. If you have an application that meets your needs, you can simply migrate the app from a native architecture to a cloud-based one. Additionally, you can incorporate rehosting into your rip-and-replace or rewrite app modernization process, as transitioning to the cloud will improve the performance of any application.

Steps to Kickstart Your App Modernization Journey

The entire process can feel daunting and overwhelming when you are at the precipice of your app modernization journey. Still, you can jump-start your digital transformation and app modernization efforts through the following techniques:

1. Finding Your Why

First off, outline why you want to modernize your applications. Defining your “why” will help you and your team stay focused once your modernization journey is underway.

2. Assess Your Talent

Take an objective look at your in-house team and its capabilities. Are they going to be able to oversee your app modernization effectively? If not, it might be time to bring in some outside resources.

3. Decide Whether You Want to Move to the Cloud

Suppose you have invested heavily in on-premises resources in the past; in that case, it might be tough to move on from these assets and transition to the cloud. But making the switch will benefit your business both now and in the long run, so you should at least consider the notion.

4. Assess Risk and Act

Finally, you need to assess the risks associated with each app modernization option. Outline the benefits of rewriting your current applications, replacing them altogether, and migrating to the cloud. Once you have calculated the costs of app modernization, choose the option that best aligns with your needs and take action.

How Fingent Can Help in Successful App Modernization

Leveraging app modernization to enhance the efficacy of your digital transformation effort is a huge undertaking. Fortunately, you don’t have to navigate this process alone, as you can partner with a talented software development team like that of Fingent.

Fingent’s team of experts can help you apply the latest technologies to your business, including cloud-native solutions, artificial intelligence tools, and machine learning software.

Contact us today to learn more about how we can assist with your app modernization efforts.

Modernization is a desire to stay relevant and grow. App modernization does just that for businesses. It enables them to stay relevant and grow. In line with that, organizations worldwide are scrambling toward digital transformation. How does that benefit businesses?

App modernization or updating older software for newer computing approaches extends the lifespan of an organization’s applications while allowing it to take advantage of technical innovations. It is like renovating an old house to improve efficiency, safety, structural integrity, and more.

However, there have been occasions when the app modernization project has failed. This has been a concern to most business owners considering digital transformation. Are you one of them? If so, through this blog, you can learn why and how to avoid app modernization failure.

First things first. Does your company need app modernization? If so, why?

Why Your Company Needs App Modernization

Apart from what we discussed earlier in this blog, app modernization integrates new features to keep up with the latest business requirements. Even so, many business leaders wonder if their business needs app modernization. Here is a list of specific reasons for you to consider:

• It allows you to create new features and services that align with your current business needs and goals. In addition, you can personalize these features to ensure long-term value creation.
• Educating new and older employees becomes easier as app modernization can automate tedious and repetitive processes.
• App modernization helps you leverage the benefits of the cloud environment, allowing you to provide fast and efficient customer service.
• Cloud-native applications offer top-notch security features as compared to legacy applications.
• App modernization allows you to add newer features, services, and functions. These, in turn, increase customer satisfaction leading to increased revenue.

Why, then, does app modernization backfire at times? And how can you ensure the success of the project?

Read more: Why modernize your legacy systems? What’s the best approach to legacy systems modernization?

Why Some App Modernization Projects Fail

When an app modernization project fails, it may pose serious problems for your business, including wasted resources and time. Failed app modernization may hinder agility and keep your business from capitalizing on modern technology. It was noted that an alarming 79% of app modernization projects still fail. Why? Surprisingly, the failure is not due to the new system or methodology, nor caused by the modernization vendor. The reasons are much deeper. Here are the top 5 reasons why app modernization projects fail:

1. Ignoring the business process

Modernization efforts fail when the business process (accounting, inventory, finance) is poor, and a business tries to correct it with new systems. That will never work. Businesses must first understand what is slowing them down. Determining the problem is the right foundation for successful app modernization.

2. Implementing new systems without considering drastic business changes

When entirely new systems are implemented without considering the drastic business changes, the employees are forced to adapt quickly. In addition, such practice forces the business to evolve to fit the new software. Instead, the software must adapt to fit the current business process and requirements.

3. Businesses mistakenly assume that they are ready for a complete revamp

Most businesses believe that they are ready to replace the old system with new systems, and the business will run better. Now that is a huge mistake. Completely replacing all systems can send your business and your employees into shock. It may even change how customers interact with the business. A better approach is to modernize in calculated steps.

4. Failing to adopt an agile software

The pandemic helped us see that agility is king. Adopting inflexible applications can have disastrous consequences on your business. If you want to be future-ready, replace rigid applications with agile applications.

5. Failing to consult the end user

Modernization projects that do not involve the IT department and the end user fail as they do not consider how the new solution fits business needs.

Read more: Advancing Business Software Development With Cloud Native

The Secret to A Successful App Modernization Project Journey

Every business that embarks on a modernization project journey faces many challenges. The success of your app modernization efforts comes down to two key components: your IT team and your employees. As teams go through this journey, use these secrets to avoid failure and ensure success.

Secret 1.  Build a cross-functional team

When choosing a team or developing an innovation group, build a cross-functional team that can focus on developing the culture, process, and tools needed to improve the modernization process.

Secret 2.  Toss it, sort it, and commit to it

An effective business principle is to welcome all ideas and sort them, but when a decision is reached, you must commit to it and execute that above all else. Doing so will ensure the progress of the project.

Secret 3. Map out the development workflow

Mapping out a development workflow can help you when you encounter complexities in the project. It helps you look at every tool being used and identify dependencies.  

Secret 4.  Set milestones 

Projects may change. Setting small modernization goals will help you adjust your long-term plans and reduce engineering risk. Focus on many small steps when planning for a major milestone. Doing so will ensure smooth progress from one step to another.

Secret 5.  Prioritize data into categories

If you prioritize data into high, moderate, or low categories, you can decide what safeguards to have for each category.

Secret 6.  Do not sew a new cloth on an old cloak

Take a hard look at your development workflow and identify habits that could derail your app modernization process. Don’t just patch up old problems with a new tool. Remember, these problems can derail new tools, so don’t patch, fix.

Secret 7.  Keep your team in the loop

Your team may find it challenging to develop the knowledge they need to work on the new tools. Keeping them informed about the new tools and training them to navigate new workflows can ensure the success of application modernization.

Several aspects may factor into a successful modernization. That is why modernization endeavors are so challenging. However, implementing the above secrets can help the success of app modernization efforts.

Speaking to an expert can help you understand how to proceed with your app modernization needs. Why not reach out to us at Fingent and discuss your project with our software development experts?

The world of programming has come very far, and it continues to evolve. What this gives you is – options. Out of the many ways to fabricate these programs, the two most common ways are functional programming and microservices. This blog gives you an in-depth view of both of them.

To understand the similarities and differences between these two, we must first understand how they work individually.

What Is Functional Programming?

Functional Programming (also called FP) is a programming paradigm in which everything is bound together by using pure mathematical functions. Its programming style is declarative because it focuses on “what to solve” instead of “how to solve.”

FP is mainly based on the ancient Lambda Calculus developed in 1930. It is famously known as the smallest programming language in the world, and it defines what is computable. Functional programming languages are classified into Pure Functional Languages and Impure Functional Languages. A few examples of Programming Languages that support functional programming are – Haskell, JavaScript, and Python.

Read more: Enhance Your Small Business Growth & Success with Custom Software Solution!

What Are Microservices?

Microservice architecture, or simply Microservices, is a modern perspective on software whereby application code is conveyed distinctively in small, manageable pieces. It mainly focuses on building small, self-contained, and ready-to-run applications that can bring great pliability and added resilience to a code.

Each service functions independently in its own process, making microservices a service-oriented architecture where applications are built as a collection of divergent smaller services rather than one whole monolithic app. The programming languages that support microservices development are – Java, Golang, Python, .Net, and Node JS.

Read more: Is Microservice Architecture The Next Best Move For Businesses?

How Are Functional Programming And Microservices Similar? 

Although Functional Programming and Microservices are very different, a few similarities can be noted between them.

• They have a shared goal of deployed elasticity
• Both functional programming and microservices are formulated to scale and load-balance simultaneously with any increase in demands
• They are also designed to replace faulty instances
• They both share a concept of encapsulation and clear separation
• Both functional programmes and microservices are small, which means they both carry the minimum amount of logic
• When using microservices or functional programmes, utmost discretion is advised since the major quality of experience problems could develop.
• The most significant point of similarity between the two is that neither functional programming nor microservices should store data within a component.

With the help of transport independence and pattern matching, services can be edited from your system, letting you reposition the topology with each deployment. If you look closer, this benefit emerges from the similarities between microservices and functions from functional programming.

How Is Functional Programming Different From Microservices? 

Although often associated together, microservices and functional programming are fundamentally quite different, especially regarding software design and development. A few of these differences are listed and explained below:

• Reasons for small size – Microservices are small to facilitate better generalization, which capacitates developers to contrive applications from a collection of small functional units. Whereas functional programmes are small to perform limited tasks. Functional programs cannot be composed into applications; instead, they are linked with events.
• Functional programming concepts aggressively exercise stateless behavior. It emphasizes mostly on generating the same outputs from the same inputs. While microservices usually exhibit stateful behavior because they conserve state throughout a database, which is also called back-end state control.
• Functional programming performs on asynchronous outside triggers cited as event flows. Alternatively, microservices are called by other software when they are required to be part of a workflow.
• At a specific point during processing, you’re probably calling a microservice if you want to call an individual component. Still, if you want to respond to something external, that’s generally pursuant to functional programming.
• Organized functions have sequences in place of workflows, and every step in the processing of an event is likely set on by the step before it. On the contrary, all activations of your software associated with microservices are explicit calls, so you don’t have to worry about figuring out how to keep the steps in sequence.
• Exploring how they will sequence the steps in their scheduled functions is imperative for functional programming, but concurrency is the key with microservices.
• Since microservices are called by other software, you can control how they are called, so you can control concurrency. Alternatively, you can expect event-driven functions to be concurrent.

Under What Circumstances Are Functional Programming And Microservices Best Employed? 

Functional Programming:

Typically it is used for mathematical operations, AI, and pattern matching; generically, anything that can be broken down into a set of rules that must be utilized to get a solution.

Some of FPs advantages that make it better employed are –

• It helps solve problems effectively in an easy way.
• It increases modularity.
• It allows the implementation of lambda calculus in programmes to solve complex problems.
• Some programming languages endorse nested functions which improve the tenability of the code.
• It improves the productivity of the developer.
• It helps debug any code briskly.

Microservices:

Microservices have quintessentially changed the way server-side engines are fabricated. Making the most of microservices is a unique science and requires discipline.

A few of their advantages that make them better employed are –

• Each microservice, as needed, can evolve independently, enabling constant improvement and faster app updates.
• Resources can individually be increased to the most needed microservices rather than scaling an entire app. Therefore scaling is faster and usually more cost-efficient as well.
• If a particular microservice fails, you can prevent cascading failures that would cause the app to crash by simply isolating the failure to that single service.
• Its smaller codebase allows teams to understand the code more easily, making it simpler to maintain.
• Microservices boost agility by reducing the time to market and speeding up your CI/CD pipeline.

Read more: Breaking Down The Enterprise Software Monoliths!

Make the Best of These Programming languages for Your Business

Deciding which programming language is best for you is a critical decision.

Speak to our tech experts at Fingent top custom software development company to see which one is right for you and how you can implement it for your business.

Technology is getting better and better each day. Several technologies and architectural patterns have emerged and evolved during the past few years, and it only gets better with time. Microservices architecture or microservices is one of those patterns. It emerged from the world of domain-driven design and persistence.

In this article we will cover:

• What is microservices architecture?
• The difference between microservices, monolithic architecture, and service-oriented architecture (SOA)
• The benefits and examples of implementing Microservices Architecture.

What Is Microservices Architecture?

Microservices architecture is a specific method of designing software systems that can structure a single application as a collection of loosely coupled services.

Microservices architecture is made up of several components in their own individual compartments in the software. This makes them independently upgradeable or replaceable.

Microservices architecture simplifies the process of building and maintaining certain types of applications by breaking them down into many smaller pieces that work together. Though this increases the complexity, it offers greater advantages over the monolithic structure.

Now you may wonder: Isn’t Microservices just another name for monolithic architecture and service-oriented architecture (SOA)?

Let’s clarify that for you!

Read more: Progressive Web App Development: 10 Benefits

Microservices Architecture Vs. Monolithic Architecture

In the current age of Kubernetes, Monolithic architecture faces many limitations. Please note a few:

• Monolithic architecture is a single application. It is generally released once a year with the newest updates. Whereas, Microservices architecture is cloud-based and can be updated as required.
• Monolithic architecture is slow. Modifying a small section may require complete rebuilding and deployment of the software.  Microservices on the other hand are faster to deploy and quick to isolate any defects.
• Monolithic architecture is harder to adapt to the specific or changing product lines while individual models of Microservices architecture enable scaling and development.

Microservices Architecture Vs. SOA (Service-oriented Architecture) 

Microservices architecture is distinct from SOA. Here are a few differences:

• SOA model is dependent on ESBs and so it is slower. Whereas, microservices is faster as it leverages faster-messaging mechanisms.
• SOA focuses on imperative programming style, while microservices focuses on a responsive-actor programming style.
• SOA has an outsized relational database. But Microservices architecture tends to use NoSQL or micro-SQL databases.

Read more: Ways To Accelerate Business Growth and Success in 2021

Business Benefits Of Microservice Architecture

Microservices architecture can help your business grow quicker, increase productivity, and innovate better to deploy competitive products into the market. Here are some specific benefits of the Microservices architecture:

1. Better organization for efficiency

Microservices architecture organizes business applications. It can extend those applications to support plugins for new features, devices, etc.  You can easily add more features to each of those popular applications to generate more revenue.

2. Increased scalability

Microservices architecture divides applications into smaller modules. Each of these modules can operate independently enabling businesses to scale applications up or down, as required. As these modules operate independently, a fault in the single module does not mean disruption of the entire system.

If one module fails due to outdated technology or the inability to further develop the code, developers can use another module. In other words, the applications continue to function even when one or more modules fail.

This capability allows developers the freedom to build and deploy services as needed without having to wait for the entire application to be corrected.

3. Easy to maintain

It is easier to maintain and test a single module as opposed to an entire system. Since each module has its own storage and database, organizations can build, test, and deploy all the modules with less complexity.

4. Faster development

Since all modules are loosely coupled, change in one module does not affect the performance of the other. This means you can update a single module at a time leading to faster development.

5. Enhanced performance

Microservices architecture can enhance the performance of the application. It reduces downtime while developers take their time to troubleshoot the issue and bring the system back to normalcy.

6. Dynamic yet consistent

The individual modular approach in Microservices architecture is easy to replicate. This allows for consistency in applications, which in turn makes managing these modules simple and easy.

Prominent Examples of Successful Microservices Implementation

Prominent examples of Microservices architecture are Amazon, Netflix, Uber, and Etsy. Over time these enterprises refactored their monolithic applications into Microservices-based architectures. This move has helped to quickly achieve scaling advantages, greater business agility, and unimaginable ROIs.

1. Amazon

In the early 2000s, untangling dependencies was a complicated process for Amazon developers. It faced development delays, coding challenges, and service interdependencies.

However, Amazon assigned ownership to each independent service team. This allowed the developers to identify the bottlenecks and resolve issues more efficiently. Also, it helped them create a very highly decoupled architecture.

2. Netflix

Within a year of starting its movie-streaming service, Netflix was suffering from service outages and scaling challenges. It experienced major database corruption and was on standstill for three days! That is when it decided to move towards more reliable, horizontally scalable systems in the cloud.

First, Netflix moved its movie-coding platform to cloud servers as an independent microservice. This allowed Netflix to overcome its scaling challenges and service outages.

3. Uber

Uber, the ride-sharing service faced growth hurdles. It struggled to launch new features, fix bugs, and integrate its global operations. Besides, it became increasingly difficult to make minor updates and changes to the system.

Uber then decided to move to cloud-based microservices. This allowed its developers to build individual functions like trip management or passenger management. This boosted the speed, quality, and manageability of their services. Among other things, they achieved more reliable fault tolerance.

4. Etsy

Etsy experienced poor server processing time. However, with the help of Microservices architecture, Etsy created a variety of developer-friendly tools and went live in 2016. From that point forward, Etsy benefits from a structure that supports continual innovation, faster upgrades, and more.

Read more: Enterprise Resource Planning Software: A Complete Guide!

How Fingent Can Help You Implement Microservices Architecture

Microservices architecture supersedes SOA and monolithic models. However, it has its challenges. This is where Fingent comes to your assistance.

Fingent top software development company can help you implement Microservices Architecture correctly to improve your productivity and ROI. Designing your architecture is not just a technological option. It is a necessity! It is a business decision that can directly affect your business growth. Fingent can help you take care of the technical aspect while you concentrate on your business goals. Give us a call and let’s get talking.

Planning a software development project for your business? Here’s a detailed guide on the various stages and life-cycle of Software Product Development!

• Introduction
• What Is Software Product Development?
• How To Gauge When Your Business Needs Software Product Development?
• How To Prepare For Software Product Development
• 5 Essential Stages Of Software Product Development
• Tips To Select The Right Partners For Software Product Development
• Healthier, Better Business With Software Product Development

Progressive Web Apps: New Cutting-Edge Trend in Web Development

Speed and convenience have become crucial in keeping online shoppers engaged. Progressive Web Apps development is a solution that allows the shopper to enjoy an app-like experience via a website (using web browsers). Users can install the PWA application from the browser window and access it just like a native app. In addition, progressive web apps improve the quality of your web applications, making them reliable, fast, and engaging.

Are you considering PWA for your business growth? Is it worth exploring this option? This blog will help you take a closer look at why Progressive Web Apps are turning to be the new cutting-edge trend in web development.

What is a Progressive Web App?

Frances Berriman and Alex Russel coined the buzzword “Progressive Web Apps” in 2015. To date, PWA has been a big player in this mobile-first world. Progressive Web Apps (PWA) have caused digital marketers to rethink how they design and deliver sites.

Progressive Web Apps can deliver a blazingly fast and slick app-like shopping experience to the end-user. It combines the best of two worlds: your website and the native application. It can be called a hybrid app as users can now browse your website on their mobile. Besides, PWA promises to solve two vital issues:

1. Performance and usability
2. Mobile-web conversion rates

Read more: Native Apps vs. Web Apps: Choosing the Best for Your Brand

Business Benefits of Progressive Web Apps

Several companies that focused their efforts on PWAs instead of having a separate native app have experienced increased conversions. A best case in point is the world’s largest online B2B trading platform, Alibaba.com. Alibaba.com increased its conversion rate by 76% across browsers after upgrading its website to PWA.

Here’s how your business can benefit from PWA:

1. High-performance rate

Response time is crucial for audience engagement and better conversion rates. PWA responds quickly as the browser uses caching to save the elements of the layout that are repeated in the template. This improves the speed of downloads and reduces page load time. Subsequently, better performance leads to a better user experience, which in turn increases customer retention rates.

2. Ease of use across multiple devices

Progressive Web Apps are built with a responsive layout in mind for an improved user experience. A responsive design will fit into any size of the screen with ease. In other words, PWA will adjust the experience as per the device screen size. You can further improve the user experience with a PWA manifest file that controls the full-screen view.

3. Seamless browsing experience

A traditional website is virtually useless without a stable internet connection, but not a Progressive Web App. PWA can be easily viewed offline as service workers automatically cache important application features and information from the user’s last online access. This way, the user can access it without any network. Plus, you can add a brand logo, product descriptions, and few advanced features to your offline page.

This is an additional incentive for shoppers to choose businesses with a Progressive Web App over those that use native apps. Such a seamless browsing experience rewards you with better engagement rates and customer retention.

4. Resembles native-built applications

PWAs can be designed to look and behave like native apps, or they can be designed to let users know they are browsing the Progressive Web App. Regardless of the developer’s choice, it can contain a complete set of traditional app functionalities with database access. The best part is that you can seamlessly integrate the application into an existing website or an app.

Watch Video: Fingent software development experts can help you choose the right mobile app development approach by evaluating your requirements.

5. No installation is needed

Shoppers can download your app directly onto their devices. Once downloaded, it gets its own icon on the screen, just like a traditional mobile application. This will avoid the slow and complex installation process, improve user experience, and reduce user abandonment.

Here is another way it can benefit you: users can easily access the PWA via a URL. In other words, a user can easily share this link with a friend contributing to increased leads.

6. No manual updates are required

Native apps must be updated periodically through mobile internet or a WIFI connection. Such updates can consume large amounts of data, which may be costly for some users. Fortunately, Progressive Web App updates are performed “on-use,” much like how a website is updated.

7. Low development cost

Developing a mobile app can be a costly process, especially for small businesses and startups. Thankfully, PWA development is much cheaper than traditional app development but provides a better option for companies to generate a positive ROI.

Read more: Mobile app development: 4 tips to consider 

8. Wide range of features

The most prominent feature of PWA is push notifications. Publishers and developers can use this feature to implement creative advertising solutions. As the push notifications appear on a shopper’s device screen, it is read more often than emails or updates on social media. This can lead to valuable brand awareness and promote products or services.

9. Improved app and data security

Security has been a concern for both users and developers. According to new standards of web design, all customer information must be moved to HTTPS. So it is highly convenient to launch Progressive Web App within a safe environment. Moreover, it builds customer confidence in the security of their personal information as they enter sensitive data into your PWA.

10. Low data and low storage

Data is costly in some developing nations. That is why it is a bonus that Progressive Web App consumes only a fraction of data usage compared to native apps. Moreover, it does not take up significant storage space on devices, so users are more inclined to use a lighter app on their smartphones. Also, it contributes to better performance.

Read more: Building a Business Mobile App in 2021? Here’s What You Need to Know 

Progress with Progressive Web Apps

Progressive Web Apps are the future of web-hosted apps as they can overcome the inherent limitations of web performance and insufficient or unavailable internet connections. Since PWAs can run on any modern platform, soon they will overtake truly native apps. Yes, PWAs have the potential to change the way the web works. However, Progressive Web Apps will not replace websites and mobile apps altogether. It is still in its infancy. To know which option is best for your business, have a chat with the technology experts at Fingent.