More than anything else, enterprises must ensure they keep up with three things: the needs of their employees, the demands of their customers, and changes in their industry.
Enterprise microservices can help with each of these. In this blog, we take an in-depth look at the advantages that come with using them, as well as the reasons why these services are worth your time. After that, we close with an FAQ section to address common concerns and points of confusion.
But first, let’s begin by explaining what microservices for enterprises are.
Microservices for enterprises explained
There’s a lot to be said about microservices for enterprises. In brief, what’s important for you to know is that there are many advantages.
Enterprise microservices architecture is a relatively new tool to help overhaul monolithic systems, ensuring solutions are fully up to date and ready to cope with the demands of modern business.
A microservices approach allows you to choose what you need from each individual solution. This means they come with an exceptional degree of efficiency and will not put undue strain on your systems. That’s one of the key reasons why they’ve become so popular in recent years.
The benefits of using microservices for legacy systems modernization
So, why is it a good idea to use enterprise microservices to modernize traditional applications, workflows, and/or architecture? Below, we discuss some of the advantages that come with modernizing legacy systems.
They’re scalable
One factor that mustn’t be overlooked is the expansion opportunities inherent in microservices’ modular structure. They’re designed to be highly scalable and don’t come with negative side effects when you scale in the way their monolithic counterparts do.
This is because of the nature of their frameworks: monolithic solutions have to load everything in one go, whereas microservices can focus on the individual modules needed at a given time. In other words, the unique microservices design makes them useful for businesses looking to grow and expand in the future.
They have a customizable tech infrastructure
Looking to add new features, change up your infrastructure, or otherwise adjust your tech to your team’s needs? Microservices applications let you do this with ease.
In upgrading legacy service-oriented architecture, microservices empower your company to customize solutions to suit your requirements. That’s because extra microservices can easily be added to your stack, making it simple to accommodate changing needs.
They break down departmental silos
It can be all too easy to separate departments into individual “islands” with minimal interaction between teams. This leads to the creation of departmental silos, which are less than ideal. Among other things, they’re a major hurdle in improving customer experience.
Aside from making it harder to drive company-wide incentives and plans, these silos inhibit your ability to reach your full potential. That’s why it’s a good thing microservices counteract them.
It’s sound business logic to support your departments in working and interacting collaboratively with each other. Microservices let you do that without compromising individual departments’ abilities to work alone.
They increase team productivity
Your team can’t do what it needs to without the right tools. That’s what microservices bring to the table. They make it a simple matter to supply any and all tools needed to the teams and individuals that require them. This boosts productivity since teams get the technical support they rely on without having to wait.
There’s also the automation factor. Microservices are well-suited to working with automation-based API gateways. This gives teams a chance to focus on workflows that require a human touch while leaving more repetitive tasks to specialized programs.
Leverage microservices for an enhanced enterprise solution stack
There are many advantages that come with choosing microservices architecture: simple and transparent management, easy workflow orchestration, improved service communication, quick application development, and better handling of crashes or errors, among others.
Microservices help you get what you need from your enterprise tech stack. They ensure departments can communicate seamlessly without creating detrimental dependencies. They also make automation easier, which means APIs can be connected more effectively, and company productivity gets a boost. You get to enjoy the time and cost savings of increased automation too.
These are just some of the reasons why microservices architecture, which can be built on open-source services like Kubernetes and Docker, is worth considering. It’s also why it's just what you need to upgrade your enterprise solution stack.
Enterprise microservices FAQs
To wrap things up, let’s now go through some frequently asked questions.
What companies use microservices?
Companies include giants like Amazon (AWS can be used to build microservices), Netflix, and Spotify. Comcast Cable, Karma, Groupon, Zalando, and many others are also reliant on them.
Netflix, in particular, is one of the leading pioneers of microservice technology, making it a great case study for the ways in which microservices can become part of a company’s digital transformation.
These are just a few of the brands that incorporate microservices into their enterprise architecture. A large number of small businesses and startups use them too.
What are the business benefits of microservices?
Microservices help modernize your software or application. This is beneficial for many reasons. For one, there’s future-proofing. By ensuring software can stay abreast of modern trends and demands, you’re readying for any developments that come your way, thus promoting business continuity.
Also, enterprise applications are often complex. Microservices give you a simpler solution, letting you use the best enterprise software to get things done with minimal difficulty or inconvenience.
The last benefit we’ll mention is that microservices, by their nature, make it easier to repair your architecture. A microservice enterprise architect that can design and build them helps guard against extended downtime for the enterprise apps you rely on.
Why use microservice architecture?
The simple answer is that the benefits are alluring. They help your business run more smoothly, reduce the chances of extended downtime, and are typically cost-effective.
The scalability factor we discussed earlier also bears repeating. No matter the size of your business, it’s good to have tools that can support you as you grow and scale. Microservices help to guarantee this.
Why are microservices good?
In a word, they’re efficient. They allow you to save money and time by being competitively priced, scaling up and down according to your needs, and helping reduce the time to market. To put that another way, they make your business more flexible without draining your resources.
Microservices are also safe. They protect your data and lower your risk of breaches or other security incidents.
Individual microservices also make it easy to adjust to the needs of different teams. For example, if one prefers to code using Java while another likes pandas, neither one has to compromise.
Why are microservices bad?
While it’s misleading to call such a useful type of tech “bad”, there are scenarios where microservices aren’t the best option. That’s because the software development side of things is quite complex. Your software engineers need to know what they’re doing. If they don’t, the final result can easily be bungled.
You may also have to reckon with coding in multiple programming languages. While this is within many DevOps teams’ capabilities, it’s a daunting prospect for some.
Why microservices vs. monolithic?
While monolithic applications can quickly become large and difficult to manage, microservices don’t run into this problem by design. This makes them a more attractive option. Monolithic architecture also becomes slower the more it’s expanded on, so adding features means increasing loading times.
On the other hand, microservices are easy to manage while still being customizable. They’re self-contained, so adding new ones doesn’t slow anything down. Also, they’re user-friendly and make the onboarding process smoother and easier.
What are the 3 Cs of microservices?
The three Cs are connection, cohesion, and changeability. That means they’re connected to your company’s goals and aims at all times, ensuring everything serves a direct purpose. They’re also cohesive, working together to provide the services you need. Lastly, they’re changeable i.e. adaptable regardless of any changes your business (or industry) goes through.
Learn more about modern microservices in our eBook,
“Accelerating the Digital Journey from Legacy Systems to Modern Microservices”.
We’d love to give you a demo.
Please leave us your details and we'll be in touch shortly