What are Microservices and How Can a Business Benefit from Them?

LEGO is a brand that long understood the need for breaking large systems into smaller chunks to make them easier to manage, build, and maintain. It's no wonder the company is worth over 9 billion dollars! Essentially, Lego gave millions of families around the world a glimpse at the power of Microservices, and no one has thanked them ever since.

For years, companies have utilized business structures that grouped every service and product offered by the company under one umbrella in a monolithic fashion. And at the time, perhaps it seemed like a good idea since this meant that the same protocols could be utilized for all the various sections of such companies. Plus, the technology at the time did not permit using several subsystems that could allow one company to operate as several small companies but deliver services like one big system. However, with a lot of businesses migrating to cloud-based services, it's much easier to adopt microservices into large businesses.

Let's dive into microservice development and how it can integrate into your business model.

What are Microservices?

Microservices is a style of software system that is quickly becoming commonplace in the overly sceptical world of software architecture. Many organisations have made the approach their default for building enterprise applications. "A Microservices architecture is a way of designing software applications as suites of independently deployable services" (- Martin Fowler, Chief Scientist, ThoughtWorks).  

When we hear about microservices it's generally in tandem with the word monolith or monolithic architecture. It is worth exploring the difference;

• Monoliths represent single units dominated by one single process. More than not, business applications are built on them. Any updates or changes to this single unit will result in a new version of the application. With applications now being mainstream and deployed at scale and in volume inefficiencies with monoliths arise as even the smallest change to a part of the application will require the entire monolith to be rebuilt and re-deployed.
• Microservices architectures cater to the above frustration and following this framework, applications are built as units. They live independently and allow for great flexibility when it comes to change, technology approach, and scale.

When is it a good time to shift to a Microservices architecture?

Whilst Microservices aren't the right solution for all businesses, every organization should be aware of its principles and know the indicators for adoption. Immensely successful organizations have sought out technology consultants to help adopt the microservices architectural style of application development. These companies include Amazon, Netflix, The Guardian, comparethemarket.com, and lots more. The adoption of the microservices architecture by these companies is a testament to its flexibility and effectiveness. 

Here are three (3) major indicators to consider adopting a microservices architecture:

1. When your business system consists of several large-scale moving parts: If your business is big enough to require huge scalability in the form of various processes and requirements, then it is time to develop microservices for your application. This means that your company can easily add new services to the current fold without needing to change the entire system. Think of it as building legos, you can always add something new!

2. When your business runs on outdated systems: It's usually easier to build new systems based on newer technologies to meet the need for new services in the market than it is to update an existing one. So many things can go wrong. A Microservices architecture is an efficient way of deploying new services and features without completely disrupting the old system.

3. When your business architecture relies on a homogenous system: If your business currently relies on homogenous systems built using the same technology to fulfill every aspect of your deployment, then it might be time to switch to microservices.

Since all technologies have their pros and cons, it means using a single technology for your entire business stack would limit the scope of your business. Microservices allow you to explore various processes and choose the best technology for specific service deployments.

Five (5) Ways Your Business Can Benefit From Microservices

1. Easier to Build and Maintain: The modular nature of microservices makes it easier to develop and maintain them since they can be split into smaller modules for development and testing purposes. As a business, this means you can decide to invest in a few modules at first and deploy a few small solutions to the market to test the product's reliability and acceptance by your customers.

2.  Improve The Speed and Productivity of Your Team: It is easier to have multiple teams working on several small application modules that serve different specific purposes but are part of a network of cohesive systems than it is to build one system with various functionalities. Microservices affords your business this opportunity.

3. Easy Scalability: If it can be broken into chunks, then it is easier to scale. I am sure most Lego toys would agree. Microservices allow your business to scale both vertically and horizontally to better serve your customers.

4. Autonomous, Independent Systems: Every system in a microservices architecture is autonomous and independent, meaning that every one of them can scale without the other while still maintaining its relevance in your business ecosystem.

5. Faster time to Deployment: Another advantage that microservices architecture provides is the ability to test out new solutions in a short time. This is because microservices allow for a decentralized, cohesive ecosystem of applications that work as one. This allows various innovative solutions to be developed and tested at once without downtime and full-system deployment.

Businesses need to adapt and scale to meet the demands of an emerging market. Microservices architecture is a great way to ensure your company can build new products and services and integrate those with existing portfolios without significantly disrupting its entire pipeline.

The adoption of microservices could be the next step in the evolution of your business for sustainability and competitiveness.