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Advancing Business Software Development With Cloud Native
01/09/2022
Advancing Business Software Development With Cloud Native
Adopting cloud-native frameworks is integral to gaining the flexibility and resilience necessary to adapt quickly to the ongoing changes in the business world. Organizations in nearly every sector today are transitioning to a virtualized infrastructure as part of their digital transformation campaigns. Specifically for software-as-a-service (SaaS) programs, the transition from on-premises programs to cloud computing has been definitive.
Unfortunately, there are many cases in which cloud computing alone is insufficient. If you want to take advantage of the enhanced flexibility, reliability, adaptability, and overall efficiency that cloud-native solutions have to offer, businesses must undergo capacity-building exercises in order to best use these facilities.
It’s now quite expected that new software will be built using cloud-enabled and cloud-native architectures. And, without a doubt, this will change the way businesses operate in the long term. So what does it imply for software to be cloud native? There are several definitions of cloud-native solutions today. However, while considering the construction of cloud-native software, keeping a handful of universal and pivotal concepts in mind is helpful.
Utilizing Cloud Native Solutions
Cloud native applications are software systems built with the cloud’s dynamic, horizontally scalable, and highly scalable guiding principles. The cloud-native application architecture responds to the impediments and challenges software developers face when working with legacy approaches to software development.
In this regard, cloud-native applications make use of cloud computing’s possibilities of dynamic resource allocation and insight processes. It also implies that the software’s footprint and resource consumption will change over time to reflect the conditions of the market and the sector the business is operating in. The following are a few important ways in which cloud-native solutions influence today’s business diaspora:
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Leverage microservice or service-based architectures.
The use of microservices makes it possible to increase the size and complexity of a program in a controlled and straightforward manner. It also makes the code discreetly available and eases the maintenance and debugging processes. Cloud native apps can also leverage the use of such microservices architectures and shape software products that are outward-facing and consumer-centric.
2. Make use of Kubernetes for service orchestration.
As the gold standard for containerized applications and management, Kubernetes handles several crucial tasks such as app deployment, inter and intra-app communication, app failure monitoring, app upgradability, and scalability. Kubernetes is heavily reliant on cloud-native systems to facilitate the development of scalable, elastic programs and services.
3. Use databases managed in the cloud to collect and store your data.
Standard criteria for cloud-native apps include cloud-optimized web services that dynamically grow to match the application’s demands and make massive volumes of data readily available. Databases become easy to access, highly secure, and exponentially scalable when deployed on any cloud-native infrastructure.
4. Take advantage of today’s development and operations processes.
Using processes such as DevOps, CI/CD, and Git for managing code libraries and other related practices also gain from cloud-native deployment systems. Moreover, most cloud-native apps are built with portability and flexibility, making it easy to switch to a different cloud service if necessary. Applications constructed specifically for the cloud may also function in a hybrid cloud or multiple cloud configurations.
Benefits of Adopting a Cloud Native Design
Processes for developing and operating cloud-native apps result in cutting-edge, industry-leading software because they prioritize the most critical components of today’s app user experience. And, there are a plethora of benefits for software developers and businesses alike. A few of these major benefits have been discussed below.
1. Process Mechanization and Automation
Manual or repetitive processes in the field of IT usually result in high dead times, reduced productivity and efficiency, and are prone to human errors. The effective management of software development and deployment processes, test suite execution, hardware provisioning, modification, upgradation, and retirement are all part of mechanization and automation.
Businesses of all sizes and in all domains can greatly benefit from automating these processes. It helps improve operational productivity, reduces cost, and often results in faultless and seamless development cycles. This flexible software development, deployment, and operational environment is a natural byproduct of building apps with cloud-native solutions.
2. Improved Flexibility and Dexterity
The capacity to detect and adapt rapidly to new circumstances is what makes technology teams agile. Such proficiency is essential in today’s continually evolving corporate world. Companies that develop and maintain cloud-native apps can better adapt to the shifting market and technological conditions. Cloud native architectures are highly flexible and scalable across multiple platforms which contributes significantly to the way in which businesses operate today.
3. Horizontal Scalability
The software’s resource needs will increase in tandem with the scale of the organization, market conditions, and industry trends. When the product use or traffic increases or if consumption suddenly increases conventional application architectures fail to keep up with the needs of storage and access. This more often leads to system failures, software downtimes, and slow access.
Leveraging cloud-native solutions to build new-age apps may help expand the services provided by the app in a more controlled manner. Besides this usually results in less downtime for the software and increased efficiency of deployment for the business. Software built specifically for the cloud, or cloud-native systems may take advantage of the growing interconnectedness to fulfill the remote needs of the organization making them horizontally scalable right from the beginning of the product development cycle.
4. High Accessibility
The term accessibility refers to the amount of time that the software is used by the consumers in contrast to being down for reasons such as high traffic, technical interruptions, repair, or a full overhaul. When accessibility is low, it can negatively impact consumer satisfaction and may also result in a lower ROI. It may also decrease the trust and credibility enjoyed by the business in the long term. Keeping accessibility at a substantial stage is crucial to keeping customers happy, who will then spend more money and help your business expand as well as generate a higher ROI.
5. Facilitates Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment
It is crucial to rectify application errors and failures and restore service swiftly. Faster application recovery through automation means less downtime for the team, clients, and the entire organization at large should an issue arise. Automating restoration processes makes maintaining a high standard of service for the business and its customers more accessible.
The timing of breakdowns is unpredictable, but you can safeguard the software solutions against them. By incorporating fault-tolerant, robust architectures and failsafe techniques into the app infrastructure, businesses can increase their resilience and, by extension, the availability of the software for the customers. New applications benefit significantly from the mechanical stability fostered by cloud-native architectures.
The term ‘continuous integration/continuous deployment (CI/CD) refers to a method of delivering software in which the build, test, and deployment phases are all performed automatically, resulting in an evolutionary, rapid, and error-free transition from development to production environments. CI/CD is the practice of continuously integrating and delivering software solutions to perform an array of business functions.
Changes to apps may be released in place using a CI/CD deployment approach, avoiding the need for any downtime. This improves responsiveness to customers, software quality, and businesses’ adaptability. While some businesses may face delays of weeks or months between releasing new software versions, a quality CI/CD system allows for the deployment of cloud-native apps weekly, daily, or even on an hourly basis. Online retailers such as Flipkart, Amazon, and Blink It, are known for rolling out hundreds or thousands of daily updates to their flagship shopping apps. This is only feasible with cloud-native integrations and a well-established automated CI/CD procedure.
In Conclusion
Moving to a cloud-native infrastructure has a wide range of advantages as discussed above. These leverage the use of the cloud’s built-in automation, flexibility, scalability, and fault tolerance solutions. It can also aid in sustaining continuous delivery and improve the longevity of the software. These advantages apply to every kind of company and in all domains.
Businesses can also boost their software quality and operational effectiveness by adopting such cloud-native practices. Such technologies coupled with data analytics, AI/ML, process automation techniques, and agile methodologies, among others, increase the productivity and scalability of the business and ensure the firm remains competitive in today’s fast-paced industry. Moreover, cloud-native systems are often cheaper, more resilient to breakdowns and maintenance, and easy to deploy as well. To further explore the possibilities of deploying cloud-native solutions for a business, connect with a professional from Focaloid Technologies today!
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