As technology has evolved, more companies have been able to develop a wide range of interesting and highly useful applications for various industries. However, the primary issue with offering some form of SaaS solution as a fundamental part of your business is the need to maintain backend services that host these applications and keep them running as they should. As cloud services have improved, it is now possible to deploy a solution onto a commercially available cloud server where your customers can access it and you can keep it updated without needing to invest in costly in-house servers. This can lower costs considerably, as well as ensure that updates and patches are pushed out at a significantly faster rate. It also enables SaaS businesses to scale more effectively than they otherwise could. But as with everything in life, nothing is ever so straightforward. Before getting started with serverless architecture, it pays to become familiar with what it is and how it works, so that you can avoid many of the common pitfalls that come with adopting any new technology.
Understanding The Basics Of Serverless Architecture
Even if you already have a basic understanding of this topic, it’s worth taking another look at how it works. To put it simply, serverless systems are pretty much exactly what they sound like, except that instead of eschewing a server altogether, you’re essentially substituting the need to invest in your own server. This enables you to put your full focus on the applications themselves without the need to manage the underlying infrastructure. Instead, that is handled by whatever cloud provider you have opted to use. This Parallel Staff guide to serverless architecture notes that the cloud provider handles all relevant systems, such as databases, storage, and APIs, leaving you free to manage all front-facing activities, including finding and interacting with your customers. All in all, it can be a more effective way for smaller (and increasingly larger) software development agencies to create and maintain their core product, rather than spending time and resources on dealing with the backend.
Key Benefits Of Going Serverless
We will examine some of the downsides of taking this route later, but first, let’s explore what makes serverless architecture so appealing:
- Cost-efficiency: Cost is always one of the limiting factors in the business world, and the more you can save, the more you will keep. When it comes to serverless systems, you are really only paying for what you use, helping you to forecast costs more effectively and reduce the amount you spend overall. Most cloud services will only charge as and when you use their servers, which is generally limited to function execution.
- Automatic scaling: There’s nothing quite as frustrating as discovering that you have an influx of new customers on your platform, only to find that your bottleneck is the server. If you choose a quality cloud platform to host your applications, you can usually scale whenever spikes in traffic or usage occur, on the fly.
- Reduced operation overhead: Not investing in maintaining your own servers will drastically reduce your operational overheads, giving you more money to reinvest in the product and develop new ones that match your customer base.
- Faster development: Because you have access to an unlimited (for all intents and purposes) amount of processing power and storage as long as you’re willing to pay, you can essentially add new features and products as fast as you can create them, including the time for testing and deployment.
Common Challenges With Serverless Systems
After reading the pros, it’s easy to think that everything is peaches and cream, but the reality is a little more complex than that. There are a few challenges that you ought to know before you decide to take the plunge and go all in. While not insurmountable, these challenges can include everything from cold start issues, where a function is invoked after being idle, to latency as the cloud provider initializes resources, impacting performance for sporadic workloads. Additionally, vendor lock-in can make you reliant on a single provider. When it comes to the former, this might not be such an issue if your product is constantly in use, but the latter can sometimes be more of an issue, as it can be complicated to migrate to another cloud server provider once you’re already established. However, once you’re aware of the problems, it becomes far easier to work around them and devise techniques to mitigate and reduce them.
Serverless architecture is a real god-send for nascent and medium-sized software companies, but not everything is entirely without issue, as you have read. By understanding what you’re getting into and how it can benefit your business, you will be in a better position to choose a platform that suits your needs.
