Strangling the Monolith: Microservices and the future of Software Architecture
In 2020, we wrote blog posts diving into flexible IT infrastructure and the shift to business-led IT. Since then, Volition has spent significant time in the software architecture space, gaining an even better appreciation for agility in the development process and shifts towards microservices in application development.Â
A recent study from Statista found that 85% of organizations with 5,000+ employees currently use microservices as part of their architecture. As microservices become increasingly popular among large organizations, so do the opportunities for emerging companies to improve upon this technology and help organizations make the transition from monolithic to microservices-driven architecture as seamless as possible.
The shift away from monolithic to microservices architecture
Monolithic architecture is the traditional software design that is self-contained, where a platform is built as a singular application, and changes in one part of the program impacts the entire application.
At the beginning of the software development process, monolithic development can make sense for a lot of emerging companies, since it is cheaper, simpler to develop, and can often be easier to deploy. However, as businesses scale, so do their applications, and companies often find themselves outgrowing the monolithic approach. With scale, the application often becomes harder to maintain, test, and deploy, since any change in the application code impacts the entire process.Â
Microservices architecture, unlike the monolithic alternative, is designed to scale alongside the business, its application needs, and the market demand. With a microservices approach, the application is built in a modular way, with each module acting as a sub-application, with its own database, designed for a specific business need.Â
Each microservice is small and more efficient to build, since different teams can be responsible for different services, instead of every developer working on the same application at once. This also makes it more straightforward to test since bugs or leaks can be isolated within a specific microservice. Finally, it also makes it easier to deploy applications at scale, since each microservice can be deployed independently.
Looking forward: Opportunities in Microservices
Developing with microservices is a core component of the CI/CD process since it allows for continuous delivery and deployment of scalable applications.
As more and more businesses adopt this technology, we remain excited about solutions that can help growing companies shift from monolithic to microservices as their apps begin to feel the pain points of monolithic architecture.Â
