The benefits of cloud native technology may be leveraged differently based on the organisation, but these features are what sets them apart from other competing organizations. Technological implementation translates to success when these benefits support the goals of the organization. Some benefits made possible by the usage of cloud native applications include,
1. Cost efficient
Monolithic architecture had the issue of confining companies to fixed resources that they had to pay for, regardless of their involvement in the software development process. This led to a lengthier and costlier process as maintenance and backup were additional services.
With cloud native applications, all the solutions are designed to function on the cloud. This compatibility with the cloud native infrastructure reduces costs on backup, maintenance, development and usage of resources. With an open source system and tools such as serverless systems that adopt a pay per use model, costs are driven down considerably.
2. Enhanced customer experiences
The features of traditional applications such as software updates over longer periods of time, having dedicated teams for each task, and so on are no longer the required features for enhanced customer experiences of this generation. So, what does this mean for organisations who previously adopted monolithic architecture?
Moving to the cloud via application migration is an efficient way of not having to abandon decades of work and investment and to allocate resources onto a newer, scalable and flexible platform. Moving to cloud native applications helps take a mobile first approach to application development, where the majority of target audience lay today. With tools that focus on a feedback and deployment cycle, cloud native solutions modify the entire development cycle and place emphasis on customer experience far greater than traditional applications.
3. Adaptability and scalability
Cloud native applications modify and adapt as per the requirements of the business and allow frequent software updates and modification based on customer feedback. From the industry's end, cloud native apps allow for horizontal scalability as the organisation grows, eliminating the need for hardware solutions and using software dependent infrastructure.
4. Reduced vendor lock in
As cloud native applications involve decentralised services, choosing a cloud vendor who assures performance, security and maintenance is essential. However, there are chances of provision of poor quality services and pricing plans beyond the budget with certain vendors. With a traditional form of application development, one would have to stick to the same cloud native solution vendor due to the time and effort invested.
However, cloud native avoids this vendor lock in by allowing to use services from multiple cloud providers. As they are all designated to work on the cloud native platform, moving to a better cloud pricing and benefits plan is possible with cloud native applications.
5. Automation and flexibility
Adopting agile methodology practices and DevOps leads to automation throughout the software development cycle. With collaboration and CI/CD processes, the deployment, testing and gathering of feedback is a continuous loop of enhancing productivity and customer satisfaction. With flexibility, cloud native application removes the restrictions that traditional architecture introduced, by allowing organisations to work on multiple cloud platforms, be it public, private or hybrid without introducing any changes or additional requirements.
6. Reusability and serverless platforms
Cloud native applications use serverless platforms to upload portions of the code, which do their specific functions when isolated and used. This can help the organization reuse parts of a project's code, while creating a different or a new project. Each part of cloud native services function containing its own logic rather than being orchestrated by a central application saves the development team on costs and time.
7. Troubleshooting, made easier
Cloud native applications have an inherent fault tolerant mechanism due to the presence of microservices. In the case of any troubleshooting post deployment, tracing the origin of the issue is much easier in cloud native infrastructure due to the entire application being divided into microservices, where each acts as a service function. Once tracking is done, the service is isolated and the problem is fixed at the origin, with no server downtime.
8. Designed for a 5G era
With the advent of 5G and better accessibility across the world, dependency on faster technologies is leveraged by most organizations for this era. Cloud native applications are internet based and rely on faster internet for swift responses. Organizations can hop onboard the decades of development that better technologies are yet to bring, by using cloud native applications.
9. Real time analytics and compliance with guidelines
Dealing with modern data influx is something cloud native applications are capable and designed for. The current generation has an influx of data that is more temporary rather than permanent. In traditional infrastructure, organizations had the option of storing the data, with no access to utilise the data at the given moment.
However, cloud native application development makes it possible to analyse and utilise the data in real time to detect performance issues, troubleshooting, customer behavior and so on. The data can be assigned a particular lifespan and can be discarded or redirected to a storage medium. An advantage of cloud native infrastructure vendors is also that most ensure compliance with HIPAA and GDPR and other country related regulations.
10. Enhanced security
Given the robust infrastructure of cloud native and the communications within the decentralised structure, security is an undoubtedly important issue. Data is constantly shared among different services and between the organisation and the user. This leads to several gateways that could work as potential security breach points in a cloud native infrastructure.
Ensuring that each unit is exposed only to relevant data and fields and auditing data access is necessary. Ensuring multiple layers of security such as multi factor authentication, restricted access and sharing are measures that the organisation can take beyond the security measures provided by the cloud native infrastructure vendor.