Composable architecture: Enhancing software development agility

Highlights

You’ll learn how composable architecture enhances software development.

• Agility: Adapt quickly to changes, trends and market shifts, enhancing flexibility
• Efficiency: Streamline software development workflows, reducing time and costs
• Scalability: Easily adjust to project demands
• Innovation: Foster creative solutions with modular components

Transform your software development process with composable architecture and build faster and more efficient apps to stay ahead.

With technology adoption moving quickly, developers must increase their speed and efficiency to keep up. A composable architecture offers the tools to help them do this. Its modular design allows you to build apps from reusable system parts.

The composable approach is built from computing, storage and fabric resources, intelligent software, and a unified API. It breaks down traditional silos, enabling you to execute cloud-style agile operations.

What is composable architecture?

A composable architecture is a design approach that focuses on creating apps from small, self-contained modules that can be reused or interchanged. Here are its main features:

• Modular design: Every small part contributes to the larger system's function, making it easier to update or scale web apps.
• Microservices: You can combine several small services to build your apps. These services are usually independent and perform specific business functions.
• Cloud-native technologies: Building apps in the cloud enables you to scale on demand.

Composable architectures are loosely coupled and easy to scale. They provide computing resources on demand, including hardware and software, via a unified API. A composable architecture also runs without being limited to any single technology. You can run on containers, virtual machines, or cloud-native applications, depending on your needs. 

Benefits of composable architecture

With composability, software developers can simplify their work, improve speed, and deliver more efficient apps. Here are other benefits of composable architecture in software development.

• Faster deployment: Reusable modules allow you to quickly combine resources to create new apps, improving the speed of product and update releases.
• Improved code quality: By reusing modules, you avoid duplicating code. Developers can focus on writing clean, well-organized code for each module. Smaller system units also ease unit testing, making identifying and fixing bugs easier. 
• Improved maintenance: Smaller modules are easier to manage. They also improve system resilience and fault tolerance. You can easily manage changes over time and reduce technical debt.
• Future-proofing: Composable systems are adaptable and tech-agnostic. They allow you to integrate new technology, work with new tools, and program languages, and make incremental upgrades without disrupting the system.

How composable architecture improves software development

A composable architecture injects speed into your work. With separate teams working on different systems, development work becomes faster. There is also the advantage of using existing codes—developers do not need to write new code for every project.

The composable approach allows you to save time and cost. It also eases the automated testing, as you can test modules separately. Doing so reduces the time it takes to debug apps. It also improves code quality.

Impact of composable architecture on the software development process

Composable architecture streamlines the development process as teams can focus on smaller, manageable parts of the system. Doing so allows them to be more productive. It also means that they can collaborate more. Composable also;

• Simplifies integration of new technologies.
• Reduces time spent on maintenance,
• Supports rapid prototyping and innovation.
• Reduces risk of system-wide failures.

Developers can tailor solutions that meet customer needs by focusing on specific business applications. This can improve customer satisfaction and the business’s bottom line.

Impact on business agility and ROI

As stated, composable offers a flexible and scalable solution that enables faster product releases and updates. How soon your product reaches the market can be the difference maker in a competitive market. Here are other ways in which composable supports business agility and ROI.

• Reduced time-to-market: Working in parallel allows teams to be efficient, as no one gets in the way of the other. By getting new products to market faster, you can move ahead of your peers in industries where being first impacts marketing share and customer acquisition.

• Simplified updates: Since modules are independent, you reduce the risk of system-wide failures. Going composable also reduces downtime. This ensures you keep maintenance costs at a minimum and further enhances your return on investment.

Case studies

GetYourGuide

GetYourGuide employs multiple content creators to deliver travel content to its audience. However, the website's limited bandwidth created a bottleneck, which prevented it from adapting to new travel trends.

By switching to Contentstack’s composable DXP, they could personalize content for over 500,000 unique website visitors. They also improved deployment speed by 90% and reduced content approval time by 75%.

Hear from Pedro Torres, the product manager. "With Contentstack, we can deliver on -- and exceed -- what customers are expecting, regardless of device, and consistently deliver those experiences as soon as new travel opportunities become available."

Read more about how GetYourGuide leveraged Contentstack’s composable architecture.

Technical Safety BC

Technical Safety BC was dealing with massive traffic, with over 3000 pages on its old website. However, most of the pages were orphaned, and CMS was siloed to one person. The brand alignment suffered as a result.

After transitioning to a composable architecture, they increased website speed 150 times, grew traffic by 73%, and reduced page count by 60%. Built on the MACH principles of microservices, API-first, cloud-native, and headless, Contentstack also enabled them to use a headless CMS for their content needs.

“The new structure and consistency across the site has enabled our teams to easily find what they need when they are helping clients locate information on our site,” Ian Colvin, Leader of Communications and Digital Experience, said.

Read the case study here.

Future-proofing your software development process

One major benefit of composable architecture is that it is future-proof. But what does that mean? In essence, the adoption of new technologies does not render them obsolete. 

Through APIs, you can integrate new tech with little to no disruption to an existing system. This ensures that software remains relevant and competitive in dynamic markets. A composable architecture also enables you to;

• Prioritize API-first development.
• Use standard interfaces and protocols.
• Integrate automated testing for each module.
• Implement microservices.

These strategies ensure you build systems and products that can adapt to future changes, trends and market shifts.

Challenges of implementing a composable architecture

While the benefits are clear, transitioning to composable architecture does come with challenges:

• Complexity of large-scale systems: Breaking down a monolithic system into composable units can be complex. You go from one tightly coupled system to one with multiple smaller units that make up a large system.
• Interoperability: Different systems have different code, data, and integration requirements. Ensuring they all work together can be difficult. Hence, careful planning is required to manage any compatibility issues. 
• Maintaining the system over time: Going composable is not a one-off event and should not be treated as such. The system will require regular monitoring and updates to ensure it remains efficient and secure.
• Change management: To go composable, you may need to change aspects of your processes, structure, and culture. For instance, you may focus on smaller teams. You may also need to hire someone with specialized expertise to manage microservices and API design.

To overcome these challenges, ensure you develop clear integration and maintenance strategies. Use robust and well-documented APIs. Where relevant, you can also deploy middleware. 

Aside from that, ensure you partner with a composable solutions provider who can ease your transition and provide necessary customer support. For instance, Contentstack offers a no-fail promise, with regular systems checks and reviews. There is also 24/7 live in-app support and a dedicated account team to help you resolve issues faster.

FAQ section

Why is composable architecture important?

It is crucial because it enables businesses to be more flexible and scalable. That way, they develop agility, enabling them to adapt quickly to changes.

What is composability in software architecture?

Composability refers to the design principle where software is built from independent, reusable, and interchangeable modules.

Is composable architecture good?

Yes. It offers an improved, efficient, flexible, and scalable way to build applications. That makes it a preferred choice for modern software development.

Learn more

Composable architecture offers a forward-thinking approach that aligns with the software industry's dynamic needs. It supports software development efficiency by breaking up applications into smaller, independent services.

Contentstack offers a composable DXP that allows you to streamline your software development. It is easy to set up. It also supports MACH—microservices, APIs, cloud, and headless CMS. Talk to us today to get started.