What is composability and why it matters in tech today

Highlights

You’ll learn about:

• Future-proofing your tech stack: Composability ensures your systems are flexible, agile and cost-efficient
• Enhancing collaboration: Create a knowledge-sharing culture with modular, reusable components

• Leveraging cloud-native technologies: Content models and microservices make your business scalable and adaptable

• Ongoing improvement: Track your systems for ongoing optimization

Discover how composability can change your software development process.

Keep reading to learn more!

Have you tried putting together a do-it-yourself kit from Amazon? Or have you tried assembling furniture based on the instructions? Do you create a mess of parts that do not seem connected?

You would have witnessed this mess at one point or the other. But what would happen if the same DIY kit was made using composability in mind?

All the pieces fit together, helping you assemble your kit without facing any issues. 

For this reason, composability is necessary to future-proof your tech stack. When adopting a composable architecture:

• You can interchange software components without overhauling the entire system
• You’re no longer locked with a single vendor
• You develop agile and flexible systems
• Your systems are scalable

But first thing first, what is composability?

Let’s explore.

What is composability in software development?

Composability is a design approach that improves application development. It reuses and assembles existing components depending on your business and user's unique needs, making your system more adaptable, agile and reliable. 

The concept of composable infrastructure is like Lego blocks. Each piece or component serves a definite purpose. You can assemble and reassemble these various building blocks as and when required. This helps you break larger software components into smaller modular and reusable components.

You can assemble these components to create new systems without building from scratch. This accelerates your software development process and reuses your existing assets.

To sum up: Composability makes your systems scalable, flexible and reliable while ensuring tailored user experiences across multiple platforms. 

Principles of composability

Modular approach

A modular approach creates components that perform only one action. Each component provides separate functionality, allowing for independent development, testing and deployment. For example, a login module manages user verification, segregating the development, testing and deployment.

Interoperable

To achieve true composability, individual components need to communicate and collaborate. You can use standard protocols like application programming interfaces (APIs) and data formats to integrate components from various sources.

Discoverable

An important element of a truly modular system is the ability to reuse individual components to deliver new user experiences. For this to happen, developers and systems must discover all components.

Reusable

A core goal is to increase the reuse of existing components across different applications and systems. Reusing components reduces development times, minimizes redundancy and promotes consistency across projects.

Characteristics of composable systems

Modular systems have the following characteristics:

Scalable

These systems can scale vertically and horizontally to match your business growth. With vertical scaling, you can design and add resources. While horizontal scaling incorporates instances of components that distribute the load. Your system adjusts to varying demands while maintaining optimal performance.

Agile

Addressing market changes and customer requirements sets your business apart from others. Using a modular system helps you remain agile and implement timely adaptations to stay ahead of your competition.

Flexible

Flexibility helps you adjust to existing features, add new ones and delete outdated ones. This keeps your business in line with the changing market and user needs. A flexible approach makes it easier to align your business and user requirements.

Cloud-native design

Modular systems are cloud-native. You can exploit the benefits of cloud computing, such as better performance, efficiency and cost-effectiveness.

Benefits of composability in software development

Going modular offers numerous benefits, such as:

Faster speed to market

A modular architecture combines and readjusts the software components. As a result, you reduce the time to introduce new functions or products. By going composable, you quickly and efficiently react to market fluctuations and customer demands.

Increased resilience

The building blocks of composable infrastructure make your systems more resilient to failures. Faults or defects found in one section don’t impact the entire system. 

Reduced development cost

Modularity can help you save significant costs. Reusing components across multiple applications lowers the development efforts and costs. As composable systems are scalable and efficient, you reduce resource wastage, improving cost efficiency.

Nurtures digital innovation

Developers can combine and recombine components in a modular system to fulfill market needs. They can create value-added features without facing the complexities of existing systems.

Future-proof your tech stack

Composable architectures adapt your applications to emerging technologies and market trends. With a forward-thinking aspect, your software development investments provide value in the long run.

Composability and agile systems

Composability and agile methodologies are interconnected. Each modular component contributes to the success of the other. Companies that adopt agile principles are the ones with flexible software systems. They are better adept at meeting the changing market dynamics.

Modular components make iterations easy, helping you make real-time adjustments and deliver value to customers.

A modular approach helps you develop, test and deploy modules to make changes depending on market requirements.

Due to composable components' scalable and reusable nature, your agile teams can improve their workload management and task delegation and deliver value.

How to implement composability

Here’s how you can implement composability:

Assess your existing architecture

Analyze your current software architecture to identify which components you can modularize. Assess your existing architecture to understand the dependencies between various components. Determining the possibility of breaking software components into smaller, independent modules makes it easier to assess your requirements.

Define standards and guidelines

Defining guidelines and standards helps you promote a modular approach, making your systems reusable. By defining clear interfaces for components, you standardize data formats and set up protocols for communication between modules and services.

Develop a modular software design

Design your software architecture with modularity in mind. It helps you create self-contained components to develop, test and deploy. So, build components that address specific functionalities, allowing you to reuse them across different applications.

Foster a culture of collaboration

Encourage collaboration between teams to share knowledge and reuse components. Use tools and platforms to discover, share and create a collaborative environment.

Use cloud-native technologies

Use cloud-native technologies to make your composable systems scalable, flexible and resilient. Cloud-native apps and tools simplify the management of modular components.

Tracking and monitor

Once implemented, track the performance and use of modular components. With these insights, you optimize other components and remain aligned with your business goals.

Educate and train teams

Provide developers and IT professionals with training on composability principles and technologies. You can easily develop modular systems when your team members are knowledgeable and proficient.

How has Contentstack’s composable architecture helped Bol.com?

Bol.com transitioned to Contentstack's composable architecture to replace its outdated CMS. They were searching for a modular and modern solution for their content requirements. Contentstack's user-friendly and composable system helped developers provide seamless content creation and management. 

They implemented it in a phased manner, focusing on storytelling content. Bol appreciated Contentstack's ease of use, image management and content scaling. Contentstack improved its campaign efficiency and customer experience, increased click-through rates and improved the performance of the Bol website.

This is what Lennart Billekens, IT Architect at Bol.com, said, “We just wanted to use content across the channels and for that headless is the way to go.”

You can read the complete case study here. 

Overcoming challenges in implementing composable systems

While beneficial, implementing composable systems comes with its share of challenges. You can overcome these challenges by:

• Managing complexity: Transitioning to a modular architecture can initially introduce complexity, especially when breaking monolithic systems into smaller modules. Best practices include starting with a single business capability, gradually expanding and using domain-driven design principles.
• Overcoming resistance to change: Your team may resist changing to a modular system. Clear communication when adopting a modular system can reduce your team's resistance. Engaging stakeholders and development teams early can build momentum.
• Bridging skill gaps: The move to composable infrastructure might reveal skill gaps in cloud-native development. Offer training and upskilling opportunities. Creating a culture of continuous learning prepares your teams for transition.

FAQs

What does composability mean?

Composability means a design approach where you build systems from interchangeable, modular components.

What is composability in cloud computing?

Composability in cloud computing helps you assemble and manage infrastructure resources to meet application demands.

What are composability components?

Composability components are modular, reusable elements combined in various configurations to build complex software applications.

What is an example of composability?

An example of composability is a web application built using microservices. Each service handles a specific function, helping you develop, deploy and scale it independently.

Learn more

Composability is a strategy for increasing business agility. Besides integrating new technologies, composability signifies a culture of innovation, flexibility and resilience.

Are you ready to discover the full potential of composability? Schedule a free demo to explore how composable architectures transform your software development.