Check out our comprehensive guide to digital accessibility. Dive deep into the world of WCAG guidelines, accessibility tools, and strategies to make your digital products universally inclusive and compliant. Learn how enhancing accessibility can open up vast business opportunities.

Mastering Web Accessibility: Strategies, Tools, and WCAG Guidelines Unveiled

Optimizing Digital Accessibility Through Strategic Application of WCAG Guidelines

<p>Today, technology is meant for everyone to use it. If your digital product is not accessibility compliant, you risk that more than one billion people cannot use it. Hundreds of billions are big business opportunity. The common misconception is that accessibility is just for people with disability. Even people without disabilities will benefit if our digital product is accessibility compliant. Accessibility has become a key value in creating a digital product.</p>
<p>According to the World Health Organization* more than one billion people worldwide live with a disability. It&rsquo;s estimated that around 20% of the population has some sort of disability. While the umbrella of accessibility concerns the 20% it also includes pretty much everyone else as shown in the next section.</p>
<p>Accessibility is defined as a "word used to describe whether a product can be used by people of all abilities." There is accessibility of building and physical space with ramps, power door openers, and more. Digital accessibility is about rendering websites, software, and games to be accessible and inclusive for people with disabilities. Digital accessibility is the practice of making digital product usable for the widest range of people possible.</p>
<p>Before we dive into accessibility optimization, let&rsquo;s make sure that we understand major challenges and standards that we need to follow in order to make sure that our digital product can be used by all people.</p>
<h2>Getting familiar with disabilities</h2>
<p>Disability is defined as "a mismatch in interaction between the features of a person's body and the features of the environment in which they live."</p>
<p><strong>It&rsquo;s about everyone.</strong> <br />If you don't wear glasses or contacts, consider how many people you know that do. The fact is that most of us will develop vision impairments as we age. We also develop arthritis, carpal tunnel, or similar disorders that prevent us from using a mouse or keyboard. We don't know the circumstances that will inhibit the way people access the web and mobile. For example, those are that have:</p>
<ul>
<li>Vision disabilities (blindness, low vision, color blindness)</li>
<li>Hearing disabilities (deafness, hard-of-hearing)</li>
<li>Physical disabilities (lack of motor control, speech troubles, other issues)</li>
<li>Cognitive disabilities (learning disabilities, distractibility, inability to remember or focus)</li>
<li>Technical issues (slow connection, screen size, old technology)</li>
<li>Changing abilities (changing abilities duo to age)</li>
<li>Temporary disabilities (broken bones, recovery, using site while holding a baby)</li>
</ul>
<p><img src="https://pnzdemostorageaccount.blob.core.windows.net/cappy/5765b3f7483d44289a728b26700c33f2.jpg" alt="table" /></p>
<p style="text-align: center;">Image: Persona Spectrum</p>
<blockquote class="quote-container">
<p class="title">&ldquo;We use a Persona Spectrum to understand related limitations across a spectrum of permanent, temporary, and situational disabilities. It&rsquo;s a quick tool to help foster empathy and to show how a solution can scale to a broader audience.&rdquo;<br /><a href="https://www.microsoft.com/design" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">A Microsoft Design Toolkit</a></p>
</blockquote>
<p>We need to consider these scenarios and make it easy as possible for this wide range of people to access the software that we build.</p>
<h2>The WCAG Guidelines</h2>
<p>WCAG stands for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. <br />It's set of international standards for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_accessibility">web accessibility</a>&nbsp;guidelines published by the&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_Accessibility_Initiative">Web Accessibility Initiative</a>&nbsp;(WAI) of the&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Wide_Web_Consortium">World Wide Web Consortium</a>&nbsp;(W3C). The main goal is to provide a detailed set of guidelines for making web content more accessible to many people as possible. There are multiple versions of guidelines as listed below.</p>
<h3>WCAG 1.0</h3>
<p>First version 1.0 was published in May 1999 and it was first international standard for digital accessibility. It contained a set of 14 guidelines to evaluate the accessibility of the web pages.</p>
<p>Web and assistive technologies evolved over next decade the guidelines were updated to the next version.</p>
<h3>WCAG 2.0</h3>
<p>It provides 12 guidelines that are organized into four principal categories. Major things that web content&nbsp;<strong>must be</strong>&nbsp;to be considered accessible (see&nbsp;<a href="https://www.w3.org/TR/UNDERSTANDING-WCAG20/intro.html#introduction-fourprincs-head">Understanding the Four Principles of Accessibility&nbsp;</a>for the WCAG definitions). It stands for acronym &ldquo;P.O.U.R&rdquo;:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Perceivable</strong>: Information and user interface components must be able to perceive the information being presented.</li>
<li><strong>Operable</strong>: User interface components must be operable. Users must be able to control UI elements (e.g., buttons must be clickable in some way &mdash; mouse, keyboard, voice command, etc.).</li>
<li><strong>Understandable</strong>: Information and the operation of user interface must be understandable.</li>
<li><strong>Robust:</strong> The content must be developed using well-adopted web standards that will work across different browsers and assistive technologies, now and in the future.</li>
</ul>
<h3>WCAG 2.1</h3>
<p>As we can assume this version extends 2.0. It was published in June of 2018 and become the official recommendation of W3C.&nbsp;</p>
<h2>Understanding WCAG 2.0 and 2.1</h2>
<p>As mentioned above this provides 12 guidelines that are organized into four principal categories.</p>
<h3>1. Perceivable: Guidelines 1.1-1.4</h3>
<p>Information and user interface components must be able to perceive the information being presented.</p>
<table border="0">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><img src="https://pnzdemostorageaccount.blob.core.windows.net/cappy/afcdab6bda7a4d658f7356b9c1b12488.svg" alt="null" /></td>
<td>1.1</td>
<td>Text alternatives for non-text content like images must be presented.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><img src="https://pnzdemostorageaccount.blob.core.windows.net/cappy/13f8e14d277b488b8ee30627ad847e92.svg" alt="null" /></td>
<td>1.2</td>
<td>Alternative methods for time-based media like captions and transcript must be presented.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><img src="https://pnzdemostorageaccount.blob.core.windows.net/cappy/ec4af7f602d944b8acdbd8a704cf70e8.svg" alt="null" /></td>
<td>1.3</td>
<td>Provide ability to present content in different ways, allow for customization without breaking the site.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><img src="https://pnzdemostorageaccount.blob.core.windows.net/cappy/1599eac255c048b5b60462f12f9bc679.svg" alt="null" /></td>
<td>1.4</td>
<td>Make it easier to see and hear content.</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<h3>2. Operable: Guidelines 2.1-2.4</h3>
<p>User&rsquo;s interface components must be operable.</p>
<table border="0">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><img src="https://pnzdemostorageaccount.blob.core.windows.net/cappy/713460c819a849a090b709a7e6080a60.svg" alt="null" /></td>
<td>2.1</td>
<td>All functionality must to be available via the keyboard</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><img src="https://pnzdemostorageaccount.blob.core.windows.net/cappy/7ededca752d64a1db7bc11b7d7b18c0a.svg" alt="null" /></td>
<td>2.2</td>
<td>Provide enough time to read the content and interact with interface</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><img src="https://pnzdemostorageaccount.blob.core.windows.net/cappy/7fedce50684545739f3605b1619ac288.svg" alt="null" /></td>
<td>2.3</td>
<td>Avoid designing/developing contact that cause seizures</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><img src="https://pnzdemostorageaccount.blob.core.windows.net/cappy/d895f40ce3bb495db29e844d26272f87.svg" alt="null" /></td>
<td>2.4</td>
<td>Help user to navigate, find content and determine where they are focused</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<h3>3. Understandable: Guidelines 3.1-3.3</h3>
<p>User&rsquo;s interface components must be operable.</p>
<table border="0">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><img src="https://pnzdemostorageaccount.blob.core.windows.net/cappy/b7de887e79034663a49eb8202426790b.svg" alt="null" /></td>
<td>3.1</td>
<td>Text content should be readable and understandable</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><img src="https://pnzdemostorageaccount.blob.core.windows.net/cappy/5182fa0ea8d6424ebaff476acb8dab45.svg" alt="null" /></td>
<td>3.2</td>
<td>Content and interface should be consistent and predictable</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><img src="https://pnzdemostorageaccount.blob.core.windows.net/cappy/905d2f78598c458aaa7aee17827be2a0.svg" alt="null" /></td>
<td>3.3</td>
<td>Input assistance to help users fix mistakes when interacting</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<h3>4. Robust: Guidelines 4.1</h3>
<p>The content must be developed using well-adopted web standards that will work across different browsers and assistive technologies, now and in the future.</p>
<table border="0">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><img src="https://pnzdemostorageaccount.blob.core.windows.net/cappy/ca482326a7bc44929041df1a8171f237.svg" alt="null" /></td>
<td>4.1</td>
<td>Address the needs to maximize compatibility of current user agents and assistive technologies</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<h2>WCAG Criteria and Conformance in Action</h2>
<p>In section above we have seen that WCAG consist of 13 guidelines. Each guiltiness contained several success criteria. Each of success criteria meet a certain level of accessibility conformance according to standard.<br />Level of conformance range from single A to triple A like below:</p>
<ul>
<li>A &ndash; Lowest level</li>
<li>AA &ndash; Mid-range level</li>
<li>AAA &ndash; Highest level</li>
</ul>
<p>Each is a subset of the next level up. For example, if a web page meets double of conformance level it also meets a single A conformance level. It&rsquo;s important to note that meeting the success criteria and conformance level only works on a full page. If part of the page doesn&rsquo;t meet a double level, then the whole page doesn&rsquo;t meet a double level.</p>
<h2>What are Screen Readers?</h2>
<p><img src="https://pnzdemostorageaccount.blob.core.windows.net/cappy/f9702b5ae7714f2c8bbee4beca3f54e0.jpg" alt="a person playing a guitar" /></p>
<p>A screen reader is a form of assistive technology (AT) that renders text and image content as speech or braille output. Screen readers are essential to people who are blind, and are useful to people who are visually impaired, illiterate, or have a learning disability. They allow the user to interact with the computer, navigating around and entering data on forms using the keyboard. They have a wide array of keyboard shortcuts to make interactions simple. Some of the popular screen readers are Voiceover (Bundled into MacOS), JAWS, Window-Eyes, NVDA, and so on.</p>
<h3>Nonvisual desktop access - NVDA</h3>
<p>NVDA, Nonvisual desktop access is open-source solution that is completely free and one the best option for developers to test their application. You can download app and configure on windows on the following link: <a href="https://www.nvaccess.org/download/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://www.nvaccess.org/download/</a></p>
<p>It&rsquo;s important to note that during the testing you should just use the keyboard and not the mouse. Good way to test is to turn off monitor and see what typical user would experience. <br />NVDA has two modes:</p>
<ol>
<li>Browse is primary for reading content</li>
<li>Focus is for entering data on forms</li>
</ol>
<p>Primary commands:</p>
<ul>
<li>Space (enter focus mode for control)</li>
<li>Tab (Jump focus to next control)</li>
<li>Shift + tab (Jump focus to previous control)</li>
</ul>
<p>Quick Key Commands:</p>
<ul>
<li>H- Heading</li>
<li>K &ndash; Links</li>
<li>B &ndash; Buttons</li>
<li>L &ndash; Lists</li>
<li>D &ndash; Landmarks</li>
</ul>
<h2>Testing WCAG compliance</h2>
<p>To make digital product accessible and WCAG compliant, we should have a good testing plan and strategy. The following strategy can help you to meet that goal:</p>
<ul>
<li><em><strong>Manual keyboard testing</strong></em>. Using keyboard to ensure we can get and interact with everything.</li>
<li><em><strong>Screen reader testing</strong></em> to make sure it works as expected. Readers like NVDA, JAWS, etc.</li>
<li>Use <em><strong>&ldquo;semi-automated&rdquo; testing</strong></em> with tools like WAWE or Accessibility Insights for Web</li>
<li><em><strong>Automated testing</strong></em> with tools like AXE Core which run against our code and catch basic errors. It can be part of CI/CD process.</li>
<li><strong><em>Ask people with disabilities</em></strong> and get their feedback.</li>
</ul>
<h3>&ldquo;Semi-automated&rdquo; testing</h3>
<p>One of the best tools for &ldquo;semi-automated&rdquo; testing are <a href="https://accessibilityinsights.io/docs/en/web/overview/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Accessibility Insights for Web</a>&nbsp;and <a href="https://wave.webaim.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">WAWE web accessibility evaluation</a>&nbsp;created by webbing. WAWE can be used by:</p>
<ul>
<li>Navigating to the webpage and pasting URL to the page and running the tool<br /><a href="https://wave.webaim.org/">https://wave.webaim.org/</a></li>
<li>Browser extension for Chrome and Firefox. It&rsquo;s much more useful for local testing and development. Once you install plugin you can start testing immediately.<br /><img src="https://pnzdemostorageaccount.blob.core.windows.net/cappy/8db0b5f83b2a40c488c8a6ee34312714.jpg" alt="graphical user interface, text, application, email" /></li>
</ul>
<p>It&rsquo;s important to understand the main categories before you start the testing:</p>
<table border="0">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><img src="https://pnzdemostorageaccount.blob.core.windows.net/cappy/755710133c6e4861a9c426cffba23a0b.svg" alt="null" /></td>
<td>Errors</td>
<td>If you have errors that means you have problems that need to be fixed</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><img src="https://pnzdemostorageaccount.blob.core.windows.net/cappy/2bb9b0c3c0364169a12305876ff5771d.svg" alt="null" /></td>
<td>Alerts</td>
<td>Those alerts are not critical, but we need to look into and try to improve behavior. Varying like: form label issues, skipped heading levels, redundant links etc.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><img src="https://pnzdemostorageaccount.blob.core.windows.net/cappy/43ed7edbcf7946e49f4966db84e3de63.svg" alt="null" /></td>
<td>Accessibility features</td>
<td>Alternative text, form labels, skip links etc</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><img src="https://pnzdemostorageaccount.blob.core.windows.net/cappy/fc3cf8414b034cc3b4613c54f82808c5.svg" alt="null" /></td>
<td>Structure</td>
<td>Elements like heading, list, navigation. They need to be used properly in order help accessibility.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><img src="https://pnzdemostorageaccount.blob.core.windows.net/cappy/86fb9ec2fdce48a6be7c0542b4c24073.svg" alt="null" /></td>
<td>Aria</td>
<td>Additional features for HTML elements to give more information&rsquo;s to assistive technologies about our content.</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<h3>Automated testing</h3>
<p>In order to make the process easier the best way to go is automated.&nbsp; Automated testing can save time during the development phase and educate developers with error that they introduce. Our favorite automated tool is <a href="https://github.com/dequelabs/axe-core" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">AXE Core</a>&nbsp;created by Deque Labs. It&rsquo;s testing engine created for HTML that is built to integrate with existing test environment for automated accessibility testing. This testing can be part of our unit and integration testing or CI/CD process.</p>
<p>It&rsquo;s important to highlight that some criteria cannot be automated. For example: criteria related to mobile device interactions has to be done manually on a device. Automation testing is not a replacement for human but it helps catch some of the low-level issues and it&rsquo;s far from perfect.</p>
<h2>Conclusion</h2>
<p>In this article, we realized that around 20% of the population has some sort of disability, and the importance for our business to keep digital product accessibility compliant. Companies who continue to ignore accessibility are already losing customers and will end up losing even more in the coming years.</p>
<p>We got familiar with WCAG standards as well as testing strategy and most popular tools that we should consider for our product.</p>
<p>In the next article, I will demonstrate some of the techniques and the most important implementation that your digital product should have.</p>

Today, technology is meant for everyone to use it. If your digital product is not accessibility compliant, you risk that more than one billion people cannot use it. Hundreds of billions are big business opportunity. Accessibility has become a key value in creating a digital product.

Optimizing Digital Accessibility Through Strategic Application of WCAG Guideliness

Explore what a headless CMS is, its unique architecture, and the pros and cons of adopting it. Discover how businesses can leverage its power to build a flexible, future-proof digital presence.

Understanding Headless CMS: Benefits, Drawbacks, and Why It's the Future

What is a Headless CMS?

Explore the transformational shift from traditional CMS to the dynamic world of Headless CMS. Find out what it offers, how it stands apart from the competition, and why businesses implement it to create a seamless digital presence. 

<p>In today's world of content management, the Headless Content Management System known as Headless CMS stands out as a modern approach, diverging from traditional CMS. But what exactly is it? Read on to learn more!</p>
<h2>What is a Headless CMS?</h2>
<p>A headless CMS separates back-end content management from front-end templating and design. The presentation layer is more flexible as it eliminates the front-end part. An application programming interface (API) is used by a headless CMS to deliver the content, allowing it to be accessed and displayed by any device or platform.</p>
<p><img src="https://pnzdemostorageaccount.blob.core.windows.net/app/ff7b5c43aa304f51a0cf792e8d238daa.jpg" alt="Diagram illustrating the architecture of a headless CMS, showing the separation of content management from content presentation." /></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>Figure 1. Diagram illustrating the architecture of a headless CMS.</em></p>
<p>As a result, the content can be easily repurposed and displayed in various formats without being tied to any particular presentation layer, allowing it to be easily repurposed and displayed in multiple ways. By using a headless CMS, businesses are able to revolutionize their digital presence by launching fresh content more quickly and effectively.</p>
<h2>The Rise of the Headless CMS</h2>
<p>As the world continued to embrace technology, businesses had to adjust their strategies to stay competitive. Having a responsive website or optimizing a landing page is no longer enough to provide a good user experience for customers. In the early days of the web, traditional CMSs like WordPress, Joomla, and Umbraco were primarily used for creating and managing static pages of content.</p>
<p>The traditional CMSs combine images, content, HTML, and CSS into a single application. Your code and CMS code are bundled together, which makes it impossible to reuse content.</p>
<p>In today's technology-driven world, consumers find augmented reality, virtual reality, and mobile apps increasingly helpful. They can now speak with digital assistants or control things using voice commands! If you're not taking advantage of how customers communicate, you may risk missing out on opportunities for growth!&nbsp;</p>
<p>The need to deliver digital experiences in multiple formats continues to increase daily. As we gear towards being able to provide these new types of content across various channels, it is imperative that a CMS be prepared with how they will deliver each one.</p>
<p>The traditional CMS failed to deliver experiences in multiple formats. Why? Organizing content in webpage-based frameworks makes it impossible for the same content to fit into other digital channels. With these limitations in mind, Headless CMS began its journey as a more adaptable CMS solution.</p>
<h2>Understanding Traditional CMS</h2>
<p>A traditional CMS uses what's known as a coupled architecture, often referred to as a coupled CMS. This architecture combines the backend and frontend into a single application. You will find the CMS code, the content repository, the backend editor interface, and your custom code all bundled together.</p>
<h3>Use Cases that cannot be covered by a traditional CMS</h3>
<p>Many modern applications and channels cannot get the data they need from a traditional content management system.</p>
<p>The following use cases require either bespoke solutions or a headless CMS:&nbsp;</p>
<ul>
<li>Native Mobile Apps (iOS, Android)</li>
<li>Delivering the same content to a website and an application from the same source (omnichannel/- multichannel)</li>
<li>Voice apps, AR applications, VR applications</li>
<li>Choosing the frontend first and the CMS second. In the case of using a new Javascript frameworks.</li>
<li>Static website generators (e.g. Gatsby, Hugo, Jekyll, Middleman)</li>
</ul>
<h2>Defining the difference between a headless CMS and a decoupled CMS</h2>
<p>A decoupled and headless CMS separates the backend from the front-end systems. As a result of this approach to architectural design, there needs to be more clarity in the market, and people often mistakenly think that headless CMS is simply another name for decoupled CMS.</p>
<p>It is essential to understand that decoupled CMSs use the templating model to control how the content is displayed. A headless content management system consists of a backend and a frontend. In contrast, a frontend does not use any front-end environment or templating model at all. You are responsible for all aspects of the presentation layer</p>
<h2>Defining the differences between a true headless-first versus &ldquo;me too&rdquo; headless CMS</h2>
<p>As a result of the popularity of the headless CMS approach, it has become a favored option for new projects. Traditional vendors are making a big push to stay competitive in the digital age by implementing REST APIs, allowing them to be accessed 'headless' and reach modern customers.</p>
<p>It is important to realize that there is a big difference between a CMS designed with a "headless" or "API first" approach in mind from the very beginning and a CMS with the API added as an afterthought. An API-first approach was used to develop a headless CMS that unlocks the full potential of its capabilities. Generally speaking, CMS products that offer only a REST API don't provide specific components such as scalability or security.</p>
<p>A true headless CMS, which follows an API-first approach to web development, will also support GraphQL. In contrast, a CMS that follows a pure REST approach won't have any support for it at all.</p>
<h2>Why should you choose a headless CMS?</h2>
<p>In the past, CMSs were built primarily for the development of websites and to provide one-channel support. Companies were forced to use different CMS for each channel because they have different requirements, resulting in a disjointed online experience.</p>
<p>The traditional way of delivering experiences through single-channel technology is being replaced by more flexible options that span across teams, products, and channels to provide seamless omnichannel customer journeys.</p>
<h2>The advantages of headless CMS and why you should use it</h2>
<p>In this article, we defined what a headless CMS is, how it works, and why it is a better solution than traditional and decoupled CMSs. We will further explore the benefits of implementing a headless CMS in your organization.</p>
<h3>There is a need to deliver content across multiple platforms or devices</h3>
<p>With a headless CMS, you can easily manage and publish your content across multiple platforms and devices, including websites, mobile apps, and even smartwatches. Your audience can view your content from anywhere.&nbsp;</p>
<h3>You are having difficulty finding and keeping developers working on your CMS</h3>
<p>A headless CMS gives developers much-needed freedom, enabling them to craft digital experiences without being restricted by a specific language requirement. It's an ideal choice for those looking to achieve maximum creativity and efficiency in the development process.</p>
<h3>Performance is an important factor for your app</h3>
<p>By enabling fast and secure content delivery through APIs, a headless CMS could help you supercharge your app's performance and improve its user experience.</p>
<h3>Multiple CMSs are already in use</h3>
<p>Changing from one content management system to another can be difficult and lead to inaccurate results. Headless CMS is an effective way to add efficiency to the process while ensuring high-quality results are achieved.&nbsp;</p>
<h3>Microservices and independent teams will be used to develop many features</h3>
<p>By leveraging microservices and independent teams, you can efficiently handle large-scale features. Breaking big features into smaller components makes it possible to achieve remarkable results.&nbsp;</p>
<h3>Your content strategy is complex</h3>
<p>The flexibility and scalability of a headless CMS enable you to manage your content effectively, even if your content strategy involves a complex content strategy that requires a high level of customization.</p>
<h2>Penzle is a content platform for everyone</h2>
<p>Penzle revolutionizes the way teams deliver digital experiences with its cloud-first and API-First Headless Content Management System (CMS). Our API-first approach helps aggregate data, simplify workflows, save time, and connect multiple SaaS platforms. App developers can use Penzle&rsquo;s CMS to create innovative, high-performing apps and share them across digital channels. This innovative platform unlocks unprecedented speed, efficiency, and scalability for creating cutting-edge multi-channel experiences.</p>
<p>With Penzle, developers and teams get the best of both worlds. The developers will enjoy the speed at which they can create and deliver new digital products and features. In addition to Penzle's powerful, well-documented APIs , developers have access to a wide range of development resources and support at every stage of the process. Content creators and marketers will love AI's power to skyrocket their content. Smart content analysis, automated categorization, keyword extraction, and other AI features allow teams to create more personalized and targeted content.</p>
<p><a href="/request-a-demo">Learn how Penzle's headless platform works.</a></p>

What is a headless CMS?

Dive deep into the comprehensive analysis of hidden expenses in Headless CMS implementations. Explore unforeseen costs like third-party applications, integration, maintenance, and scalability to make a well-informed decision for your project’s success. 

Unlocking the True Costs of Headless CMS and Strategies for an Informed Investment

Explore the obscured costs of implementing a headless CMS, revealing what vendors often omit. As a result, you can make an informed decision based on considerations ranging from integration to scalability.

<p>A headless CMS has become one of the most popular architectures for modern applications. There are numerous benefits to using a headless CMS, like decreased development time, improved scalability, and flexibility of content delivery, but like so many technologies, these benefits come with a cost - both in money and time invested upfront. The initial cost of each Headless CMS may seem very affordable initially, but the costs can become very high over some time. In this blog post, I will highlight key points around these costs so that you can make an informed decision on whether or not this type of solution is right for your project. There are several potential hidden costs associated with using a headless CMS that current vendors are not talking about:</p>
<h2>Third-party application</h2>
<p>When it comes to website building, mapping out your requirements and factoring in third-party integrations is essential. Conversely, when designing bespoke software, including external services may not be necessary at all.</p>
<p>Behind a website's scenes, multiple small components need to be considered for it to offer an engaging experience. Content from CMSs must work together with other modules that create polished digital experiences and contribute towards business success.</p>
<p>If you want to create a successful website, you will need more than just a great landing page. To convert visitors into leads and leads into customers, you will need an effective strategy. There are many different strategies available for converting potential customers into loyal customers, the marketing funnel is one such example of a strategy that will help to convert potential customers into loyal customers:</p>
<p><img src="https://pnzdemostorageaccount.blob.core.windows.net/cappy/d6aafead6fc14d3ca7bec2846ec1a53d.jpg" alt="Headless CMS marketing-funnel diagram." /></p>
<p>The marketing funnel consists of the following steps:</p>
<ol>
<li>As a first step, strangers will come to your website from search engines (such as Google), social media, paid advertisements, or offline marketing in an effort to find out more about your business.</li>
<li>Strangers become anonymous visitors when they visit your website.</li>
<li>A lead is created when a website visitor registers their contact information.</li>
<li>Whenever a lead submits a purchase order, you close the deal and they become customers.</li>
</ol>
<p>For those steps to be successful, you will also need to include additional components such as:</p>
<ol>
<li>You will be able to pull relevant content directly from the CMS when a visitor visits your website. A successful website must attract and engage more visitors. Adding a personalization module is a great way to give your users the option to view personalized content, which can significantly boost conversions. According to research, personalization drives 10 to 15 percent of revenue.</li>
<li>To ensure that your website collects valuable information about your visitors, you will need to set up a form module that will enable you to capture their contact information. Contact information should be saved into a CRM lead database for future use. With access to this detailed lead database, you will be able to build relationships easily over time.</li>
<li>Delivering a warm thank you after someone submits your form is an easy and effective way to stay in touch with potential leads. Utilize effective campaigns to maintain relationships with leads in your database. A good email campaign management strategy can help you stay in touch with your leads. You will need an effective module to manage email campaigns and autoresponder emails.</li>
</ol>
<p><img src="https://pnzdemostorageaccount.blob.core.windows.net/cappy/20ff71d10e5c48d2a50a08946c67c233.jpg" alt="Diagram of hidden costs of Headless CMS with supported modules." /></p>
<p>As a result of this process, a headless CMS will be used to deliver content to your website. It is important to note that the headless CMS does not include follow-up modules. You might not be able to handle all of those steps at the beginning of your digital journey, but over time, you will need to support your marketing team for your company to succeed.</p>
<p>It is important to note that you will also need to include an additional cost for personalization, form module, CRM, and email management module as part of your headless CMS license.</p>
<h2>Integration costs</h2>
<p>You will need to invest in integration efforts if you plan to use a headless CMS along with other systems, such as a customer relationship management (CRM) or an email marketing system, to ensure that all of these systems work together seamlessly.</p>
<p>Several factors can affect the integration cost, including the complexity of the integration and the number of integrations required. The process of integrating a headless CMS into an existing website or application can be complex and involve several stages, which include:</p>
<ol>
<li>Configuring the headless CMS to meet the project's specific requirements.</li>
<li>Integrating the headless CMS with the frontend of the website or application may involve using APIs or other integration technologies.</li>
<li>Content migration between systems, if necessary.</li>
<li>Testing the integration to ensure that it is working as expected. The cost of integrating a third-party system can be influenced by the level of support and assistance the third-party vendor provides and the availability of resources to handle the integration process. In general, it is a good idea to carefully consider the integration costs of a headless CMS before deciding to use one, as they can significantly impact the overall cost of a project.</li>
</ol>
<p>The cost of integrating a third-party system can be influenced by the level of support and assistance the third-party vendor provides and the availability of resources to handle the integration process. In general, it is a good idea to carefully consider the integration costs of a headless CMS before deciding to use one, as they can significantly impact the overall cost of a project.</p>
<h2>Training costs</h2>
<p>In order to integrate with an additional system, your team may need to invest time and resources in learning how to use it effectively. This can involve training costs for both developers and content creators. When estimating training costs, you should consider the following factors:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Time</strong>: How much time will it take to learn and become proficient in using the system? Several factors may affect this, such as the complexity of the system, your team's existing technical skills and experience, and the availability of training resources.</li>
<li><strong>Resources</strong>: What are the resources you will need to learn the system? Depending on the CMS vendor, training courses, documentation, and support services may be available to all users.</li>
<li><strong>Opportunity cost</strong>: What are the financial costs associated with not using the system while your team learns it? The costs associated with this could include lost revenue, missed opportunities in the business world, or the cost of using alternative solutions in the interim.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Maintenance and support costs</h2>
<p>As with any software system, your application will require ongoing maintenance and support to ensure it continues to function properly and meet your organization's needs.</p>
<p>In most cases, a headless CMS will require you to run your application in a different environment that consumes the content from the headless CMS. As your project evolves, you may need to invest in additional development resources to ensure that the application is maintained and updated as well as the hosting environment of your application. That can involve costs for bug fixes, updates, and other support services.</p>
<p>Some vendors offer maintenance support, including things like fixes, security updates, and technical support. The cost of vendor support should be included in the overall maintenance cost.</p>
<h2>Scalability costs</h2>
<p>The scalability costs will depend on the specific product you are using and the size and complexity of your project. If you need to handle a large volume of traffic or data, you need to scale the hosting environment of your application and headless CMS. Generally speaking, if you are using a cloud-based headless CMS, it is common that all cloud providers have data and traffic limits, which means that you will need to upgrade your vendor subscription in order to operate the system. As you look at each vendor's website, you will notice that they each have a data and traffic limitations, and you will need to calculate the cost of upgrading your license based on how your business grows.</p>
<p><img src="https://pnzdemostorageaccount.blob.core.windows.net/cappy/1ea62c5eeb644356ba3149a7832c3943.jpg" alt="Headless CMS price comparison." /></p>
<p>Overall, the cost should be calculated based on the application and vendor license scaling, which will support the amount of traffic or data you need.</p>
<p>You may also need to invest in additional resources if your project scales as you will be required to maintain and update your application and integrate the headless CMS with other systems or APIs as your project grows.</p>
<h2>How Penzle solves headless CMS challenges</h2>
<p>The Penzle platform is designed to address the challenges and hidden costs associated with traditional headless CMS, making it an efficient and cost-effective solution for businesses of all sizes. As we explore Penzle's solutions in this section, we will take a look at how it solves the challenges outlined in the article.</p>
<h3>Third-party application</h3>
<p>Penzle is designed to be a one-stop solution for businesses looking to streamline their content management processes and reduce the need for additional third-party applications. To achieve this goal, Penzle provides users with several features and tools to manage and organize their content efficiently, minimizing the need to rely on additional resources or external services.</p>
<p>Among Penzle's many strengths is its wide array of built-in business-critical modules, such as <a href="/products/marketing-and-promotions">marketing</a>, <a href="/products/forms" target="_self">forms</a>, and <a href="/products/marketing-and-promotions#38ea68b0-b067-4a9c-b01f-23d5a01b21f3" target="_self">CRM</a>, which constitute one of its critical assets. Several of the modules are designed to provide businesses with the flexibility and scalability they need to grow their customer base and improve their company's bottom line.<br /><br /><img src="https://pnzdemostorageaccount.blob.core.windows.net/cappy/a012cad6da05414197160b71a4b41197.jpg" alt="Headless CMS marketing modules, email marketing and CRM." /></p>
<h3>Integration costs</h3>
<p>Integration costs are addressed through its API-first architecture, allowing easy integration with other systems and platforms. In this way, it is possible to reduce the costs involved in connecting the CMS to other systems and simplify the overall workflow of the system by eliminating the need for additional development resources.</p>
<p>Penzle also offers a variety of official and community-driven SDKs and integrations with other technologies, such as .NET, React, Angular and more, which can be used to easily connect the CMS to other systems, reducing the need for third-party applications.</p>
<p>Additionally, the platform is equipped with a webhooks feature that allows developers to subscribe to specific events and be notified whenever they occur, making it possible for them to trigger specific actions in other systems, reducing the need for additional development resources on their side.</p>
<h3>Training costs</h3>
<p>Throughout the platform's development, accessibility guidelines and the platform's user-friendliness were considered, reducing the need for extensive training.</p>
<p>With its comprehensive documentation, developer portal, video tutorials, and API-first architecture, the platform makes it easy for developers and other users to learn and understand how it works.</p>
<p>Due to the API-first architecture, the platform is familiar to many developers and is easy to use for front-end developers, reducing the need for extensive training on the platform.</p>
<p>As an added benefit, the platform offers a variety of training options that can be customized according to a company's specific needs, making it an excellent cost-effective solution for businesses that want to manage their content without incurring considerable training expenses.</p>
<h3>Maintenance and support costs</h3>
<p>Considering that the platform is built on a modern architecture, it ensures that it is constantly updated and improved by the Penzle team, so you will never have to worry about the maintenance of the platform itself.</p>
<p>It is important to note that the platform provides multiple support options to assist users with any issues or questions. Penzle also offers a variety of support options, including email and phone support, which are available 24/7, and a dedicated customer success manager for enterprise customers.</p>
<p>In this way, Penzle can be viewed as a cost-effective solution for businesses that are looking for a way to manage their content and ensure that their websites or applications function properly.</p>
<h2>Conclusion</h2>
<p>Overall, while a headless CMS has the potential to offer many benefits, one important thing to remember is that there may be hidden costs that can result in a project's total cost being higher than initially anticipated.</p>
<p>It is important to note that these costs may include costs such as third-party applications, or development , integration , maintenance , training , and scalability costs.</p>
<p>Knowing these costs will help you decide whether a headless CMS is right for your project and which vendor offers the best value. Taking into account these costs and ensuring that you have a solid strategy in place to manage them is the key to ensure the success of your headless CMS project.</p>
<p>If you are having trouble finding a headless CMS that is right for your organization, Penzle can help.</p>

Uncovering the True Cost of a Headless CMS: What Vendors Aren’t Telling You

Learn how to measure and improve application performance. Find the most critical methods first. Get your app to perform faster for a better user experience.



How to Start With Your Application's Performance Optimization

<p>If you want to compete with the best, your system needs to be fast and scalable. I have recently seen a large number of clients facing problems with their application performance. Many systems run into performance and scalability problems as they grow. How to start and what should the first step be? Optimization can be a deadly trap and a time-waster. There is always something you can do better if you have the time, money and motivation.</p>
<p>The real trick is knowing where to look for performance and what steps to take first. What steps to consider when doing performance improvements and how to avoid common mistakes?</p>
<p>Modern applications are getting increasingly complex - they process huge amounts of data, communicate with external systems, and support for different time zones became an engineering nightmare. Some systems need to be re-engineered from scratch to handle their growth. If you are building a new application, performance work should never be left at the end! The larger and more complex your application is, the earlier you need to start considering performance as a major feature.</p>
<p>Before we dive in, let&rsquo;s highlight the difference between performance and scalability, due to frequent misunderstanding between the two concepts.</p>
<h2>The Difference Between Performance and Scalability</h2>
<p>Everybody knows how important it is to keep a system fast. Very often our clients require their system to be fast. The first question I ask is <strong><em>What do you mean by fast</em></strong>? The usual answer is that It needs to support thousands of users. A system can be slow and still support thousands of users.</p>
<p>A site&rsquo;s performance decreases the time it takes for a particular page to load or for a particular user-visible action to complete. What a single user sees while sitting at their computer is &ldquo;performance&rdquo;.</p>
<p>Scalability is connected to the number of users a site can support. If additional users can be supported by adding more hardware and network bandwidth, the site can be considered as &ldquo;scalable&rdquo;. If more hardware and network bandwidth do not solve the problem, additional users cause the site to slow down, which implies that the site has reached its scalability threshold.</p>
<h2>Planning a Performance Investigation</h2>
<p>Application involves complicated business processes that do not always focus on performance. When a feature works slowly, is it not always possible to accelerate the code. Before you dive deep into the code and try to accelerate part of the code related to your feature, make a plan for your performance.</p>
<ol>
<li>Identify problems and goals and determine what to measure</li>
<li>Select methods and tools &nbsp;</li>
<li>Analysis and Conclusion</li>
</ol>
<h2>Identify Problems and Goals and Determine What to Measure</h2>
<p>First, ask yourself a few important questions:</p>
<ul>
<li>What is wrong with the current performance level?</li>
<li>What do I want to achieve?</li>
</ul>
<p>If you start to randomly optimize your application, it will be a waste of time. Define problems and goals. Determine a set of performance requirements. Those requirements will determine which metrics you need to collect. You need concise, well-defined metrics that correspond to the goals. After obtaining the results, you should be flexible to change your goals.</p>
<p>A lot of things are involved and make sure you consider the right path. Observe aspects such as memory - measurement of memory usage and reduction. You want to measure memory usage and minimize it. But which kind of memory? Commit size, large object heap size, .NET heap size or some other variant?&nbsp;For tracking&nbsp;memory usage over time, the average per hour or peak? Be as specific as possible when describing what you want to measure and define your goals well.<br /><strong>Not well-defined:</strong> Memory should be less than 1 GB.<br /><strong>Well-defined:</strong> Working set memory usage should never exceed 1 GB during peak load of 100 queries per second.</p>
<p>Let&rsquo;s check out some of the most popular methods and tools.</p>
<h2>Select Methods and Tools</h2>
<p>There are many tools and methods that provide performance metrics. After performance analysis, make sure that the tool you select has the required characteristics such as precision, portability, etc.</p>
<h3>Coder review</h3>
<p>Particular code performance issues can sometimes be identified without measurements. Check the asymptotic complexity, big O notation, database query, or ineffective piece of code. You can solve some performance issues without analysis. Keep in mind that personal feelings can easily deceive you as well as technology change.</p>
<h3>Profiling</h3>
<p>Where to start when optimizing your application? Optimizing a random method may not affect the performance of the whole application. Trying to write fast code can increase code complexity and introduce new bugs. <br />The most important step is to find where the application spends a significant part of its time. The best way to do it is profiling. That means you take a profile, attach it to the application, take a snapshot and look at the profile. Profiling shows methods that are called frequently, and bottlenecks of your application. That helps you locate the most critical methods that require optimization first.</p>
<h3>Monitoring</h3>
<p>Certain problems can not sometimes be reproduced locally since they occur rarely or only in the production environment. In this case, profiling can not help and monitoring needs to be conducted to find a method with performance problems. There are a lot of built-in monitoring tools such as event log. Take data from logs and try to find the source of this problem.</p>
<h3>Performance tests</h3>
<p>It&rsquo;s common practice to write unit tests that ensure that the business logic works fine after any changes to your code. Unit tests are not enough to measure performances. To make sure your performance stays the same before and after changes, you need performance tests. To maintain the same level of performances in your tests, you need to have exactly the same environment (hardware + software) for all the benchmarking configurations.</p>
<p>If your tests are executed in a different environment each time, you will most likely have different results. Executing the same tests in an environment that has more hardware will affect your tests to be executed faster. Therefore, it is crucial to run tests on the same server environment. The performance tests can be executed on a build server, as part of a continuous integration (CI) pipeline.</p>
<h3>Benchmarking</h3>
<p>A benchmark measures performance properties of a piece of code especially to compare it to an alternative implementation. For benchmark tests, it&rsquo;s important to maintain the same version of a .NET runtime, an operating system, hardware, and so on. Run your benchmark tests in more iterations to achieve sufficient accuracy. Benchmarks are amazing when they test a single resource such as CPU time. You can test other things like reading files off an SSD, but you will need to isolate those resources from outside influence.</p>
<h2>Analysis and Conclusion</h2>
<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;If you have spent less than a week studying a benchmark result, it is probably wrong.&rdquo; <br />- Brendan Gregg, author of Systems Performance: Enterprise</p>
</blockquote>
<p>An analysis is the most important part of any performance investigation. Do not take results fast and adapt the solution on the whole application, for example: &ldquo;Profiler shows that method A is faster than method B. Let&rsquo;s use A everywhere instead of B&rdquo;. We should understand why we got such results in profiler sessions. If you use one set of data,&nbsp; method A may be faster, but you should take in consideration the whole application and different set of data. Method A can probably be substantially slower than method B in some other cases.</p>
<p>Most of the performance mistakes are caused in the measurement methodology. Check other data patterns before you decide on the method in the production code. Be careful with analysis before you make a conclusion.</p>
<h2>Conclusion</h2>
<p>Planning a performance investigation requires more steps. Those steps can be customized to your needs. I covered the three most important steps that should be involved in any investigation. Identifying problems and goals, and determining what to measure should be your first step. Next step is monitoring, which helps you find a slow user scenario. The profiling will help you identify the bottleneck of your methods. Benchmarks will find the fastest way to implement the feature. Performance tests will help keep the performance on the same level in the future.</p>
<p>All approaches have a purpose and use. Last step of any investigation is data analysis and conclusion. The more time you spend in data analysis and measurement, it&rsquo;s more likely that your performance investigation is done properly.&nbsp;</p>

If you want to compete with the best, your system needs to be fast and scalable. Many systems run into performance and scalability problems as they grow. How to start and what should the first step be?

We’ve seen a radical shift in recent years as organizations of all types have scrambled to move their business into the digital world as quickly and efficiently as possible in order to keep up with changing consumer demands.

5 Ways to Win the Digitalisation War

<p>We&rsquo;ve seen a radical shift in recent years as organizations of all types have scrambled to move their business into the digital world as quickly and efficiently as possible in order to keep up with changing consumer demands. It&rsquo;s not enough to just have a good product or service these days, you also have to compete in terms of distribution, marketing, service delivery, scalability, and the like &ndash; all of which require a fully digital approach.</p>
<p>In fact, the ability to digitize processes and bring a company into the modern age has become a competitive advantage for many &ndash; as the business landscape evolves to being digital first. This stuff isn&rsquo;t easy of course. We&rsquo;ve seen plenty of clients struggle with this transition, wasting lots of time and resources in the process. We&rsquo;ve seen the good, the bad, and the ugly, and so we thought we would break down some of the key components and considerations you should be thinking about as you go about your digital transformation journey.</p>
<h2>1) Company Culture</h2>
<p>The first thing that you have to get right is the underlying culture of your organization.&nbsp; You can have the fanciest technology, the most cutting-edge back-end, and the most innovative data structures &ndash; but if your employees are not on board with the direction you&rsquo;re going in, you&rsquo;re going to struggle.&nbsp; Digital transformation is as much about the change management as it is about the new technology itself.&nbsp; Right from the top you should be communicating clearly about why the changes are necessary and how they are going to pay off over the long run.&nbsp; By setting the example and messaging correctly, you can ensure that your culture is one that embraces change and is a willing participant as you look to digitize things.&nbsp; Without this, you&rsquo;ll always be fighting uphill battles.</p>
<h2>2) Expertise</h2>
<p>Digitization requires a unique set of skills and it&rsquo;s worth investing in order to bring the right people into your organization to guide the project and manage all the necessary components.&nbsp; Some companies will choose to hire permanent employees for this, but this isn&rsquo;t necessary in most cases.&nbsp; You could choose to partner with a technology firm who has the required expertise and leverage their experience as needed to get the job done. It&rsquo;s a powerful way to do things because you get access to the expertise you need for as long as you need it, without having to commit to long-term contracts.&nbsp; You can handle digitalization on a project by project basis and retain the agility to adapt to changing circumstances as needed.</p>
<h2>3) Long-Term Thinking</h2>
<p>A common mistake we see with companies who are early in their digital transformation journeys is to get too excited with the various technology available and build something for their business of today.&nbsp; Then a few years later, the business has grown and scaled to a point where the system they have is not suitable.&nbsp; It&rsquo;s crucially important that when you are building a foundational technological stack, that you&rsquo;re thinking long-term about where the business is going.&nbsp; You want to build something that can scale along with your growth and remain relevant and useful for a long time to come.&nbsp; A little bit of foresight here allows you to build something that can last the test of the time, even if it costs you a little more in the moment.&nbsp; Build for the company of the future, not for where you are today.</p>
<h2>4) Efficiency and Alignment</h2>
<p>One of the benefits of digital assets and structures is that you can eliminate a lot of the duplicated work that is currently happening in your organization.&nbsp; So be sure to do a full evaluation of your various teams and silos to identify where you can automate or simplify processes to benefit multiple parts of your organization.&nbsp; You want your teams to be aligned and to be pulling in the same direction, but that only comes with doing the work to understand exactly what each team&rsquo;s needs are and how you can build common systems and stores that can serve those needs.&nbsp; Every decision you make should prioritize efficiency and aim to eliminate unnecessary manual work.&nbsp; If you&rsquo;re unsure of exactly what this looks like, consider working with a professional technology partner who can guide you through the process.</p>
<h2>5) Iterative Development</h2>
<p>The last consideration we&rsquo;ll consider here is the idea of iterative development.&nbsp; It can be tempting to spend a lot of time creating the perfect digital transformation plan that is going to unfold over months, trying to articulate every nuance and potential outcome before you get started.&nbsp; But this doesn&rsquo;t match to reality.&nbsp; Things change.&nbsp; You&rsquo;ll never be able to predict everything.&nbsp; The best way to tackle this journey is to go one step at a time.&nbsp; Build something, test it in the market, and then iterate based on the feedback that you get.&nbsp; Rinse and repeat.&nbsp; This method of iterating as you go helps you build momentum and ensures that you&rsquo;re aligned with what your customers actually care about.&nbsp; You&rsquo;ll be surprised at how much you learn when you develop things in this way.&nbsp; Whereas if you are determined to stick to your original plan, you might just end up deluding yourself and building something that consumers didn&rsquo;t actually want.</p>
<p>There you have it!&nbsp; Those are some of the key things to consider as you embark on a journey of digitalization.&nbsp; It really is a war, that isn&rsquo;t an exaggeration.&nbsp; As you compete in the marketplace, what is going to set you apart is how well you can take your business and port it into the digital realm of the 21<sup>st</sup> century.&nbsp; By doing it well, you&rsquo;ll make your business indispensable and it will be on the right side of history.</p>

We’ve seen a radical shift in recent years as organizations of all types have scrambled to move their business into the digital world as quickly and efficiently as possible in order to keep up with changing consumer demands. It’s not enough to just have a good product or service these days...

Unravel the distinctions between coupled, decoupled, and headless CMS architectures. Learn about their strengths and differences, and discover why Penzle might be the perfect headless solution for your brand's digital strategy.

Coupled, Decoupled, or Headless CMS? Navigating Your Best Fit

a computer screen with a keyboard and mouse on it

Navigating the CMS Landscape – Coupled, Decoupled, or Headless CMS?

In the ever-changing digital realm, businesses today face the decision of selecting between coupled, decoupled, or headless CMS systems. Dive deep into the intricacies of each, weighing their benefits and challenges. 

<p>In today's ever-evolving digital landscape, one of the decisions many businesses are grappling with is choosing a coupled, decoupled, or headless content management system (CMS).</p>
<p>While these all facilitate managing content and information on websites, there can be a range of usability tradeoffs that companies must consider before determining which solution is right for them and how CMS will support your business goals now and in the future.</p>
<p>Before making a decision, it is important to consider the benefits and drawbacks of coupled, decoupled, and headless architectures.</p>
<h2>What is a Coupled CMS?</h2>
<p>A coupled CMS combines the backend and frontend into a single application. You will find the CMS code, the content repository, the backend editor interface, and your custom code all bundled together.</p>
<p><img src="https://pnzdemostorageaccount.blob.core.windows.net/app/3010da2b9e904a5f91fc5c3cbc1b9aa4.jpg" alt="Diagram showcasing the architecture of a coupled CMS, where content management and content presentation are tightly integrated." /></p>
<p style="box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; --tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; margin: 0px 0px 24px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 18px; line-height: 30px; font-family: Roboto, 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8); letter-spacing: 0.3px; background-color: #ffffff; text-align: center;"><em style="box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; --tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: 16px; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">Figure 1. Diagram illustrating the architecture of a coupled CMS.</em></p>
<p><strong>This architecture is used by most traditional CMSs.</strong></p>
<p>Here are some pros and cons of using a coupled CMS:</p>
<p><strong> Pros </strong></p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Simplicity </strong><br />Both the frontend and backend are integrated, so there's only one environment to manage.</li>
<li><strong>Efficiency </strong><br />The built-in themes and templates make it easy to add new landing pages.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Cons </strong></p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Omnichannel</strong><br /> Limited content types and delivery channels.</li>
<li><strong>Frameworks </strong><br />A programming framework is limited to one.</li>
<li><strong>Security </strong><br />A public server exposes CMS code, which increases security&nbsp;risks.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Use Cases that cannot be covered by a Coupled CMS</h3>
<p>Many modern applications and channels cannot get the data they need from a traditional content management system. <br />The following use cases require either bespoke solutions or a headless CMS:</p>
<ul>
<li>Native Mobile Apps (iOS, Android)</li>
<li>Delivering the same content to a website and an application from the same source (omnichannel/multichannel)</li>
<li>Voice apps</li>
<li>AR applications</li>
<li>VR applications</li>
<li>Choosing the frontend first and the CMS second. In the case of using a new Javascript framework (Vue.js, React), you would have a difficult time adapting a traditional CMS in order to make it work in your situation.</li>
<li>Static website generators (e.g. Gatsby, Hugo, Jekyll, Middleman)</li>
<li>Improve product information on eCommerce sites</li>
</ul>
<h2>What is a Decoupled CMS?</h2>
<p>Decoupled CMS decouples or separates the backend and frontend into two systems. The backend app allows content creators to create and manage content independently. At the same time, the fronted system consumes data via an application programming interface (API). By consuming data via API, it is possible to customize any frontend framework and deliver content to any device or channel. The front-end and backend are hosted and maintained separately.</p>
<p>While the frontend and backend work independently, the frontend is predetermined with a specific delivery environment (such as .Net or Angular). It is important to note that these two systems are closely linked and can function as one.</p>
<p><img src="https://pnzdemostorageaccount.blob.core.windows.net/app/66d26f0292b343619aa395230aa04013.jpg" alt="Diagram illustrating the architecture of a decoupled CMS, highlighting the distinct content management backend and the content delivery frontend." /></p>
<p style="box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; --tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; margin: 0px 0px 24px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 18px; line-height: 30px; font-family: Roboto, 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8); letter-spacing: 0.3px; background-color: #ffffff; text-align: center;"><em style="box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; --tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: 16px; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">Figure 2. Diagram illustrating the architecture of a decoupled CMS.</em></p>
<p>Here are some pros and cons of using a decoupled CMS:</p>
<p><strong> Pros </strong></p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Security</strong><br /> Separation of front-end code from the CMS.</li>
<li><strong>Flexibility</strong><em> </em><br /> It is possible to deliver content using a specific delivery environment.</li>
<li><strong>Integration </strong><br />New technologies are easily integrated. </li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Cons</strong></p>
<ul>
<li><strong> Complexity </strong><br />Frontend and backend are decoupled. Maintaining two systems independently requires more skills.</li>
<li><strong>Customization  </strong><br />Design work requires front-end development.</li>
</ul>
<h2>What is a Headless CMS?</h2>
<p>A headless CMS separates back-end content management from front-end templating and design. The presentation layer is more flexible as it eliminates the front-end part. An application programming interface (API) is used by a headless CMS to deliver the content, allowing it to be accessed and displayed by any device or platform.</p>
<p>As a result, the content can be easily repurposed and displayed in various formats without being tied to any particular presentation layer. By using a headless CMS, businesses are able to revolutionize their digital presence by launching fresh content more quickly and effectively. Staying ahead of the competition is made possible by this innovative approach.</p>
<p><img src="https://pnzdemostorageaccount.blob.core.windows.net/app/ff7b5c43aa304f51a0cf792e8d238daa.jpg" alt="Diagram illustrating the architecture of a headless CMS, showing the separation of content management from content presentation." /></p>
<p style="box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; --tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; margin: 0px 0px 24px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 18px; line-height: 30px; font-family: Roboto, 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8); letter-spacing: 0.3px; background-color: #ffffff; text-align: center;"><em style="box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; --tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: 16px; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">Figure 3. Diagram illustrating the architecture of a headless CMS.</em></p>
<p>Here are some pros and cons of using a headless CMS:</p>
<p><strong>Pros </strong></p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Flexible frontend</strong><em> </em><br />Any technology can be used for any platform, whether it be for native apps, VR, IoT, IoT-based devices, etc.</li>
<li><strong>Flexible staff</strong><em> </em><br /> Your goal is to hire the most talented developers possible. You don't need to learn a prehistoric template language just to manage your content. Regardless of the language stack your team chooses, you can work with it.</li>
<li><strong>API consistency</strong><em> </em><br />Content creation for each platform can be complex and time-consuming. With a single, unified API, you can significantly reduce overhead and development operations, making accessing content easy and affordable.</li>
<li><strong>Reliability separation</strong><br /> The separation of the presentation layer from the CMS code is clearly defined, without having to interfere with any CMS code.</li>
<li><strong>Scalability and security</strong><br /> It provides high levels of security and a greater degree of scalability.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Cons </strong></p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Cost of development</strong><em> </em><br />There may be limitations for marketers since they may need to rely on developers for scenarios like building landing pages with custom layouts.</li>
<li><strong>Content Preview</strong><br /> In-page editing and live previews are difficult to see without significant development assistance.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Which One to Choose?</h2>
<p>When choosing the right CMS, you should focus on understanding its features, consider the changing digital landscape, and prepare your business for the future. As you can imagine, many options are available these days, so why would a Headless CMS be the better choice for so many people?</p>
<h4>Technical Resources and Expertise</h4>
<ul>
<li>Coupled CMS: Suitable for conventional websites that do not require complex integrations.</li>
<li>Headless CMS: Optimized for forward-thinking teams and supported by modern frameworks, this CMS stands out for its pure flexibility.</li>
</ul>
<h4>Future Scalability Requirements</h4>
<ul>
<li>Coupled CMS: For entities that plan to establish a steady digital presence.</li>
<li>Headless CMS: This approach excels for brands with rapid growth forecasts and platform diversifications, helping them adapt quickly to new digital developments.</li>
</ul>
<h4>Content Delivery Channels</h4>
<ul>
<li>Coupled CMS: Best for websites that focus on a single channel.</li>
<li>Headless CMS: Can serve content across websites, apps, IoT devices, and other platforms.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Here are a few reasons why headless CMS is often a better option</h3>
<ol>
<li><strong>Unprecedented Flexibility</strong>: A headless CMS allows developers to use any framework or technology, ensuring your brand stays current with the latest technology.</li>
<li><strong>Omnichannel Ready</strong>: A headless CMS enables brands to deliver content consistently across multiple devices and platforms.</li>
<li><strong>Future-Proofing Your Business</strong>: A headless CMS makes pivoting to new digital strategies or channels considerably easier since the presentation layer is uncoupled.</li>
<li><strong> Enhanced Performance</strong>: Without the overhead of a predefined frontend, websites and apps can be optimized for speed, improving user experience and SEO.</li>
<li><strong>Hybrid Possibilities</strong>: Some Modern Headless CMS platforms offer hybrid capabilities, allowing for traditional content previews when required, blending the best of both worlds.</li>
</ol>
<h2>Why Choose Penzle as Your Headless CMS?</h2>
<p>Many headless CMSs are on the market today, but Penzle has managed to carve a niche among them. What makes Penzle different from others? Let's dig into the core advantages and reasons why you could be your CMS of choice.</p>
<ol>
<li><strong>Intuitive User Interface:</strong> With Penzle, you do not have to struggle with long learning curves as it offers a smooth, intuitive interface that supports multiple admin themes and complies with accessibility standards.</li>
<li><strong>Scalability:</strong> The Penzle infrastructure is designed to be scalable, irrespective of whether you are a startup looking to grow or a large enterprise seeking to expand your digital footprint.</li>
<li><strong>Seamless Integrations:</strong> The Penzle architecture supports seamless integration with various tools, platforms, and languages, including eCommerce platforms and analytics services.</li>
<li><strong>Robust APIs:</strong> To ensure seamless content delivery and management, Penzle excels in offering comprehensive APIs that provide content delivery and management as seamlessly as possible. One of the major strengths of a headless CMS is its API-first approach. Our robust APIs are well documented and are known for being one of the industry's best management APIs, allowing your engineering team to organize and manage even the most complex digital ecosystems. Every step of the creation process will be backed by straightforward resources and support that will guide your developers.</li>
<li><strong>Future-Proof:</strong> The Penzle platform is constantly updated with the latest digital trends, so adopting the platform is more than just meeting present needs; it's also about securing your future digital endeavors.</li>
<li><strong>Affordable Pricing &amp; Transparent Costs:&nbsp;</strong>Our platform supports self-hosting with unlimited users, entries, and more -&nbsp;<span style="color: #0e101a; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;">entirely&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #0e101a; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" data-preserver-spaces="true">free, forever. Those interested in SaaS can use Penzle's affordable pricing and free extensions, which enhance marketing and form functionality. Are you concerned about hidden costs? We have you covered. Read our blog "The Hidden Costs of Headless CMS" to discover more.</span></li>
<li><strong style="color: #0e101a; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;">Security &amp; Compliance</strong><span style="color: #0e101a; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" data-preserver-spaces="true">: Our regular audits, GDPR compliance, and advanced security measures ensure the safety and security of your content and data.</span></li>
</ol>
<h2>Conclusion</h2>
<p>Today, businesses must choose the right Content Management System (CMS) to align their current and future goals. Whether it's a coupled, decoupled, or headless CMS, each has unique advantages and challenges.</p>
<p>While the coupled CMS offers simplicity and efficiency, it has limitations in catering to modern digital requirements. The decoupled CMS provides flexibility but requires skills in managing separate systems. The headless CMS stands out for its extreme flexibility, making it a favorite for brands anticipating rapid growth and diversification in their digital channels.</p>
<p>However, the right choice ultimately boils down to understanding a business's specific needs, technical resources, scalability requirements, and content delivery preferences. For those leaning toward a headless CMS, Penzle emerges as a standout option, given its intuitive interface, scalability, seamless integrations, and commitment to security and future developments. Regardless of the path businesses choose, they must make a strategic and forward-looking decision, ensuring they meet today's needs and tomorrow's.</p>

Coupled, decoupled, or headless?

Dive into the world of CMS hosting. Compare on-premise, cloud-managed, and SaaS models. Discover the evolution, benefits, and best practices for a seamless web experience. Make informed decisions for your website's future.

Choosing the Right CMS Hosting: On-Premise vs. Cloud vs. SaaS

Explore the intricacies of CMS hosting. From traditional on-premise setups to innovative SaaS solutions, this guide unpacks each model's advantages, challenges, and suitability. Whether launching a website or optimizing one, navigate your hosting choices confidently.

<p>Choosing a hosting model for your website or web application will be a crucial decision when you launch your website or web application. There is a wide range of options, including on-premise, cloud-managed, and software-as-a-service (SaaS). The choice can be overwhelming.</p>
<p>In the past, in most cases, you managed the installation of your CMS in the Cloud. As a result of the headless approach, it is finally possible to make a CMS available as a "Software as a Service" (SaaS).  </p>
<h2>Self-hosted on premise</h2>
<p>Self-hosted on-premise refers to the CMS that runs on a server located on the premises of the organization using it, rather than being hosted by a third party or a cloud such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, or Google Cloud Platform.</p>
<p>This case requires you to manage:</p>
<ul>
<li>Server configuration and setup</li>
<li>Managing CMS installations and updates</li>
<li>Maintaining backups, security, and performance</li>
</ul>
<p>Many customers are looking for a better solution than this one because it requires so much effort and IT expertise. <br />However, many mid-market and enterprise companies must satisfy strict compliance, privacy, security, and business continuity policies before committing to software off their servers.</p>
<h2>Self-hosted in the Cloud</h2>
<p>A CMS hosted in the cloud through a platform such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, or Google Cloud Platform still requires regular maintenance for issues such as CMS upgrades, fixes, etc.</p>
<p>As a result of cloud-based hosting, we are not required to worry about infrastructure maintenance. There is no doubt that this is a more acceptable option than on-premise, but maintaining a CMS still takes significant effort and time.</p>
<h2>Software as a Service (SaaS)</h2>
<p>The headless model has revolutionized the CMS industry by allowing vendors to offer a true Software as a Service (SaaS) solution for their customers, which was previously impossible. The benefits of multi-tenancy can also be seen for vendors - scalability, cost savings, and increased flexibility. The modern approach enables users to experience advanced performance with ease like never before.</p>
<p>With this approach, vendors and clients can take on different responsibilities, allowing both parties to focus on their respective tasks without compromising either party's ability to create a beautiful final product. The customer fully controls how their app is designed and the content they use to implement it. Everyone can focus on their strengths when vendor service is separated from client needs!</p>
<h2>Taking a look at future trends in CMS hosting</h2>
<p>The world of CMS hosting is continuously evolving, driven by technological advancements, changing user behaviors, and the ever-growing demands of digital experiences. As we peer beyond the current landscape of on-premise, cloud-managed, and SaaS solutions, several emerging trends promise to redefine our understanding and utilization of CMS hosting.</p>
<p>Decentralized web hosting is gaining traction with the rise of blockchain technologies. Websites and applications may soon rely on a distributed network instead of being bound by a centralized server or data center. This change enhances security, uptime, and resistance to censorship.</p>
<p>Building on the cloud's foundations, serverless computing is emerging as the next step. It empowers developers to craft and run applications without the burden of the underlying infrastructure. With dynamic scalability, faster deployments, and a pay-as-you-use model, serverless architectures are becoming increasingly appealing.</p>
<p>Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) are now pivotal in reshaping CMS hosting. These technologies introduce predictive analytics that anticipate traffic fluctuations, auto-scale resources, and automated security measures that instantly detect and neutralize threats.</p>
<p>Edge computing, a concept of processing data closer to its source, such as IoT devices, promises reduced latency and faster load times. By decentralizing processing away from core data centers, user experiences are enhanced, especially for audiences across various locations.</p>
<p>In an era of heightened environmental consciousness, the push for sustainable hosting solutions is stronger than ever. Future data centers will likely prioritize renewable energy, efficient cooling mechanisms, and sustainable hardware practices.</p>
<p>Personalization is set to transform as businesses lean heavily on AI and big data to serve dynamic content based on individual user behaviors and histories. This shift will elevate user experiences to unprecedented levels of customization.</p>
<p>Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) are poised to integrate deeper into the digital world. Future CMS platforms will be geared to support the hosting demands of immersive AR and VR content, ensuring rich, interactive experiences for end-users.</p>
<p>Lastly, continuous optimization tools embedded within CMS platforms will be pivotal. These tools, designed to monitor and enhance performance autonomously, will bolster security protocols and optimize user interactions.</p>
<h2>Your peace of mind with a cloud-first headless CMS</h2>
<p>A headless model offers vendors an opportunity to provide CMSs as true Software as a Service (SaaS) solutions, thereby allowing them to offer a true Software as a Service (SaaS) model. For ultimate performance and scalability, consider using a cloud-first headless CMS. Built specifically for the Cloud from day one, this valuable tool offers unparalleled benefits over any other CMS model.</p>
<h2>Benefits of cloud-first Headless CMS  </h2>
<p>The SaaS model is one of the most popular methods for providing software to businesses and organizations seeking to improve efficiency and reduce costs. Here are some key benefits of SaaS:</p>
<h3>Cost savings</h3>
<p>Headless CMS has a lower upfront cost compared to purchasing and installing CMS on individual servers. As part of their services, SaaS vendors handle maintenance, middleware, servers, networks, and storage for their customers.</p>
<h3>Scalability</h3>
<p>It is common for SaaS providers to be able to handle a large number of users and fluctuations in demand, making them a useful tool for businesses that may experience seasonal fluctuations in usage.</p>
<h3>Better security</h3>
<p>Due to the depth of knowledge that the vendor has on the infrastructure and CMS architecture on which the application is built, it is much easier for them to ensure proper security. One of the advantages of SaaS is that every time a security problem is fixed, it is applied to all customers. There is no doubt that SaaS vendors invest heavily in security measures to ensure the security of their customer's data. Data privacy and integrity can be secured through encryption, firewalls, and other security measures.</p>
<h3>Flexibility</h3>
<p>There are often times when SaaS subscriptions can be adapted or scaled up or down as necessary to meet the changing needs of a business.</p>
<h3>No painful upgrades</h3>
<p>Using a cloud-based headless CMS, you can ensure that you always use the latest version of the CMS without having to go through painful and costly upgrades. <br /><br />SaaS vendors typically release regular updates to their software, which are automatically applied to all customers. This ensures that customers are always using the latest version of the software.</p>
<h2>The future of content management is here with Penzle</h2>
<p>Would you like a system that seamlessly integrates with all your other SaaS products? Penzle's cloud-first, API-first Headless CMS is the perfect solution. Using our cutting-edge API-first approach, we streamline data aggregation, simplify workflows, and bridge the gap between your favorite tools by incorporating our cutting-edge API-first approach.</p>
<p>There can be no doubt that Penzle is a dream come true for the developer community. Develop stunning apps with unmatched speed, use our robust APIs, and harness the full range of resources we've curated just for you. Penzle will be there to support you at every step of the way.</p>
<p>It's not just about developers. Content creators, it's time to take your content to the next level. With AI-powered tools, you can precisely analyze, categorize, and fine-tune your content strategy. Whether you're targeting specific demographics or tailoring customized experiences, our platform can assist you in doing it well.</p>
<p>If you're worried about usability, our intuitive editorial interface ensures an easy and hassle-free experience. From the moment you first create your content through its distribution, you'll feel the process was smooth and efficient.</p>
<p>Curious to see what the buzz is about? Dive into the Penzle experience for free by visiting penzle.com.</p>

A comparison of on-premise, cloud, and SaaS CMS hosting

Discover whether microservices are ready for adoption. Learn essential metrics, gain strategic insights, and examine your organization's capabilities to navigate the challenges and complexities of microservices implementation.

Evaluating Organizational Competency for Microservice Adoption

Explore the decisive factors in adopting microservices for your software projects. Analyze key performance metrics, such as deployment frequency and recovery time, to determine if microservices are feasible. 



<p>In previous blog articles, we got acquainted with microservices and monolith architecture. Considering that each architecture has some advances and challenges, which architecture to choose for the next project? I discussed <a href="/blog/strategic-choices-microservices-vs-monoliths-for-architectural-success/">when microservices might be a bad idea</a> and when you should choose them. Many different types of projects can be developed with a microservice architecture, but not all companies have the necessary skills to create these kinds of apps.<br />The reality is that many companies are not ready for microservices. As a result, it's essential to take steps now to prepare yourself and your company so you can enter this new age of development with the knowledge needed to succeed.</p>
<p>Do you know the key factors that evaluate your development capabilities and if your company is ready for microservices? Learn some key factors that evaluate whether or not a software company will be able to move into the world of microservices.</p>
<h2>Key factors in evaluating software development capabilities</h2>
<p><span data-preserver-spaces="true">Microservice development is a highly specialized task and requires organizations to be at the top of their game. It's a complex architecture that requires advanced software development practices. Poorly performing or inexperienced organizations are likely to face many obstacles in creating, deploying, maintaining, monitoring, or supporting microservices.</span></p>
<p>Micro-managing your apps can result in some serious challenges that may not have been present before. For example - if you don't know how best practices should look for managing APIs with services like Kubernetes, then there's no telling what might happen!</p>
<p>Many factors determine software development capabilities. In 2018, authors Nicole Forsgren, PhD Jez Humble and Gene Kim published the results of their thought-out scientific study on software development organization capabilities in the form of their book, Accelerate.</p>
<p><img src="https://pnzdemostorageaccount.blob.core.windows.net/app/94f3d7e6f9544559b2057fe75b82873a.jpg" alt="a screenshot of a video game" />&nbsp;<br /><br />Years and years spent researching, analyzing data helped him identify four key metrics for evaluating an organization's performance in software delivery capability. Key metrics:</p>
<ul>
<li>Deployment frequency&nbsp;</li>
<li>Lead time for changes</li>
<li>Meantime to recovery (MTTR)</li>
<li>Change failure rate&nbsp;</li>
</ul>
<h3><span data-preserver-spaces="true">Deployment frequency</span></h3>
<p>Deployment frequency is a measure of how often the software you're developing goes into production. The more frequently your team pushes out new releases, the higher their deployment frequency will be.</p>
<table border="0">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><img src="https://pnzdemostorageaccount.blob.core.windows.net/app/b00f962ae06745dd8f7857a2304778d1.svg" alt="null" /></td>
<td style="color: #537b15; font-weight: 500;">Hight performance organization</td>
<td style="font-weight: 500;">Doing that on-demand, potentially multiple times per day.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><img src="https://pnzdemostorageaccount.blob.core.windows.net/app/99d2d5696ab6483e8b30af89e12c5276.svg" alt="null" /></td>
<td style="color: #1976d2; font-weight: 500;">Deploy once a week and once a month.</td>
<td style="font-weight: 500;">Deploy once a week and once a month.&nbsp;</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><img src="https://pnzdemostorageaccount.blob.core.windows.net/app/53516f6264104c628a900601a8b2197d.svg" alt="null" /></td>
<td style="color: #f27373; font-weight: 500;">Low performance organization</td>
<td style="font-weight: 500;">Deploy once a week and once a month but has much more variability than the medium performers.</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<h3><span data-preserver-spaces="true">Lead time for changes</span></h3>
<p>The time it takes to build, test, and deploy a new feature increment is referred to as lead time.</p>
<table border="0">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><img src="https://pnzdemostorageaccount.blob.core.windows.net/app/b00f962ae06745dd8f7857a2304778d1.svg" alt="null" /></td>
<td style="color: #537b15; font-weight: 500;">Hight performance organization</td>
<td style="font-weight: 500;">Can do that in less than one hour.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><img src="https://pnzdemostorageaccount.blob.core.windows.net/app/99d2d5696ab6483e8b30af89e12c5276.svg" alt="null" /></td>
<td style="color: #1976d2; font-weight: 500;">Deploy once a week and once a month.</td>
<td style="font-weight: 500;">Can do that between one week and one month.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><img src="https://pnzdemostorageaccount.blob.core.windows.net/app/53516f6264104c628a900601a8b2197d.svg" alt="null" /></td>
<td style="color: #f27373; font-weight: 500;">Low performance organization</td>
<td style="font-weight: 500;">Can do that between one week and one month; their lead times are more variable than medium performers.&nbsp;</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<h3><span data-preserver-spaces="true">Meantime to recovery (MTTR)</span></h3>
<p>When service is interrupted due to a change that causes a problem, the meantime to recovery is the time it takes to restore service.</p>
<table border="0">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><img src="https://pnzdemostorageaccount.blob.core.windows.net/app/b00f962ae06745dd8f7857a2304778d1.svg" alt="null" /></td>
<td style="color: #537b15; font-weight: 500;">Hight performance organization</td>
<td style="font-weight: 500;">Can do this in less than one hour.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><img src="https://pnzdemostorageaccount.blob.core.windows.net/app/99d2d5696ab6483e8b30af89e12c5276.svg" alt="null" /></td>
<td style="color: #1976d2; font-weight: 500;">Deploy once a week and once a month.</td>
<td style="font-weight: 500;">Complete in less than a day.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><img src="https://pnzdemostorageaccount.blob.core.windows.net/app/53516f6264104c628a900601a8b2197d.svg" alt="null" /></td>
<td style="color: #f27373; font-weight: 500;">Low performance organization</td>
<td style="font-weight: 500;">Complete between one day and one week.</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<h3><span data-preserver-spaces="true">Change failure rate</span></h3>
<p>The percentage of changes sent to production that cause service degradation or require prompt remediation is known as the change failure rate.</p>
<table border="0">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><img src="https://pnzdemostorageaccount.blob.core.windows.net/app/b00f962ae06745dd8f7857a2304778d1.svg" alt="null" /></td>
<td style="color: #537b15; font-weight: 500;">Hight performance organization</td>
<td style="font-weight: 500;">This happens anywhere from 0-15% of the time.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><img src="https://pnzdemostorageaccount.blob.core.windows.net/app/99d2d5696ab6483e8b30af89e12c5276.svg" alt="null" /></td>
<td style="color: #1976d2; font-weight: 500;">Deploy once a week and once a month.</td>
<td style="font-weight: 500;">This happens anywhere from 0-15% of the time.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><img src="https://pnzdemostorageaccount.blob.core.windows.net/app/53516f6264104c628a900601a8b2197d.svg" alt="null" /></td>
<td style="color: #f27373; font-weight: 500;">Low performance organization</td>
<td style="font-weight: 500;">Failure rate tends to be between 31-45%.</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<h2><span data-preserver-spaces="true">Key Metrics for Software Delivery Capability</span></h2>
<p><span data-preserver-spaces="true">Based on research, those are top indicators for software development capabilities. Let's took those key metrics and put them into a comparison table. You can compare your organization with those metrics and see if the organization is capable of adapting microservices or not.</span></p>
<table border="0">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://pnzdemostorageaccount.blob.core.windows.net/app/6ebe2d1db66343138c01d6dc58e48cac.svg" alt="null" /><br />Ready</td>
<td style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://pnzdemostorageaccount.blob.core.windows.net/app/848234b55eb24c03be10f0a0e6e351d9.svg" alt="null" /><br />Caution</td>
<td style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://pnzdemostorageaccount.blob.core.windows.net/app/b1539b10472b4d00ae0477cc1f9ad97c.svg" alt="null" /><br />Not Ready</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td style="text-align: center; font-weight: 600;">Hight performance</td>
<td style="text-align: center; font-weight: 600;">Medium performance</td>
<td style="text-align: center; font-weight: 600;">Low performance</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="font-weight: 600;">Deployment frequency</td>
<td>On-demand</td>
<td>Once a week to once a month</td>
<td>Once a week to once a month*</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="font-weight: 600;">Lead time for changes</td>
<td>Less than one hour</td>
<td>One week to one month</td>
<td>One week to one month*</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="font-weight: 600;">Meantime to recovery (MTTR)</td>
<td>Lesss than one hour</td>
<td>Less than one day</td>
<td>One day to one week</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="font-weight: 600;">Change failure rate</td>
<td>0-15%</td>
<td>0-15%</td>
<td>31-45%</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>If you rate as:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Hight performance organization</strong> - You are capable of adopting microservices</li>
<li><strong>Medium performance organization</strong> - Most likely, you are capable of adapting microservices, but with caution.</li>
<li><strong>Low performance organization</strong> - It strongly recommends against adopting microservices.</li>
</ul>
<h2><span data-preserver-spaces="true">Improvement&nbsp;Process</span></h2>
<p><span data-preserver-spaces="true">It takes time and effort to create an organizational culture primed for success with microservice architecture. Still, it's worth doing if you want better agility with software development. Eventually, even small companies will realize they need more than one person to develop their systems as their complexity grows over time.<br />If your company is not ready for microservices, it might be time to implement some changes that will help you transform into a more efficient organization.</span></p>
<h3><span data-preserver-spaces="true">Culture&nbsp;</span></h3>
<p>Learning and teaching are the key to success. It is a well-known fact that the learning and teaching environment plays an essential role in any organization. It is important that employees learn new skills while also offering them self-education opportunities through training programs and educating others on how they work best. In addition, by adapting their style as educators for themselves or other colleagues, they can accelerate this journey towards improving software development capabilities within your workforce. <br />Taking the time and look back over the process tools to become more effective over time.</p>
<p>It is so easy to get caught up in the day-to-day hustle and forget about how far you've come. Take time by looking back on your overall processes and tools that made it possible for you to become more effective, as this is one of the most important steps!</p>
<h3><span data-preserver-spaces="true">DevOps Culture</span></h3>
<p><span data-preserver-spaces="true">To ensure that software is always delivered on time, the company must ensure development and operation are fully integrated into all processes. Creating team responsibilities for their software during production and building robust automation and tools that will help minimize friction when delivering it. Monitoring system performance also helps guide future decision-making as well as opportunities for improvement.</span></p>
<h3><span data-preserver-spaces="true">Quality Culture</span></h3>
<p><span data-preserver-spaces="true">It would help if you always were investigating the design improvements of your software.</span></p>
<p><span data-preserver-spaces="true">You must constantly explore new and inventive ways to improve your systems. Allocate at least one dedicated software architect who works exclusively on shepherding the system architecture. Implementing and improving robust test automation to ensure no significant errors in production will enhance the organization's quality culture.&nbsp;</span></p>
<h2><span data-preserver-spaces="true">Conclusion</span></h2>
<p><span data-preserver-spaces="true">Microservices are hard. An inexperienced company is likely to face many obstacles when it comes to managing microservices. In this blog, we have seen vital factors that evaluate software development capabilities. Organizations with high deployment frequency, low lead time for changes, short MTTRs (mean-time to recovery), and low change failure rates will have higher success rates when developing microservices than those who do not meet these requirements. Companies that perform as a low level organization are strongly recommended to avoid microservices.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>

Essential Factors for Microservices Development



Dive deep into the strategic considerations of employing microservices architecture. Find out how microservices optimize growth and agility when to use them, and ascertain scenarios where their adoption might not be the ideal choice.

Microservices Decision Guide: When to Implement and When to Avoid

Understand how to navigate the complex landscape of architectural choices and determine when microservices may be a good idea versus when they should be avoided. 


<p>Microservices has become one of the most popular architectures for modern software, but are microservices always a good idea? This blog post will explore when microservices might be a bad idea and when microservices can be beneficial.</p>
<p>In the <a title="Choosing Between Microservices and Monolithic Architecture - How to Avoid Architecture Disaster?" href="/blog/strategic-choices-microservices-vs-monoliths-for-architectural-success/">previous blog article</a>, we get familiar with monolith and microservices architecture. We have seen that each architecture has some benefits as well as challenges. When considering the advantages and disadvantages of each architecture, it&rsquo;s time to consider essential factors that you should consider before you choose microservices.</p>
<h2><span data-preserver-spaces="true">Why Might You Choose Microservices?</span></h2>
<p><span data-preserver-spaces="true">I can&rsquo;t tell you what your company does or the goals it wants to achieve, but I know that many companies worldwide are using microservices for various reasons. I can outline the reasons why companies using microservices around the world.&nbsp;</span></p>
<h3>Team Autonomy</h3>
<div class="quote-container">
<p class="title">Whatever industry you operate in, it is all about your people, and catching them doing things right, and providing them with the confidence, the motivation, the freedom and desire to achieve their true potential.</p>
<span class="author">John Timpson </span></div>
<p><span data-preserver-spaces="true">Missing autonomy is critical for a company&rsquo;s ability to grow and scale. Many companies have shown the benefits of creating autonomous teams. Keeping organizational groups small and allowing them to work effectively has helped many companies grow and scale faster than their peers. Autonomy work at smaller and most modern companies. You should always be looking at how to improve team autonomy. Having the proper autonomy can help people to grow and get jobs faster. Distribution of responsibility can play out in many ways.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span data-preserver-spaces="true">The importance of knowing what responsibilities each team has and how they can work together to get the job done is critical. It&rsquo;s not just about efficiently organizing tasks but also understanding that taking on some responsibility might be better suited for another person or group with strengths in different areas. That ensures that all available resources are used as effectively as possible, making everyone more productive.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;<span data-preserver-spaces="true">To better manage the workload of a codebase, we have identified which areas need more attention and assigned them accordingly. Giving proper responsibility, e.g., Matt knows display slider best, so he is responsible for that. Steve knows how to optimize DB queries best, so he is responsible for that. When teams own microservices and have complete control over those services, they increase their autonomy within a larger organization.</span></p>
<h3><span data-preserver-spaces="true">Reduce Time to Market</span></h3>
<p>One of the best benefits of microservices is that they allow for independent deployment, so you don't have to wait until coordinated releases. We can provide the functionality to our clients more quickly by creating and deploying microservices individually and without waiting for coordinated releases.</p>
<h3><span data-preserver-spaces="true">Scale Cost-Effectively for Load</span></h3>
<p><span data-preserver-spaces="true">Our processing can be scaled independently by dividing it down into independent microservices. That means we can have cost-effectively-scale. We can scale up only individual parts that are handling our load. It also follows that we can scale down those microservices under less load or even turn them off when not needed.</span></p>
<p><span data-preserver-spaces="true">We add redundancy to our system by running many copies of your monolith, potentially behind a load balancer or another load distribution mechanism like a queue. By dispersing instances of our monolith across several failure planes (e.g., not having all computers in the same rack or data center), we may boost the robustness of our applications even further.</span></p>
<p><img src="https://pnzdemostorageaccount.blob.core.windows.net/app/4772a2417cb24fd091e0585dfef22641.jpg" alt="Diagram of microservice organization." /></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>Figure&nbsp;1 - Microservice organization</em></p>
<p><span data-preserver-spaces="true">For example, for &ldquo;Black Friday&rdquo; customers will buy more products and most likely order and product services get under the load. You need to scale order and product services to handle that load. There are several ways to do it.&nbsp;</span></p>
<h4><strong><span data-preserver-spaces="true">Vertical&nbsp;</span></strong></h4>
<p><span data-preserver-spaces="true">Vertical scaling means adding more power to an existing machine. The machine for purchase order microservices gets more CPU and RAM.</span></p>
<p><img src="https://pnzdemostorageaccount.blob.core.windows.net/app/706aa381ef98454294e8000a0afb3845.jpg" alt="Diagram of microservice organization with vertical scaling." /></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true"><em>Figure&nbsp;2&nbsp;- Microservice organization with vertical scaling</em></span></p>
<h4><strong><span data-preserver-spaces="true">Horizontal</span></strong></h4>
<p><span data-preserver-spaces="true">Horizontal scaling means adding more machines. Product microservice gets replicated into a different machine, providing the ability to support even heavier loads. With horizontal scaling load balancer should be adapted to route the request to the corresponding instance.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><img src="https://pnzdemostorageaccount.blob.core.windows.net/app/414737acdaf14a22b53a79c36495fa6e.jpg" alt="Diagram of Microservice organization with horizontal scaling.

" /></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>Figure&nbsp;3 - Microservice organization with horizontal scaling</em></p>
<p><span data-preserver-spaces="true">Another great benefit with microservices is that you could replace technology with alternatives to handle a better load. Keep in mind that this is not a trivial undertaking. First, consider working on existing improvements and optimizations over to a new type of database or programming language. Reducing the impact of change as well as technology is more effortless. You may change the technology used only inside the one microservice that requires it, leaving the rest of the services unnotched.&nbsp;</span></p>
<h3><span data-preserver-spaces="true">Improve Robustness</span></h3>
<p><span data-preserver-spaces="true">The move from single-tenant software to multi-tenant SaaS applications means the impact of outages can be more widespread. Softwares are used today more than ever before, support different countries, time zones, and many other complex tasks. By breaking our application into individual, independently deployable processes, we open up a host of mechanisms to improve the robustness of our applications.</span></p>
<h3><span data-preserver-spaces="true">Scale the Number of Developers</span></h3>
<p><span data-preserver-spaces="true">The adage of throwing more developers at a project to make it go faster is not the answer. Some problems, however, need an extra push from team members to get them done.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span data-preserver-spaces="true">One significant product domain gets decoupled into subdomains. Each subdomain may have an independent team responsible for the entire lifecycle of the product, from development to deployment. Based on the business functionality of each subdomain, we can scale the number of devs. For example, product service has more business functionality, and we need three team members while user service needs only one member.</span></p>
<p><img src="https://pnzdemostorageaccount.blob.core.windows.net/app/80584b0a0a7f492f85a1528641978daf.jpg" alt="Diagram of Team organization with microservices." /></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true"><em>Figure&nbsp;4&nbsp;- Team organization with&nbsp;microservices</em></span></p>
<p><span data-preserver-spaces="true">With clearly identified boundaries, each boundary can own a team. One significant product will be divided into small subdomains where each subdomain can own a team. Consist that some boundaries are more complex and require a bigger team, we can scale the number of developers based on domain complexity. For example:</span></p>
<p><span data-preserver-spaces="true">That is important to follow Agile and DevOps methodologies because each one with different skills learns how to work together on the same product.</span></p>
<p><span data-preserver-spaces="true">Even teams are independent; microservices will end up communicating with each other. It means you still need to manage integration between the teams at a certain point in time. Services need to communicate between, and team members have some communication. Each service might have its own version control system, such as Git.</span></p>
<h3><span data-preserver-spaces="true">Embrace New Technology</span></h3>
<p><span data-preserver-spaces="true">Monoliths typically limit our technology. Usually, we have one programming language on the backend with fixed to one deployment platform, one operating system, and one type of database.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span data-preserver-spaces="true">We gain the flexibility to choose those options for each service with a microservice architecture. One service boundary can have the benefit of technology isolation as an example, report DB. You can have a microservice architecture that contains individual services written using various programming languages and tool kits.</span></p>
<h2><span data-preserver-spaces="true">When Might Microservices Be a Bad Idea?</span></h2>
<p><span data-preserver-spaces="true">There are many benefits that microservice architectures bring, but I don&rsquo;t recommend microservices in a few situations. Let&rsquo;s take a look at some of those situations.</span></p>
<h3><span data-preserver-spaces="true">Unclear domain</span></h3>
<p><span data-preserver-spaces="true">You have domain model unclear results in frequent changes to the models and aggregates. It can lead to the wrong identification of service boundaries and a more significant number of cross-services changes, which can be very expensive. Considering that each service is a hosted-CI solution, each change leads to a high cost and ownership. A monolith is a much better choice if you don&rsquo;t have a clear domain. If you want to decompose an existing codebase into microservices is much easier than trying to go to microservices from the beginning.</span></p>
<h3><span data-preserver-spaces="true">Startups</span></h3>
<p><span data-preserver-spaces="true">It might sound controversial as many companies considered as startup companies are famous for their use of microservices. It&rsquo;s important to highlight that many of those companies, including Netflix, Airbnb moved to microservice architecture only later in their evolution.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span data-preserver-spaces="true">Startups often experimenting with various ideas in an attempt to find customers. In that journey, many times, they have to change the original vision of their product. Adapting your product to your customers requires huge changes in the product domain. It requires considerable changes to services boundaries that are original design. As mentioned, it can cause many cross services changes. It&rsquo;s easier, faster, and less expensive to do changes in monolith architecture.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span data-preserver-spaces="true">Your customers don&rsquo;t know which architecture you are using. Your focus should be on being a success! When you establish the fundamentals of your product and the right market, it&rsquo;s easier to do decomposition into microservices. When you reach the point that your product runs, a market is established, and cash-flow, it&rsquo;s time to think about how you take &ldquo;scale-ups&ldquo; advantage of the microservice architecture.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span data-preserver-spaces="true">I&rsquo;m not saying never do microservices for startups, but those are factors that you should consider.</span></p>
<p><span data-preserver-spaces="true">Boundaries that are clear at the beginning you could split and keep the rest on the more monolithic side. You will be able to identify your operation capacity like; if you struggle to manage two services, managing ten will be more difficult.&nbsp;</span></p>
<h3><span data-preserver-spaces="true">Customer-Installed and Managed Software</span></h3>
<p><span data-preserver-spaces="true">If you want to create software that is packaged for customers who then install and manage it, then microservices may not be the best choice.</span></p>
<p><span data-preserver-spaces="true">Usually, customer-installed software targets a specific version. Targeting one environment such as Windows Server or Linux is well understood by people who manage these systems. You should consider customer skills and size. It might be difficult if they need to run and manage 10 or 20 processes. Managing and monitoring those processes may be an issue for customers. Considering that some companies have required skills but the company is not large enough to manage those services.</span></p>
<p><span data-preserver-spaces="true">If your software run on a Kubernetes cluster, or each process uses a different technology? Most customers are not ready to obtain those skills and technologies.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span data-preserver-spaces="true">It&rsquo;s easier to run and manage a single process, so monolith architecture is preferred in customer-installed software.&nbsp;</span></p>
<h3><span data-preserver-spaces="true">Not Having a Good Reason!</span></h3>
<p><span data-preserver-spaces="true">Assuming that &ldquo;If microservices are good for Amazon, they&rsquo;re good for us!&rdquo; that is the biggest reason why you should avoid microservices.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span data-preserver-spaces="true">You must have a clear vision and goals and what you are trying to achieve. You should closely identify which benefit you can adapt from microservices.&nbsp;</span></p>
<h2><span data-preserver-spaces="true">Conclusion</span></h2>
<p><span data-preserver-spaces="true">When you&rsquo;re considering how to scale your engineering team, the size of your application, or both, it may be time for a new approach. Microservices allow teams to work independently and iteratively with each other in order to build better software while maintaining high levels of robustness.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span data-preserver-spaces="true">The advantages that microservices bring come with a cost, and that is complexity. Microservices are much more complex than monolithic, which creates many challenges that must be overcome for a microservices implementation to deliver more value. Developing microservices, running them in production, and maintain them over time is hard.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span></p>

The Microservices Dilemma: When to Implement and When to Avoid

When to Choose Microservices and When Not

Learn how to choose between microservices and monolithic architectures in software development. A detailed comparison of the benefits and challenges of each architecture helps professionals and businesses make an informed, strategic decision based on their unique requirements.









Microservices vs Monolithic Architecture: Guiding Your Path to the Right Choice

Learn how to choose between microservices and monolithic architectures in our comprehensive guide. You'll learn about real-world applications, benefits, and challenges to help you make informed, strategic architecture decisions.

<p>Microservices are trendy and they&rsquo;ve become the default architecture for hundreds of companies around the world. Companies like Amazon, Netflix and Uber use microservices. Does that mean that they are good for your project? Don't risk falling into a cargo cult mentality, just assuming that &ldquo;If microservices are good for Netflix, they&rsquo;re good for us!<br /><br />I've always tried to cut through the hype and help companies to decide if microservices are right for them.<br /><br />Many companies aim to solve the problems that microservices cause, some of them plan to do the migration to microservices but don't know how to start. <br />Business today is more complex, distributed over the continents, performed 24/7 over the internet, and deals with different currencies and time zones. Applications need to meet business needs which are getting more complex. They are supposed to process huge amounts of data, be mobile, use geo-localization, and communicate with external systems. What to do if you are starting a new project or having an issue?</p>
<h2>Starting a new project or planning a migration from monolith to microservices</h2>
<p>How do you take an existing system and re-architect it without having to stop all other work? How do you break apart existing systems into a microservice architecture? - Those are everyday questions for companies who plan migration to microservices.</p>
<p>My clients face challenges when starting with microservices, and clients with existing architectures (non-microservice-oriented) struggle with adapting microservice architecture, thus I decided to create a series of blogs that will hopefully help answer those questions. <br /><br />Before we dive into working with microservices we need to make sure that we're speaking the same language. It's important that we have a common, shared understanding of what microservices are.</p>
<h2>What is a monolith?</h2>
<p>When all functionalities in a system are deployed together (one unit of deployment), we consider it a monolith. It's a single integrated application most of the time written all in one programming language. There are many types of monolithic systems, the most popular and commonly used are the single-process, modular, and the distributed monolith.</p>
<h3>The Single Process Monolith</h3>
<p>The most common example of monoliths is a system where all of the code is deployed as a single process. All code is packed into a single process and all processes read or store data from a database.</p>
<p><img src="https://pnzdemostorageaccount.blob.core.windows.net/app/d003dbbb6b584f7d87d8da0909c83604.jpg" alt="A single-process monolith diagram: all code is packaged into a single process." /></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>Figure 1. A single-process monolith: all code is packaged into a single process.</em></p>
<p>These single-process monoliths represent the vast majority of the monolithic system that I can see people are struggling with.</p>
<h3>The Modular Monolith</h3>
<p>The single process consists of separate modules, each module can be worked on independently but still need to be combined for deployment as shown in Figure 2. The concept of breaking down software into modules is well known in the history of building software applications.</p>
<p><img src="https://pnzdemostorageaccount.blob.core.windows.net/app/e2f35f4155bd4de984e3c63e2c5b7b4d.jpg" alt="Diagram of a modular monolith with a decomposed database" /></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>Figure 2.&nbsp;A modular monolith: the code inside the process is broken down into modules</em></p>
<p>If module boundaries are well defined, it can allow for a high degree of parallel working. For many companies, the modular monolith can be a good choice. Shopify is a great example that has used this approach as an alternative to microservice decomposition. One of the challenges of this technique is that the database tends to lack the decomposition we find at the code level. I have seen some teams having the database decomposed along the same lines as the modules, as shown in Figure 3. This can be very challenging even if you are leaving code alone. We will explore those patterns in further blogs.<br /><img src="https://pnzdemostorageaccount.blob.core.windows.net/app/946150c96e0d4879a82329eba208ee8c.jpg" alt="A modular monolith diagram: the code inside the process is broken down into modules" /></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>Image 3:&nbsp;A modular monolith with a decomposed database</em></p>
<h3>The Distributed Monolith</h3>
<div class="quote-container">
<p class="title">&ldquo;A distributed system is one in which the failure of a computer you didn&rsquo;t even know existed can render your own computer unusable.&rdquo;</p>
<span class="author">Leslie Lamport</span></div>
<p>A distributed monolith is a system that consists of multiple services but the entire system has to be deployed together. In our experience distributed monoliths have all the disadvantages of a distributed system and disadvantages of a single-process monolith.</p>
<h2>Challenges of Monoliths</h2>
<p>There are many challenges that monoliths bring, some of them are listed below:</p>
<h3>Size &amp; Complexity</h3>
<p>Adding features over the time increases the size and complexity of a single application. So every time when you add a new feature a codebase becomes bigger and more complex. (Size complexity)</p>
<h3>Effort of next change</h3>
<p>Effort to add a new feature to the monolith goes up as it gets bigger. The bigger the monolith gets, the harder it is to change.</p>
<h3>Team</h3>
<p>As you have more people working in the same place, they get in each other's way. Every developer expects to add features across the entire application code base. Different developers want to change the same piece of code, different teams want to push functionality live at different times. Who owns what and who makes decisions.&nbsp;</p>
<h3>Release Cycles and Quality</h3>
<p>It may take weeks or months to deliver a new revision. Delivering one feature requires regression testing of all applications.</p>
<h2>What Advantages Can Monoliths Bring?</h2>
<p>The single-process monolith has a whole host of advantages.</p>
<h3>Simpler deployment topology</h3>
<p>It can avoid many of the pitfalls associated with distributed systems. You simply need to deploy the final artifact on the appropriate runtime, configure a few properties and that's all.</p>
<h3>Code reuse can be simplify</h3>
<p>If we want to reuse code within a distributed system we need to decide whether we want to copy code or push the shared functionality into service. Many people like this simplicity, all code is there and just use it!</p>
<h3>Simple to scale</h3>
<p>You just run multiple instances of the same application behind a load balancer and you are done. Note that scaling can be more expensive, a monolith requires scaling every part because it's all connected.</p>
<h3>Simpler end-to-end testing</h3>
<p>Most of your tests test a single piece of software.</p>
<h2>What Are Microservices?</h2>
<p>Microservices architecture is about building a single application and spreading accumulated features into a network of different services. Each microservice runs their own process developed and deployed independently. Microservices are a set of practices meant to increase the speed and efficiency of developing software solutions that scale. This set of practices is technology agnostic, meaning that there is not one single technology or programming language to build microservices. You can build microservices in all programming languages.</p>
<p>Microservice is made of &bdquo;Micro&ldquo; and &bdquo;Services&ldquo;.</p>
<h3>Micro</h3>
<p>How big should a microservice be? How to measure the size? Is that number of lines of code, the number of developers in the team, etc.? There is no universal measure.</p>
<p>The Micro refers to the scope of the service functionality. A microservice is a service built around a specific business capability that can be independently deployed. We call that bounded context. To build a large enterprise application we have to identify subdomains of our main business domain and build each sub-domain as a microservice.</p>
<h3>Service</h3>
<p>Independently deployable component of bounded code that interoperability through message-based communication. The original definition they gave summarizes it all:</p>
<div class="quote-container">
<p class="title">&ldquo;The microservice architectural style is an approach to developing a single application as a suite of small services, each running in its own process and communicating with lightweight mechanisms&rdquo;</p>
<span class="author">James Lewis and Martin Fowler</span></div>
<h2>What Advantages Can Microservices Bring?</h2>
<p>There are many advantages of microservices.</p>
<h3>The independent deployment</h3>
<p>The independent deployment is the most important part. It opens up new models for the scale and robustness of systems.</p>
<h3>Technology independent</h3>
<p>There is not one single technology or programming language to build microservices. You can build microservices in all programming languages. Process isolation makes it possible to mix different programming languages, programming styles, deployment or databases. Mix of different technologies and work in parallel is allowed.</p>
<h3>Scale the number of developers</h3>
<p>It can also be easier for developers to understand their part of the system, as they can focus their attention on just one part of it. Process isolation makes it possible.</p>
<h3>Robustness</h3>
<p>We are able to implement a more robust architecture because the functionality is decomposed &mdash; that is, an impact on one area of functionality need not bring down the whole system.</p>
<h2>What Problems DO they create?</h2>
<p>Goal of microservices is to spread accumulated features into a network of different services. Goal of services is to use multiple machines. Every communication between machines is a network call and is not instantaneous. That means we have to worry about latencies. Latencies will vary, which can make system behavior unpredictable. We should take into consideration that networks sometimes fail or packets get lost etc. Monolith has simple activities with transactions, while with microservices it's much more difficult. How to get a consistent view of data across multiple machines.</p>
<h2>Conclusion</h2>
<p>We got familiar with microservices and the difference between microservices and monolith architecture.&nbsp; We covered major and most used types of monolith architecture. As we have seen, monolith architecture has some advantages as well as challenges, the same as microservices architecture.</p>
<p>Considering that each architecture has some advances and challenges, which architecture to choose for the next project? Now that we have a common, shared understanding of what microservices are, in the next blog article I will discuss when microservices are a bad idea and why to choose microservices for your project. Stay tuned.</p>

Admir Mehanovic

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