Cloud-native application development has emerged as a key trend in recent years. As enterprises increasingly aim to tap into the agility and scalability that cloud technology provides, cloud-native application development has become an essential part of modern software development strategies.
For enterprise CIOs looking to take full advantage of cloud-native technology for custom application development, it’s essential that they are well-versed in the nuances of this landscape and the technologies driving it.
What Is Cloud-Native Application Development?
Cloud-native application development is an approach to creating and running apps that takes full advantage of cloud computing resources, such as elasticity, scalability, and availability.
It involves designing and developing applications as a set of microservices that can be deployed and managed independently and leveraging cloud services such as containers, Kubernetes, and serverless computing.
Cloud-native applications are explicitly designed to be highly resilient and flexible, with a focus on automation, CI/CD, and DevOps practices. As such, the cloud-native development approach is aimed at enabling organizations to deliver applications faster, more reliably, and with greater agility than traditional methods.
Why Is It Important Now and What Are the Benefits
With the proliferation of cloud technology, enterprises are increasingly moving away from traditional monolithic applications and embracing more dynamic and scalable ones. And that bodes well, considering the several benefits that are accrued over time.
To that end, here are some of the key benefits of cloud-native application development:
Build and Deploy Applications Faster
With traditional monolithic applications, developers would have to wait weeks or even months to deploy new features or updates. However, with cloud-native applications, developers can deploy updates in a matter of hours or even minutes. This allows enterprises to respond quickly to changing market conditions and customer needs.
Ability to Scale Applications Quickly and Easily
Scaling traditional monolithic applications is complex and time-consuming. However, with cloud-native applications, scaling based on traffic and resource usage, meaning that enterprises:
- Can easily handle sudden spikes
- Don’t have to worry about downtime or performance issues
- Have the benefit of automated cloud administration
- Can lower the total cost of ownership (TCO)
Reduced Costs
With cloud-native applications, enterprises can take advantage of cloud providers’ infrastructure, significantly reducing costs. More profoundly, cloud-native applications
- Require less maintenance
- Are responsive, dynamic, and elastic
- Eliminate the need for costly hardware and software infrastructure
- Can be developed quickly (better time-to-market)
- Are able to leverage the pay-as-you-go model, thanks to serverless and FaaS offerings
Taking Advantage of the Latest Technological Trends
Cloud-native application development enables enterprises to take advantage of the latest technology trends, such as machine learning and artificial intelligence. These technologies require massive amounts of processing power and storage, which can be challenging to achieve with traditional applications.
Cloud-native applications, however, can be easily deployed on cloud platforms that provide the necessary resources for these technologies. In line with that, Microsoft recently announced the inclusion of GPT-4 into its Power Platform suite while also empowering developers to use generative AI capabilities for cloud-native development.
The Focus on Resilience
Cloud-native applications are designed to be fault-tolerant, meaning that they can continue to function even if individual components fail. This is achieved through the use of containerization, which isolates individual components from one another. If one component fails, the rest of the application can continue to function without any interruption.
Inherent Complexity in Cloud Native Development Due to Prevailing Tech Trends
Cloud-native development can be inherently complex due to the prevailing tech trends that drive its adoption. These trends include the use of microservices architectures, containerization, and serverless computing, among others. These technologies introduce new layers of abstraction and dependencies, increasing the complexity of application design and deployment.
For example, microservices-based architectures require developers to break down applications into smaller, independent components that can be developed, tested, and deployed separately. This approach requires specialized skills and knowledge to design and maintain a complex network of microservices. Similarly, containerization requires developers to create lightweight, portable environments for applications that can run across different cloud platforms and infrastructures.
Further, the adoption of technologies such as Kubernetes and serverless computing also requires specialized knowledge and skills. That’s precisely why businesses encourage their developers to upskill themselves in relevant cloud-native technologies. In fact, according to CNCF, there were around 5.1 million developers using Kubernetes in Q3 2021. That number would be even higher today, considering the proliferation of the cloud-native space. Gartner predicts 95% of the new digital workloads to be running on cloud-native platforms by 2025, as compared to 30% reported in 2021.
Managing the complexity of cloud-native development requires careful planning, design, and collaboration between developers, operations teams, and business stakeholders. Organizations must also invest in training and development to ensure that their teams have the necessary skills and expertise to manage these technologies. A better alternative is to partner with experts, for they’re adept at navigating the technology’s complexity and bringing the apps to the market faster.
At the end of the day, despite the inherent complexity of cloud-native development, it offers significant benefits such as agility, scalability, and faster time-to-market, making it an essential approach for modern application development.
How Can an Expert Partner Help with the Custom Development of Cloud Native Apps?
As enterprises seek powerful custom cloud-native solutions, it’s essential that they partner with an expert like Mannara Technologies, that can:
- Understand the organizational requirements and devise a strategy for custom development
- Leverage loosely coupled architectures to drive faster application delivery
- Automate the redundant workflows and minimize resource usage across every step to lower TCO
- Ensure that the applications are scalable and resilient in the face of sudden spikes
- Provide in-depth guidance on how to realize the best performance from cloud-native apps going forward
- Provide consistent support and maintenance to ensure that the custom apps have minimal downtime
Interested in learning more about how we can help? Talk to a specialist today!
