We’ve worked with startups and small businesses to help them develop their MVP and feature products. Part of these conversations usually focus around choosing the right cloud architecture. Cloud infrastructure can already be confusing and problematic if not setup and maintained properly. As always with technology there is the next evolution. Enter Serverless architecture.

What is Serverless?

So here we are with yet another new term to learn: Serverless. The good thing is that it’s pretty self-explanatory. Serverless, or lack of dedicated servers if you will, is a way of managing your IT infrastructure that reduces costs, while also lowering the time spent setting up and maintaining your backend infrastructure. Think of it as a way of further simplifying what the cloud is supposed to do. If that’s too simple try these definitions:

“Serverless architectures refer to applications that significantly depend on third-party services (knows as Backend as a Service or “BaaS”) or on custom code that’s run in ephemeral containers (Function as a Service or “FaaS”)…” -- (Maruti Techlabs, 2017)

Or as Amazon describes it eloquently:

"Building serverless applications means that your developers can focus on their core product instead of worrying about managing and operating servers or runtimes, either in the cloud or on-premises. This reduced overhead lets developers reclaim time and energy that can be spent on developing great products which scale and that are reliable." (Amazon)

You can now genuinely focus on the core functionality that affects your business and product, rather than the infrastructure that it runs on. This will lead to lower costs, more fine grained monitoring of usage and less headache to worry about as you grow your business.

Why is this important?

As we evolve into the Work 2.0 paradigm of entrepreneurship and a more automated economy, we face a challenge of efficiency and lack of knowledge. As a business owner, do you need to know the cloud inside and out? Should you even care about the cloud at this stage? Understanding when too much knowledge is not necessary is just as important as understanding when you need that knowledge. Serverless computing can allow you to quickly develop your idea without worrying about the underlying servers or technology that runs your idea and business. You focus on the things that matter right now: Saving time, saving money, making more money and having fun while doing it.

How can it benefit you?Save Time> “IT must relearn the vocabulary of business: money. And in doing so remove IT jargon from this process.” -- (Walker, 2017)

Your tech team probably requires two developers, an admin, and a DevOps guy. What if you could eliminate the admin position, no hard feelings, and the DevOps position, no hard feelings, and execute your vision faster.**

Save MoneyThe more time you spend addressing technical issues that affect your customers, the more money you lose. Additionally if your team had more time they could focus on more security related issues relevant to your business. Serverless infrastructure helps you be more efficient and secure leading to saved money and minimized risk of security issues that could cost you money. A perfect example comes from 3wks (Walker, 2017) who explains that switching from Amazon AWS cloud hosting helped them to reduce costs from $4, 500/month fixed cost to a, maximum, $600/month bill with even better performance and reliability than before. That’s the cost of a full time employee. What would you do with another full time employee?

Make More Money**

How many transactions do you process per second? 10, 20, 50? What if that number grew 5x? You'd need your tech team to make sure resources are scaled and can accommodate the new load. Remember that more resources means more money out of your pocket. The way serverless functions work, you pay only for what you use at a fraction of the cost of managed cloud infrastructure. Save money even as you serve a growing customer base.**

Have Fun Running Your Business**You started your business not just to make money it to enjoy life. If managing your technology is a headache or your current setup distracts you from truly creating value, then serverless may be the answer. Make more money while having fun.

How can we help?

We have years of experience setting up, maintaining and developing on cloud infrastructure. From AWS to Azure and Google Cloud engine with Firebase to smaller players such as OVH, Digital Ocean and Linode. We understand what it takes to get technology out of the way so that you can be successful. Contact us for help deciding how to efficiently plan and audit your infrastructure needs, build your MVP, scale your current service or backend and save money.

Works Cited

• “Serverless Computing - Amazon Web Services.” Amazon Web Services, Inc., aws.amazon.com/serverless.
• Techlabs, Maruti. “What Is Serverless Architecture? What Are Its Criticisms and Drawbacks?” Medium, Medium, 4 May 2017, medium.com/@MarutiTech/what-is-serverless-architecture-what-are-its-criticisms-and-drawbacks-928659f9899a.
• Walker, Andrew. “Google Not Amazon - Make Fantastic Savings in a Serverless World.” 3wks, 3wks, 19 July 2017, in.3wks.com.au/google-not-amazon-make-fantastic-savings-in-a-serverless-world-b6d37710839c.
• Photo by Thomas Kvistholt on Unsplash