Composable Conundrums: Introduction and Index

This series of blog posts provides guidance for organizations that would like to transition from monolithic legacy software platforms to modern composable architecture, especially for websites and digital experience management solutions. Based on our experience with both all-encompassing platforms and composable technologies, we suggest approaches that can help you to apply best practices in selecting composable components as well as architecting and implementing solutions to avoid potential pitfalls. Consider these factors before you choose composable software options or develop custom solutions.

Composable application architecture allows numerous technical and business advantages over monolithic software platforms of the past. Organizations responsible for networked enterprise solutions are in the process of transitioning to this future-facing application architecture. In the past, companies built their custom solutions on a software platform from a single vendor that pre-integrates numerous capabilities or by developing solutions that integrate components from multiple third parties using proprietary implementation technologies. Composable architecture allows organizations to select and integrate those individual application components that best suit their needs with specific capabilities. Additionally, composable uses a common service-oriented architecture for all integrations.

Beyond allowing organizations the flexibility to select the individual software products that are most appropriate for their requirements, composable architecture can reduce overspend, where customers acquire large platforms and therefore pay for features that are irrelevant to their solutions. Composable solutions can provide scalability and resilience with simplicity, which is not the case with monolithic platforms of the past. With faster development cycles using commonplace technologies such as JSON and JavaScript, composable provides greater technical and business agility while reducing development costs. Further, SaaS hosting of composable applications eliminates significant IT and administrative overhead so that the organization can focus on the application rather than its infrastructure.

Organizations face several challenges both in selecting individual composable software components and in architecting and developing solutions that bind those components together to create comprehensive solutions. Below is the evolving list of posts in this series designed to provide guidance on detailed topics related to selecting and integrating composable components. We invite you to join the conversation, share your thoughts, and engage in the conversation - you can reach us using this link. Your insights and experiences can enrich this ongoing exploration of composable architecture.

• Expecting Too Much from a Single Vendor