Amazon Web Services recently published an E-Book on modern application development. In short, this guide explains the significance of digital transformation and how it can reinvent how your business delivers value. The main topics covered include: Digital Innovators, Characteristics of Modern Applications, Data Management & Computing in Modern Applications, and Security & Compliance. Below, I have summarized a few takeaways from each topic.
Digital Innovators
To be a digital innovator, you must work backwards to understand that innovation starts with your customers and listening to their wants and needs. AWS calls this process the “innovation flywheel.” The innovation flywheel consists of three steps: listen, experiment, iterate. After putting your customers first, it is essential to put technology at the center of your business. Some ways to do this are through digital marketplaces (two sided market that connects buyers and sellers,) direct-to-customer engagement, digital products as services, and insight services.
Characteristics of Modern Applications
Modern application development is a powerful approach to designing, building, and managing software in the cloud. Characteristics of Modern Applications align with digital innovation (see above.) Modern Applications require a culture of ownership, which also starts with the customers. To create this culture, companies should hire builders and support them with a belief system and let them build. It is important to trust in others skill sets and know where your boundaries lie. In terms of the architectural patterns of modern applications, most are micro-services. Micro-services have minimal function services, are deployed separately but interact together, each has its own datastore, is organized around business capabilities, the state is externalized, and provides a choice of technology for each micro-service.
Data Management & Computing in Modern Applications
Data management refers to purpose built databases that serve as decoupled data stores. Data management includes computing in modern applications. Computing with micro-services effect the way you package and run code, and compute in modern applications such as AWS Lambda. Release pipelines in AWS are standardized and automated. This means that they are no longer manual, there is continuous integration and continuous delivery. Also, there is a server-less operational model. These models are ideal for high-growth companies that want to innovate quickly because they don’t require server management, they provide flexible scaling, you pay for the value you need, and they automate high availability.
Security & Compliance
Security configuration and automation are needed. To ensure security and compliance, these practices are incorporated within the tooling. Some of this tooling includes code repositories, build-management programs, and deployment tools. Security and compliance are also applied to the release pipeline itself and the software being released through the pipeline. Lastly, DevOps and DevSecOps safeguard security and compliance. AWS defines DevOps as, “the combination of cultural philosophies, practices, and tools that increases an organization’s ability to deliver applications and services at high velocity.” Similarly, DevSecOps is described as “philosophy of integrating security practices within the DevOps process. DevSecOps involves creating a “Security as Code” culture with ongoing, flexible collaboration between release engineers and security teams.”
I hope that you found these summary useful. We will continue to try to summarize AWS content so that you don’t have to read it or navigate demo vids / webinars. Like what you read? Check out our blog post on why AWS is so cool: https://shout.setfive.com/2019/07/11/what-makes-the-aws-cloud-so-cool/.