Microservices ERP is the future of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems. This blog post will explore what microservices are, how they can be used to power ERP systems, and some of the benefits and drawbacks of using microservices for ERP development. We will also look at some trends that we expect to see in microservice ERP in the coming years.
What is Microservices:
ERP software development using microservices involves breaking down software applications into small, independent modules that can be deployed and operated independently. A microservices architecture is a way to design your application so that each part works as its own service. This makes it possible for each service to scale (grow bigger) without making the other services in the app unstable.
A microservice architecture is an example of a service-oriented architecture. In a microservice architecture, services are small and the protocols are simple. Microservices have no clear definition. In the business, there is a general agreement on what microservices are. The following are some of the most commonly cited characteristics:
- Microservices are software services that communicate via network technologies to achieve a goal, such as HTTP.
- Business capabilities are the foundation of the business model.
- Depending on the needs of your organization, you can utilize many programming languages, databases, hardware and software platforms to create the ERP application.
- Projects usually involve a large number of developers.
- You can use different tools and technologies for each microservice.
- Each service has its own database.
A microservice is a small part of a big application. It is its own thing with its own clear rules. It can have different layers inside it, just like a big application would.
Microservices ERP Solution
It is easy for a customer or competitor to create their own bespoke tech stack very quickly from a portfolio of plug-ins and apps. This can be a problem for ERP resellers because it means that businesses can get the exact technology they need without having to go through the reseller.
Cloud technology has made it possible for businesses to use specialised platforms that provide an excellent user experience. These platforms focus on a single business function, and are much more user-friendly than traditional ERP software. Examples of these platforms include Salesforce and Netflix.
Zapier is a platform that lets you connect different apps together. You can connect up to a thousand different apps using Zapier. It’s easy to use and you can manage it all from a single dashboard on your phone or computer. When compared to an ERP system from a major vendor, developing your own technical infrastructure means far less time and cost.
Downsides of microservice ERP architecture
If you’ve heard of ERP, you might know that it is supposed to help simplify processes, automate things, and make everything more efficient. But it seems like this is something that is still challenging to achieve.
The main distinction between ERP solutions and microservice architectures is that with ERP solutions, there is internal control and monitoring from an IT staff, as well as testing and troubleshooting throughout the installation process. With microservice architectures, no similar equivalent exists.
Without governance, companies may quickly get caught up in a mess of confusion:
- Many software applications to keep track of, each with the potential to bring down the whole stack. There is no room for end-to-end testing if IT has no control.
- Microservices architecture can be hard to change. If you want to add a new service or make a change to an existing one, you need to redeploy the whole stack.
- You might end up with several small services that don’t communicate well with each other.
- It’s a nightmare from a compliance and expense standpoint. Licenses are out of date, latency is unchecked, and payments increase as more connections or users are added without anyone knowing.
- Users are required to complete onboarding and training for each new integration. Users must instead adapt to and switch among a complicated roster of tools to complete similar operations, as opposed to learning a single interface that works across all services.
Benefits of Microservices For ERP Development
Microservices have revolutionized the way we build and develop ERP applications by making independently deployable services available. There are several advantages of using Microservices over monolithic architecture. The following are the key advantages of adopting a microservices-based architecture for ERP application development:
- Ease of Use: Microservices are easy to use, which is one of the main benefits they offer. The fact that each service is independent of each other makes it easier to develop, test, and deploy.
- Faster Development: Microservices architecture enables parallel development which means different teams can work on different services at the same time. This results in faster development as compared to monolithic architecture.
- Ease of Deployment: In microservices, each service can be deployed independently. If one service is modified, the application doesn’t have to be re-deployed.
- Improved Fault Tolerance: With microservices, if one service goes down, it will not affect the other services. This is because each service is independent of the other.
- High Scalability: Most enterprises have always struggled with scalability when it comes to monolithic ERP applications. With monolithic architecture, you have to scale all application components together, no matter how complicated that might be. This can lead to other software problems. Microservice-based ERP applications are much easier to scale, because we can scale them separately.
Possible drawbacks of Micro Services ERP
Despite the numerous benefits of microservice architecture for ERP application creation, few drawbacks are to consider. The following are the most frequently encountered issues when employing microservice architecture for ERP application development.
- Increased Complexity: The fact that microservices are distributed in nature can make them quite complex. When you have a large number of services, it can be difficult to keep track of them all. In addition, debugging and testing can also be quite challenging.
- Lower reusability: One of the aims of service-oriented architecture is to promote reusability. However, this is not the case with microservices. In fact, because each service is independent of the other, there is very little opportunity for code reuse.
- Highly Coupled Services: Although services are supposed to be independent of each other in a microservices architecture, they still need to communicate with each other in order to function properly. This can lead to a high degree of coupling between services.
Now that we’ve looked at both the advantages and disadvantages of microservices for ERP development, let’s look at some of the most popular frameworks and patterns.
Microservices ERP Design Frameworks & Patterns
There are a number of different microservices frameworks and patterns that you can use for your ERP development project. The following are some of the most popular ones:
- The Model View Controller Pattern: This well-known design pattern separates the application into three parts: the model, the view, and the controller.
- The Event-Driven Architecture Pattern: This pattern is based on the principle of event-driven programming. In this type of architecture, events are used to trigger actions.
- The Pipe and Filter Pattern: This pattern is used to process a data stream. Each filter performs a particular function on the data.
- The Message Queue Pattern: This pattern is used to decouple applications. In this type of architecture, messages are sent from one application to another.
- The Microservices Pattern: This is a special type of architecture that is designed specifically for microservices. In this pattern, each service is an independent process.
- Chained Microservice Design Pattern: This pattern is used to chain together a number of microservices. In this type of architecture, each service is responsible for a specific task.
- The SAGA Design Pattern: This pattern is used to manage long-running transactions. In this type of architecture, each service has its own database.
- Shared Data Microservice Design Pattern: This pattern is used to share data between microservices. In this type of architecture, each service has its own database.
- Branch Microservice Design Pattern: The Microservices Design Pattern with async Aggregator is an extension of Aggregator and enables a simultaneous response from two distinct chains of microservices.
There are a number of other microservices frameworks and patterns that you can use for your project. However, these are the most popular ones.
Trends of Microservices ERP in 2023
Check out the top microservices ERP trends now to get on the train of the technological shift in the digital paradigm:
Microservice Adoption for ERP Development Companies:
This year, ERP applications are expected to bring in more money. Remote working is becoming more popular, so there is a lot of demand for ERP-based applications and tools. ERP can help companies save money, be more agile, and handle larger amounts of work easily.
Microservices are a key part of building cloud-based applications that can handle a lot of traffic. They help make sure that the customer experience is good. This means that they will be more popular with companies who use ERP systems.
AI for Microservices ERP:
The adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) in microservices is increasing at a rapid pace. This is because AI can help to improve the efficiency of microservices by automating tasks such as monitoring, logging, and debugging. In addition, AI can also help to improve the scalability of microservices by dynamically adjusting the resources required by each service.
IoT and Microservices ERP:
One of the reasons that IoT is doing so well is that users always want the best experience. It can take the form of great connectivity, great UX design, lots of features, or good performance. To keep up with users’ expectations, platforms, devices, and applications need to be updated frequently. A microservice architecture is a good way to support these frequent updates.
Serverless Microservice ERP:
Serverless computing is a trend that many organizations are adopting. In this type of architecture, microservices are deployed on a serverless platform such as AWS Lambda or Azure Functions. This type of architecture has a number of benefits, such as reduced costs and increased scalability.
Conclusion
Microservices are a great way to improve the efficiency of your development process. However, it is important to choose the right framework and pattern for your project. In addition, you need to be aware of the trends in microservices ERP so that you can stay ahead of the curve.
