Top 10 Tips to Help Businesses Effectively Move to MACH Architecture

Change is hard, but it is inevitable for businesses that want to succeed. In a survey about how organizations view the need to upgrade their eCommerce platform, approximately 57% of respondents said that their current platform would support their business only for just 12 months. 

Moving the commerce platform from the existing monolith to the microservices, API-first, cloud-native, and headless (MACH) architecture is not as difficult as businesses perceive it to be. More than that, this migration is imperative for survival. Furthermore, they will receive substantial benefits in many areas rather quickly. 

Having said that, here are the top ten tips to help businesses that have made the decision to move to the MACH architecture:

Determine the Reason

As the owner of an eCommerce business, the first step is to figure out why it is important to move to the MACH platform. Start by taking stock of the concerns and issues faced by your organization and asking questions such as whether the existing monolith can be scaled quickly; whether you can introduce new features without changing the core of the system, etc.

Read our blog “Microservices Architecture - When and How to Shift”.

Have a vision, but be open to suggestions

Your project team should have a set of like-minded people who share your vision. This makes it easy for you to guide the team in the right direction. Listen to what each team member has to say about the move to the MACH architecture and consider the possibility of adopting suggestions to improve the performance of the organization.

Involve everyone in the Organization

There is a key difference between off-the-shelf platforms and MACH-driven platforms. The headless commerce platform is not driven by technology. In fact, it can not be led by technology. While you have to fit your business into the workflow of off-the-shelf platforms, the MACH architecture helps you build a commerce platform that suits your business. This means that the entire organization needs to be involved in the transformation.

Choose your Partners wisely

It is important to choose the right partners for your migration project. They should be capable of catering to your specific needs and delivering the results. They should also be willing to meet the deadlines proposed by you. Sometimes, it is all about identifying the right partner and not the best-in-class partner.

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Test your MACH platform and modify it as required

Testing starts with making a list of all the necessary integrations needed to enable every single feature. Map out the testing of each feature. Involve the project team members and other employees to thoroughly test the platform. You will definitely get a lot of suggestions, and you can go back and iterate to make the necessary modifications.

Start by Releasing Features Internally

If you want to minimize the issues related to external change management, you have to manage your feature releases. Release the features internally to gather feedback from users and train the sales team. It gives your sales team an opportunity to experience the feature, internalize it, and talk about it with your clients.

Start Small and then go big time

Start by implementing a proof-of-concept for each feature or a single brand. The reason for adopting this approach is to build stakeholder confidence. Identify the unknowns and solve them. There is not much risk involved in it. Besides, it is not necessary to go live to learn some lessons and get feedback.

Download and read our ebook “Porting from Monoliths to Microservices - Is the shift worth it”.

Reorganize the Teams

In a MACH environment, it is not effective to put in place horizontal teams that are focused on specific technology areas such as databases, backends, infrastructure, frontends, etc. It is best to constitute smaller teams and enable them to focus on business functions or domains such as checkout, pricing, etc. These teams will be able to capitalize on the benefits delivered by MACH.

Monitor the Performance of your Microservices

After creating a number of microservices, it is not wise to leave them just like that without caring for them at all. It does not matter whether you have created less than 50 or more than 250 microservices. You need to assign the job of taking care of them to someone from the tech and business sides who understands their performance well.

Get rewarded by staying focused

You should not allow organizational politics to distract you. It is important for you to remain focused on your vision. You should only be guided by your vision and your customers’ needs. You need to keep in mind the fact that it is easy to make group decisions. However, the customers are the experts, and you need to cater to their needs. 

Do you want to shift to microservices architecture? Call and speak to our team today!

In conclusion, keeping in mind the 10 tips listed above will make the move from the existing legacy system to a MACH platform easy and more effective.

How SayOne Can Help

At SayOne, we offer independent and stable services that have separate development aspects as well as maintenance advantages. We build microservices specially suited for individuals' businesses in different industry verticals. In the longer term, this would allow your organization/business to enjoy a sizable increase in both growth and efficiency. We create microservices as APIs with security and the application built in. We provide SDKs that allow for the automatic creation of microservices.

Our comprehensive services in microservices development for start-ups, SMBs, and enterprises start with extensive microservices feasibility analysis to provide our clients with the best services. We use powerful frameworks for our custom-built microservices for the different organizations. Our APIs are designed to enable fast iteration, easy deployment, and significantly less time to market. In short, our microservices are dexterous and resilient and deliver the security and reliability required for the different functions.