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A day in the life of a developer used to consist of dividing their time between writing code and maintaining the server infrastructure.
Enter the concept of serverless computing by Google when they released Google App Engine in 2008, and life for developers started to change by relying on a third party to take care of the servers.
With the serverless market expected to reach $7.7 billion by the end of 2021, it has become much more mainstream.
As you build your cloud strategies, it’s essential to understand the concept and know when your organization should go serverless.
Does serverless computing eliminate the need for servers?
While the term implies no servers are needed, that’s not true.
The concept of serverless computing means you can build and run applications and services without your developers spending time provisioning and maintaining the infrastructure needed for deployments.
Instead, a cloud service provider (CSP) such as AWS or Microsoft Azure handles these infrastructure-related activities.
Which scenario(s) does serverless work best?
Short-Running and Event-Driven Apps: A serverless computing architecture is ideal for short-running and event-driven applications because they have more predictable surges in demand.
Since these applications can sit idle for periods, a serverless computing architecture model allows you to use the resources you need instead of physically taking on your servers to handle peak capacities.
Serverless computing works best in these scenarios:
- Microservices-based architecture
- Mobile backends
- Chatbots
- Machine learning (ML) inferencing
- Internet of Things (IoT)
- Modest streaming processing
- Service Integration
Why does serverless computing shine?
Improved Cost Control: Serverless computing is a cost-effective option. You’re only paying for your computing time based on actual usage. This also means you can scale on-demand without paying for servers that are not in use.
Dynamic Agility & Scalability: Serverless computing brings great agility and scalability. You can rapidly scale without re-architecting your infrastructure, and it’s easy to do. It takes just milliseconds to provision. No matter if the application is handling 1,000 requests or 1, there is no difference in performance and reliability.
Focus on Innovation: Anytime you can free up your team to work on more strategic tasks, it’s a huge win for the business. Developers can focus more on the business aspect of the code versus spending time on infrastructure-related items. This can translate to more time spent on the application’s front end and better customer experiences.
Faster Time to Market: With fewer operational dependencies, the development cycle can naturally speed up and allow the team to deliver more functionality faster.
Serverless computing is an option for any size organization in any industry. It provides an opportunity to focus more on business-driven processes rather than spending time on the technical efforts associated with maintaining servers.
