Businesses, from airlines to zip lines, must deliver a modern digital experience to stay relevant and competitive. But traditional, monolithic IT architectures are holding organizations back from meeting fast-evolving market expectations.
How often have business users in your company proposed new strategies and tactics to improve sales and customer service only to get a “sorry, can’t do” or “sure, check back in 3 months” from the IT department?
No fault of the IT folks. They’re already stretched thin, trying to meet new demands with old technologies. We need new ways to deliver a modern customer experience.
A composable digital experience platform (DXP) allows companies to leverage the latest tools and technologies to respond to changing consumer needs. They can make data-driven decisions and deliver an omnichannel customer experience (CX) without the hurdles associated with traditional IT architectures.
To implement a composable platform, we must first understand the framework that makes it possible: MACH architecture. In this post, we’ll look at MACH and the benefits of using MACH architecture.
So, what is MACH?
MACH architecture is the acronym for the framework that uses microservices, API-first, cloud-native, and headless to support a composable DXP.
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Microservices: You can develop, deploy, and manage these standalone pieces of business functionalities independently without the constraints of a monolithic architecture.
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API-first: API stands for application programming interface. You can integrate disparate services or applications using connectors to deliver a cohesive user experience.
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Cloud-native: Using software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications, you can tap into the full power cloud computing — going beyond storage and hosting to access flexible, scalable, and fast-loading cloud-based functionalities.
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Headless: By decoupling the front-end experience from the backend infrastructure (e.g., a website’s content management system,) business users can update UIs or connect an application to other channels and devices with a few clicks.
The Benefits of a MACH Architecture
A MACH architecture enables organizations to deliver new digital experiences by speeding up innovation and iterations. Here’s what it offers:
Increase Flexibility and Scalability
A MACH architecture removes the inflexibility and constraints of monolithic, suite-based technologies. The framework allows you to add, remove, and replace functionalities without the time and expenses associated with re-platforming. You can increase capacity and add functionalities to experiment and meet demands on a dime without being bogged down by outdated technologies.
Shorten Time to Value
Business users have the agility to adjust the front-end experience while IT can reduce its workload, shorten development timelines, and lower associated costs. You can plug in new microservices using API integrations without changing the underlying architecture, enabling business units to deliver new experiences across multiple channels in days, not weeks or months.
Access the Latest Tools
You can introduce new and best-in-class capabilities and enable team members to use their preferred tools to improve productivity and efficiency without being locked into applications that can no longer meet evolving requirements. A MACH architecture's decoupled nature means you can swap functionalities in and out simply by updating the APIs without disrupting existing features and workflows.
Speed Up Innovation
A MACH architecture allows you to future-proof your tech stack by introducing new technologies as needed without vendor lock-in. You can implement solutions to meet business requirements as they arise, develop minimum viable products (MVPs) as proofs-of-concept before investing in large-scale product development, and experiment with new CX with fewer risks and lower infrastructure costs.
Leverage Cloud Capabilities
A MACH architecture offers the foundation for adopting cloud-native SaaS solutions to increase flexibility and scalability while lowering operating costs. Since the vendors automatically install upgrades, releases, and security patches, you don’t have to handle them in-house or worry about new codes breaking other functionalities. Also, you can access the latest features for as long as you subscribe to the services without extra fees.
Meet Modern Customer Expectations
Most importantly, a MACH architecture makes it possible to automate and deliver a data-driven, personalized, real-time, omnichannel CX consumers expect. You can connect everything from a customer data platform and eCommerce software to AI analytics tools and chatbot applications to access the capabilities you need when you need them.
Download our guide and learn how to tap into the full power of a MACH architecture.
