Since the onset of serverless computing, technological advancements have radically impacted the cloud computing network.

Today, serverless computing has evolved into the next logical step in advancing serverless architectures and has made things easier for developers.

As an innovative cloud computing application, virtual machine technology has been impacted by serverless architecture. Many organizations are beginning to adopt serverless cloud technology because of its simplicity and cost-effectiveness.

However, what exactly is the concept of serverless architecture?

This article provides a detailed overview of serverless architecture patterns and several use-case examples that illustrate the benefits of serverless architectures.

What is serverless architecture?

Serverless architecture has become a standard way to build and run apps for both the DevOps team and backend developers without the need to manage the underlying application infrastructure in any way while building and running the app.

Providing the necessary tools to automate the database’s scaling, storage, and maintenance reduces the backend architectural responsibilities. Stats reported that nearly 40% of organizations have adopted serverless architectures.

Serverless architecture: how does it work?

End users can communicate directly with applications using serverless cloud computing and increase their business intelligence. Still, administrators must invest much time and effort into administering servers. 

Keeping up with server hardware, monitoring software and security upgrades, making backups in the event of a catastrophic failure, and so on is an ongoing tasks for teams.

With serverless architecture, Web application development teams can delegate these responsibilities to a third-party service provider, allowing them to devote more time to writing code and testing applications.

Benefits of a serverless architecture

Even so, serverless architecture is an application deployment model that does not require the management or provisioning of servers. 

The cloud provider manages infrastructure and allocates computing resources dynamically based on demand. Serverless architecture offers the following advantages:

Security-focused

You may be concerned that allowing vendors to control the back end of the application could lead to security concerns. Nevertheless, you must understand that cloud vendors are committed to offering high-quality, secure, and efficient services. The use of best practices is essential for any business model.

Focuses on the user experience

A significant benefit of utilizing serverless architecture patterns is that you can dedicate more time and resources instead of managing and provisioning servers to developing customer-facing features.

Focus on innovation with more time.

The team can focus on innovations and features that cater to customers since server management and administration are removed from their responsibilities. An app can be enhanced with functionalities that enrich the user experience.

Extensibility and scalability

FaaS and serverless architecture scale quite easily, adding additional resources according to traffic demands. As a result, heavy loads require fewer contingencies. Whenever traffic spikes, the vendor takes care of it. Conversely, in the case of slow traffic, you do not incur any charges for idle resources. This is not applicable in the case of traditional cloud-based models or internal server infrastructure.

Use cases for serverless architecture.

Serverless architecture has become the norm among new startups today as they aim to scale painlessly and lower entry barriers. The following are some serverless architecture use cases. Identify the types of applications that can be built with this infrastructure.

  • Chatbots & Virtual Assistants

Serverless can be accomplished with messaging bots and AI assistants, and chat apps are designed to provide instant responses made possible by serverless data. Function as a service can automate the processing time as your users grow from one hundred to a thousand.

  • Applications with heavy image content

The user experience is critical to the success of any application in a competitive market. Apps that use rich images should offer unique user experiences to each user.

  • Event-driven applications

An event-driven application would be best built using a serverless architecture that responds to notifications or actions taken in real-time based on events. There are many ways in which an event can be triggered. The events can be triggered by an action performed by a user on a website, such as clicking a button, or by a system within the website itself, such as a sensor or by a third-party application.

  • Web Applications

There is also the possibility of using serverless for traditional web applications. A serverless function can be triggered via HTTP requests when the static context is stored in a cloud storage service. In the case of a website, it may consist of a form that requires the user to provide information about himself. Users can ignore this form, which will not trigger the function. This prevents the execution of your function and thus saves you money.

Examples Of Big Brands Adopting Serverless Technologies

Organizations can streamline infrastructure administration and accelerate their digital transformations using serverless computing. Additionally, many examples exist of multinational corporations and tech giants leveraging serverless to gain an advantage over their competitors.

A few examples of serverless architecture use cases are listed below:

Figma

A multi-million dollar company, Figma, is developing one of the most sophisticated user interfaces for designers. With its serverless technology, Figma works efficiently and quickly, allowing multiple designers to work simultaneously.

Netflix

Serverless is an active part of Netflix’s product. The publisher uploads many files that must be processed, and Netflix creates backups for each file that updates. To handle this complex batch processing, serverless is the best solution for which Netflix uses it.

Coca-Cola

The Coca-Cola Company also uses serverless services. Vending machines for Coca-Cola are one example. It’s a simple concept. Whenever a client purchases a drink, a payment gateway gets notified. As soon as a vending machine accepts payments, Lambda functions to perform tasks, such as processing history, sending push notifications, and so on. Doing so sends a REST request to the Lambda function containing AWS API Gateway’s business logic.

Media companies

Serverless architecture is used by the NY Times and the Guardian as part of their online content delivery systems development and deployment process. Their websites and applications receive a large traffic volume, so they use serverless computing.

Conclusion

Serverless architectures offer reduced costs, better scalability, and faster deployment times than traditional server-based systems. The process simplifies developing and deploying applications so developers can focus on other crucial tasks.

Cloud-based applications that are client-intensive or have a high growth rate and require unlimited scalability benefit from this solution.

However, it might only be suitable for some applications. Serverless architecture has many advantages but must be evaluated with factors such as performance, security, and vendor lock-in.