It’s been nine years since AWS released Lambda and launched the modern age of Serverless computing, turning a nascent industry into an explosive one. Innovative and adaptable, this technology is rapidly transforming the IT industry: developers can now focus exclusively on coding instead of wasting time managing the infrastructure. Gartner says Serverless technology “redefines the way we build, consume, and integrate cloud-native services.” 

Sometimes referred to interchangeably as “function-as-a-service” (FaaS), the technology allows organisations to run event-driven code and containerised applications with a wide range of benefits. Companies are increasingly recognising the competitive advantages they can get by implementing a Serverless approach, and that became more visible over the past couple of years. 

According to a recent Datadog study, over half of the organisations operating in each cloud have adopted Serverless technology. In its analysis, Datadog quotes Vercel’s CEO Guillermo Rauch saying that Serverless “is the operational model of the future.” Here are five reasons why: 

Cost reduction 

Here lies the crux of the matter and one of the biggest Serverless advantages to look for: cost reduction. This is a true pay-as-you-use model. There’s an immediate reduction in operational costs since the company only pays for the time and resources used specifically for the execution of code and applications. And there are also savings related to human resources because the need for backend maintenance is eliminated. Skilled workers no longer must devote any time to infrastructure and can focus on more important tasks, which, in turn, increases ROI. 

According to a recently published research by Appinventiv, “Reduced Operational Costs” was pointed as the biggest benefit in organisations that have adopted Serverless technologies, cited by more than 60% of respondents. 

Flexibility

It’s an understatement to say going Serverless equals going flexible. The technology is compatible with a host of programming languages and platforms, which makes it easy to optimise processes and, as a result, brings massive agility to the organisation and its software development solutions and capabilities. 

Translated to the real business world, this adds a meaningful competitive advantage and is especially relevant for companies trying to bring disruption to a market – or fending off new competitors. 

High scalability

Serverless apps can scale up or down as fast as usage grows or declines, without the smallest glitch and no manual intervention required. The automatic reconfiguration adapts to user needs with seemingly infinite scalability. This makes it extremely desirable for organisations that deal with spikes in traffic. 

Process optimisation 

Developers become a lot more productive when Serverless is implemented because they are no longer required to deal with mundane processes and repetitive back-end tasks. They can focus their time and efforts on developing innovative solutions and they will feel like their talent is put to better use. 

Security

This is an architecture design within a modern InfoSec framework. All data is anonymised and encrypted, which actively reduces security risks in the infrastructure. Suppliers are required to comply with security norms and in many cases, they exceed them, so much so that most solutions available today in the Serverless market are as secure (if not more) than their on-premises counterparts. 

There are several reasons why so many companies are looking into enhancing their software development solutions and considering going Serverless. The technology offers multiple benefits for organisations and that’s why adoption has taken off in recent years. However, it is important to note that each organisation should undergo a careful assessment to determine whether these Serverless advantages are a match for the goals of any given project.