Digital transformation has brought about significant technological advances in recent years. Cloud computing has become nearly ubiquitous, IoT and machine learning have teamed up to deliver richer customer experiences, and 5G networks are cresting the horizon. Among these innovations, serverless computing is an emerging technology that is often misunderstood but holds significant potential for enterprise IT.

Understanding serverless architecture

The phrase “the future is serverless” is gaining traction among the tech community and  organizations are looking to deploy serverless architecture in the upcoming months. But what does going serverless actually mean for an enterprise?

Serverless architecture does not eliminate servers. Instead, it removes the need for enterprises to manage them. This model provides architecture, space, and functions on an as-needed basis, aligning closely with existing cloud models.

Some benefits of serverless architecture in enterprise IT include:

• Enhanced resilience
  Partnering with global technology providers offering serverless architecture means benefiting from high SLAs regarding performance and resiliency. By offloading hardware configuration to dedicated vendors, enterprises can avoid common delays and performance issues seen with traditional in-house systems.
  
• Increased agility
  Serverless solutions liberate application deployment from traditional infrastructure constraints, enhancing Agile and DevOps operations. This operational flexibility reduces the impact of infrastructure incompatibilities on business and development decisions.
  
• Efficient infrastructure management
  Serverless architecture automates much of the infrastructure management process. It allows developers to focus on creating high-quality code without manually managing resources for each application component.
  
• Improved scalability
  Scaling applications becomes more accessible and cost-effective, without the need for dedicated resources. This reduction in scaling barriers is particularly beneficial for development firms aiming to expand their reach.

Unlike Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS), serverless computing offers a dynamic scaling solution that activates resources only when requests are incoming, reducing costs and complexity.

Challenges and considerations in adopting ‘serverless’

• Compatibility with long-running applications
  Serverless computing may prove costly for applications with high traffic and data-heavy tasks. Long-running applications might be better suited to service models with predetermined resource allocations to avoid unexpected cost spikes.
  
• Vendor lock-in risks
  Serverless computing is a developing space with limited vendor diversity, which can lead to dependency on a single provider. This lack of compatibility with other Function-as-a-Service (FaaS) solutions might result in future cost overruns.
  
• Potential issues with multi-tenant servers
  Service providers often run multiple client applications on the same server to optimize resources. However, this setup can pose risks if server bugs arise, affecting data security and application performance.
  
• Complex error logging and metrics
  Serverless architecture can complicate bug tracking and response efforts in data-heavy systems due to inadequate logging tools. The nature of decoupled development limits developers’ control over infrastructure.
  

The future of serverless architecture in enterprise IT

As serverless ecosystems mature, many existing challenges are likely to be resolved, especially with the rise of open-source implementations. This technology addresses many issues faced by enterprises today, and continued growth in the serverless space will lead to diverse solutions for various applications and developer needs.

However, it is imperative to assess whether other solutions might better serve your current and future development needs.