6 Parameters to Measure Microservices' ROI

There are quite a few CIOs/CTOs who want to know the ROI for microservice application/product development. Some of them are trying to measure that by revenue vs. cost. The next question for them is, how long does it take to realize the ROI? All these are valid concerns that CIOs/CTOs should definitely be worried about. I agree the business impact is important and that the changes made in development should lead to increased revenue ; but development should start with other considerations in mind.

Any actions that make the customer and the stakeholders happy is an impactful action and that leads to better business outcomes. Some of the actions could be internal to the company and some could be external. MSA (Microservice Architecture) creates an instantaneous impact. The significance will be realized in every step of the software development lifecycle (SDLC).

The best way to measure the ROI of a microservice implementation should include the following six parameters:

1. Embracing the polyglot technology landscape and use languages based on their merit.
2. Agile delivery — fastest feature delivery in the shortest possible span of time
3. Move your features to production with confidence. MSA applications are nimble in nature and that will help to perform thorough tests.
4. Scale the application based on usage metrics. Need not to scale the monster monolith and spend huge amounts of money on infrastructure and burn a lot of human calories.
5. When the Product/Feature/Service turns buggy, address these issues with ease.
6. Better resilience/fault tolerance, as all the features, are independent services.

As you have noticed from the above points, microservices' ROI starts from day one of their implementation. All the above features of a microservices architecture confirms continuous delivery in an agile fashion. The sooner the product reaches the customer, the sooner the team receives feedback. Businesses are, after all, waiting for the right feedback to act upon. The short and close feedback cycle is the gift to any product company. MSA helps you to achieve that.