[{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BlogPosting","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2017\/03\/31\/microservices-digital-transformation\/#BlogPosting","mainEntityOfPage":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2017\/03\/31\/microservices-digital-transformation\/","headline":"Microservices will help your business survive the digital transformation","name":"Microservices will help your business survive the digital transformation","description":"“Disruption\u201d is a word you hear thrown around a lot in the tech world. Everyone wants to disrupt, while at the same time they fear being on the receiving end of it. At the recent\u00a0SAP Hybris LIVE: Digital Summit 2017, Carsten Thoma, president and co-founder of\u00a0SAP Hybris, encouraged businesses to capitalize on disruption and talked […]","datePublished":"2017-03-31","dateModified":"2021-02-10","author":{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/contributor\/brian-wasson\/#Person","name":"Brian Wasson","url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/contributor\/brian-wasson\/","identifier":210,"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/268f0c9973c88a5dcb492d2ec0408c5aa81fdec7bb32cea775c73c86f6413168?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/268f0c9973c88a5dcb492d2ec0408c5aa81fdec7bb32cea775c73c86f6413168?s=96&d=mm&r=g","height":96,"width":96}},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"The Future of Commerce","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/logo-foc-schema-app-1.png","url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/logo-foc-schema-app-1.png","width":172,"height":60}},"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/thumbnail-4d5251d6dd99c5a90633b57c67ee18da.jpeg","url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/thumbnail-4d5251d6dd99c5a90633b57c67ee18da.jpeg","height":375,"width":1200},"url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2017\/03\/31\/microservices-digital-transformation\/","about":[{"@type":"Thing","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/commerce\/","name":"Commerce","sameAs":["https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Commerce","http:\/\/www.wikidata.org\/entity\/Q26643"]},{"@type":"Thing","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/commerce\/omnichannel-commerce\/","name":"Omnichannel Commerce","sameAs":["https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Omnichannel"]},{"@type":"Thing","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/commerce\/trends-commerce\/","name":"Trends","sameAs":["https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Fad","http:\/\/www.wikidata.org\/entity\/Q787045"]}],"wordCount":870,"keywords":["Commerce","Marketing","Microservices","YaaS"],"articleBody":"“Disruption\u201d is a word you hear thrown around a lot in the tech world. Everyone wants to disrupt, while at the same time they fear being on the receiving end of it. At the recent\u00a0SAP Hybris LIVE: Digital Summit 2017, Carsten Thoma, president and co-founder of\u00a0SAP Hybris, encouraged businesses to capitalize on disruption and talked about how to\u00a0change from simply making products or services available via multiple channels (omnichannel) to creating a full digital experience for customers, with microservices as the foundation.\u201cOmnichannel was one of the most-important steps in the digital evolution,\u201d said Thoma. \u201cIt goes way beyond that now. It is now about digital engagement in\u00a0any\u00a0channel.\u201dBut what does \u201cdigital engagement\u201d really mean? In the new reality, there will not be a line between products and services in the minds of consumers. \u201cEvery product will turn into a service \u2013 that\u2019s a firm prediction,\u201d said Thoma. \u201cThe ability at any point in time, at any touchpoint, to engage with a customer in an almost automated manner is going to be absolutely key. And tech and software will be at the heart of it.\u201dWhen considering the shift to the engagement and experience model, omnichannel and the cloud are a given. However, consumers (and businesses) are increasingly embracing a consumption-based model, where you only pay for something when and where you need it. While applying this model broadly is fairly new, it\u2019s actually been around for quite a while in the utilities sector, where consumers pay per-unit costs for electricity, water, and the like.Evolving Beyond Traditional TransactionsThe challenge for businesses, then, is how to move from the traditional single-transaction model to a 360-degree engagement and experience model with customers, where the \u201cproduct\u201d is no longer so easily defined. Is an auto manufacturer selling just a vehicle? Or is it selling the use of the vehicle (leasing), plus a full transportation experience including ride-sharing and public transportation?Supporting ever-changing customer interaction models \u2013 from fixed-price purchases to pay-as-you-go subscriptions \u2013 requires businesses to move beyond basic customer relationship management (CRM) systems in favor of end-to-end setups that seamlessly connect demand patterns, the supply chain, and the front office to the customer experience.This new \u201cexperience\u201d model will be impossible without underlying tech and software designed to support it, Thoma noted. But the age-old question is how do you design a system that is \u201cfuture proof\u201d \u2013 robust enough to support current needs, yet elastic enough to allow nimble pivoting to future models?Microservices Are\u00a0Key to Adaptable\u00a0Customer EngagementFuture-proofing is where \u201cmicroservices\u201d come into play. Microservices are business processes deconstructed to their most basic level by creating small, separate processes that take the place of large, single applications. Both a systems architecture and delivery principle, these highly adaptable building blocks can be reconfigured in short order, allowing you to quickly adapt to ever-changing business environments and profit from disruption rather than succumb to it.Industry pundits see microservices as a fundamental technology evolution, continuing the progression from mainframes to client-server, to Web, and now to microservices. With SAP Hybris\u2019 Thoma saying that microservices \u201cmight be even more disruptive than any other tech paradigm shift that has come before,\u201d it\u2019s no surprise that the business unit he leads has been working in the space for a while. For example, its SAP Hybris as a Service (aka,\u00a0YaaS) microservices ecosystem allows businesses to rapidly build new, highly flexible solutions.A\u00a0business strategy and underlying technology based on\u00a0microservices, coupled with the scalable nature of running in the cloud, gives businesses\u00a0the ability to quickly change, test and refine offerings\u00a0based on real-time insights gained from integrated\u00a0customer information\u00a0systems.Solutions like\u00a0SAP Hybris Revenue Cloud, announced last week at SAP Hybris LIVE, will allow businesses to embrace the shift to the customer experience and consumption-based model. This new breed of software provides a simplified, automated approach to managing order and billing processes, collecting valuable product and customer data, testing new offers, and keeping track of usage information. Add in\u00a0Internet of Things (IoT) integration, and the possibilities are nearly endless. This ability to see (and, more importantly,\u00a0understand) the entire view of a customer, beyond just billing data, is foundational to creating a true customer engagement experience.It\u2019s clear that digital engagement has taken a giant leap forward in the past few years, moving far beyond the realm of simply providing customers with an omnichannel experience. Organizations that want to remain competitive must do more than make their products and services available on the channels customers prefer. They must build out their infrastructure to truly understand how, where, and why customers use their products, and remain one step ahead of giving customers the experience that they may not even know they want (yet).For more information:Watch a replay of Carsten Thoma\u2019s \u201cCapitalizing on Disruption\u201d keynote on the SAP Hybris Live: Digital Summit event channel (free registration required to access the replays and presentations).  Every digital moment matters.Are you making the most of them?1,000 business leaders dish on how to stand out from the crowd with a great CX. Get the details\u00a0HERE.\u00a0This story originally appeared on the\u00a0SAP Business Trends\u00a0community."},{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"2017","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2017\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"03","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2017\/\/03\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"31","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2017\/\/03\/\/31\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"Microservices will help your business survive the digital transformation","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2017\/03\/31\/microservices-digital-transformation\/#breadcrumbitem"}]}]