Johannesburg, 12 Nov 2018
In a market demanding agile development of cloud technology, Surge Cloud Platform provides customers with everything they need to seamlessly build sustainable, scalable cloud apps with a quick time to market for digital offerings.
Recently launched by 48Software, the company presents its best practice for adopting cloud technology, which is made up of three different processes.
These cloud building blocks include identity, integration and digitalisation functionality. "We've created these layers and we're offering them to customers as a plan and a vision they can use on their own cloud journey," says Andre Witte, of 48Software.
The trio of components that make up Surge Cloud Platform are unpacked below.
Surge identity
We all know how much of a pain it is to have to register a new username and password when you log in to a website you've never visited before. With Surge Identity, users are given the choice to log in using whatever platform they use most frequently, and developers are provided with an industry standardised, scalable and secure way of managing identity. Be it Gmail, Facebook or even their business identity, this approach is gives users the option.
This identification layer enables developers to deliver specific information to each user on a per application basis. As a very simple example, if you're a fan of the colour blue, when you log in using your understood identity, developers can ensure your dashboard appears in your favourite hue. This allows each application can tailor their platform based on the user's unique preferences.
Surge Integration
Most businesses can build a standalone app. But, with no access to your core information, your app will hardly offer an enriched experience. When customers log into an e-commerce app, for example, they want to be able to access their order history and they want their delivery address to be saved. This is where integration is so important.
The key is to start out by identifying what core pieces of information will make the customer's experience better, even if this information is on-premises. While every business is different, the fundamental information that users need is pretty standard: customer, product, sale and financial data. With Surge Integration, we have created a central layer of APIs standards that can tie in to all of the applications that your business already uses.
Developers can access an API portal with a range of "basic" APIs they can then use to create whatever they are looking to develop. Not only does centralised integration make it easier to maintain certain development standards, but it also takes the complexity out of system updates.
Surge Digitalisation
Essentially, this step helps developers build applications that have the components already unpacked above. In developing Surge Digitalisation, 48Software created pre-fabricated services/features that most applications require so developers don't have to reinvent the wheel every time they create something new.
The aim is to centralise certain services and, in doing so, make it simpler and quicker for developers to create new applications. They just need to pull in the different elements they want and add any specific, customisable features that may be required.
Local landscape
Many local businesses face challenges associated with their legacy systems. Chances are they have their own data centres or legacy apps, which come with broad access, capability, scale and security limitations, says Witte.
While this may have worked in the past, today, these monolithic systems hamper business agility, productivity and flexibility, he continues.
"Cloud addresses all of these challenges; it addresses scale, it addresses security, it addresses the ability to redesign your apps in a different way and to consume and build different services that can independently scale and communicate with each other." It's not about "lift and shift" approach, it's about being strategic about which data you move to the cloud, he adds.
Many companies want to take advantage of new services, they want a mobile app, they want all of these fantastic IOT services and really advanced data analytics. But, they don't want to build it themselves. "These companies need something that bridges the gap between their on-premises systems and all the beautiful things they want to do in the cloud. And that's exactly where this platform comes in."
For ages, our industry has been struggling with how to consume cloud services, concludes Witte. "This is a platform that we firmly believe solves those problems, allowing businesses to consume cloud services in a very scalable and standard way."
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