Why Serverless Is the Future of Development | Intellectsoft

Updated: February 27, 2020

Serverless architecture is a step beyond in the technological revolution. Since 2015 (or some say 2012), it has changed the nature of computing. And there is no way back. The real question is, should you consider switching to serverless too?

Summary:

What is serverless architecture, and how does it work? Scale-to-zero, FaaS, event-driven approach and managed services explained.
Why is serverless the future of development? Some of the most significant advantages it has.
What to keep in mind if you're considering serverless? Risks, cons, and how to get prepared for a new solution.
Should your business use serverless architecture today? Statistics and forecast for 2025.

What is serverless?

As it is with any new innovation, there is no versatile definition that works for everybody. In the case of serverless, it’s even more real because the concept has developed in a relatively short time. And still, lots of people confuse it with other concepts. Here’s the broad, yet the simple definition of “serverless” we think fits it the best:

Serverless is a paradigm of executing applications in cloud-native environments that influences the way applications are built and deployed and makes use of cloud-computing advantages.

Simon Wardley, a “serverless” advocate, defines it as:

“[Serverless is] an event-driven, utility-based, stateless, code execution environment in which you write code and consume services.”

A couple of words on What Serverless is NOT:

It’s not a container. “A container image is a lightweight, stand-alone, executable package of a piece of software that includes everything needed to run it: code, runtime, system tools, system libraries, settings. Available for both Linux and Windows based apps, containerized software will always run the same, regardless of the environment. Containers isolate software from its surroundings, for example, differences between development and staging environments and help reduce conflicts between teams running different software on the same infrastructure,” — shares Docker.com;
It’s not a PaaS. Unlike serverless, PaaS refers to a system where there is more (compared to serverless) control over deployment environment; applications take a while to spin up; applications need to be configured to scale automatically.

In many sources, you can also find that serverless architecture also means “managed services that scale to zero.” That’s why the scale-to-zero approach or pay for the consumption of computing resources (instead of allocation) is a key concept of the serverless. Let’s dive in.

Scaling to zero as the main concept

"Scale to zero" stops consuming resources when there are no requests. Therefore, computation resources become consumed when in use. Serverless cloud providers automatically scale out the application to handle the increased load.

It reduces the overall costs because customers are only billed for the time that the application is running. It’s also known as pay-per-use (pay for consumption and not for allocation). That’s why scale-to-zero is appropriately seen as the main concept of serverless computing.

Functions as code

Serverless is frequently used in conjunction with a function-as-a-service (FaaS) offering. In this case, the code is written as a function. In turn, the function acts as a small single-purpose piece of code that runs dynamically in response to some event trigger or on schedule.

Besides the fact that FaaS allows developers to run backend code without managing their server systems, here are some more essential aspects of it:

When it comes to language and environment, FaaS functions are regular applications, but have a range of architectural restrictions;
Using FaaS with serverless computing requires a different approach to deployment as compared to when you manage your servers. Developers upload code in a FaaS environment to the FaaS vendor who then takes over everything related to deployment. Developers don’t have to do anything;
A FaaS vendor covers all the scaling needs. Developers write a function to assume horizontal-scaled parallelism, and the FaaS vendor covers everything scaling-related from that point. Horizontal scaling is fully automated and elastic;
The FaaS provider fully manages resource provisioning and allocation.

To get started with FaaS, developers simply bring their function code and wire up event triggers. This is where an event-driven architecture steps in.

Events as triggers

The event-driven architecture (or simply EDA) is a software architecture paradigm where code runs in response to events. An event means any change of state in the system, for example, a new message in a queue, the changed record in a DB, a file upload, etc.

Simply put, EDA promotes production, consumption, and reaction to any events. In turn, events trigger business functions or code. For example, when a consumer books a hotel room, the room's state changes from "free" to "booked". A hotel booking system architecture may treat this state change as an event whose occurrence can be made known to other applications within the architecture.

Services are all managed

In a serverless architecture, developers don’t worry about supporting any related services. Such services can include databases, storage, message queues, stream processing, caches, etc.

In turn, developers can connect managed services together, so they shouldn’t think about provisioning, maintaining, and administering these servers and systems. Also, there is no need to ensure application fault tolerance and availability. Cloud providers handle these aspects for them.

What are the benefits of serverless?

Before considering the serverless approach for your business, let’s take a closer look at the advantages it has.

1 — Lower Operational Costs

With a Serverless architecture, you pay the vendor only for resources your application consumed, meaning you do not need to allocate costs for managing your own servers, databases, and application logic.

While you get the same cost reduction benefits from PaaS (platform as a service) and IaaS (infrastructure as a service), the two do not allow you to pay only for the resources you consume, making Serverless a cheaper option.

Automated & More Cost-Efficient Scaling

Serverless comes with automatic and elastic horizontal scaling that is fully managed by the vendor. In many cases, this allows you to cut budget costs in a big way.

More Optimization — Fewer Expenses

With a Serverless architecture, there is a direct link between code optimization and operational costs. The more you optimize your application’s code, the less you pay.

Say, your app needs a second to process an event; if you reduce the time to 500 ms, you may instantly save 50% percent from what you paid for minute-long processing. The amount you save may change from vendor to vendor, but the overall picture remains the same — you can save a lot).

2 — Simplified Operational Management

Before starting with this section, it is essential to go back to the fact that Serverless has not matured yet, and different operational nuances will arise as you start using it. Still, that does not dismiss the significant benefits of Serverless architecture in operational management. Let’s see what they are.

Next-to-no System Administration

In short, an utterly serverless solution needs zero system administration. The process of packaging and deploying a FaaS function is simple compared to deploying a server — you only need to package your code into a zip file and upload it to the vendor. That’s it. More so, if you are only starting with your application, you can skip the packaging stage and write the code right to the provider’s console.

More Agility

The nature of Serverless allows your team to decrease time to market in a reasonable fashion. Plus, with a faster deployment time, teams can experiment with new features and see if the work quickly at a very low cost and with little friction. This, in turn, lowers the lead time and may result in a better final product.

3 — Faster time to market

Speed is a new big. Every one aims to get their applications to market as soon as possible. With serverless, it’s quicker and easier: no need to worry about wiring up custom components, the code is shipped many times faster, and there’s less to build from scratch. As a result, developers run deployments with less fuss.

4 — Less Impact on Environment

The world has seen a big spike in the number of data centers in the last ten years, which increased the amount of burnt fossil fuel significantly. Tech giants are considering building centers near renewable energy sources. Still, this will not be enough to reduce the impact due to another issue: highly inefficient capacity management.

According to Forbes, standard servers in organizations deliver no more than 5 to 15 percent of their maximum computing output on average in a year. Serverless computing, on the other hand, frees companies from the challenging task of provisioning computing, capacity all the while allowing serverless vendors to allow just the right amount of resources for their clients, and only when they need them. So, serverless may be the one and the only solution to optimize data center resources worldwide, lowering their environmental impact dramatically.

What to keep in mind if you're considering serverless?

Serverless has not matured yet, and this way of building and deploying applications has its advantages just as it has some drawbacks. There is an array of issues you need to know about before switching to this paradigm. We will take a closer look at the inherent flaws of the concept, the ones that will never be fixed entirely.

Lack of Control

Using Serverless means your vendor is in control of the parts of your system. This may lead to a wide variety of issues, including functionality loss, forced API upgrades, system downtime, and other issues that may affect your application and its users.

Security

Every newly emerged concept always has a list of security issues, and that’s also the case with serverless. From insecure serverless deployment configuration to inadequate monitoring and logging of functions and insecure third-party dependencies, these are some of the security issues to pay attention to before jumping in a serverless world.

BaaS-Only Serverless Architecture Issues

Serverless may decrease your operational resources, but not entirely. In the case of a 100% BaaS-based architecture, all the logic will be in the client. Backend-as-a-Service (or BaaS) is a cloud service model in which developers outsource all the behind-the-scenes aspects of a web or mobile application so that they only have to write and maintain the frontend.

So, for your next platforms, you will need to repeat the implementation of a subset of that logic. If you need to migrate to a new database, this will require code replication or coordination change for all of your clients. Another issue with a full BaaS architecture is that you cannot optimize your server design for client performance in no way.

On the bright side, if your serverless architecture uses only FaaS, these issues are non-existent.

Technology Limitations

Not all technologies can be used due to the scale-to-zero concept. The so-called slow “cold start” (first execution after scaling to zero) can lead to performance issues. Some applications require more time to start and then work fast. And for serverless fast startup time is always crucial.

Doesn’t Suite Some Tasks

There are some tasks where serverless is worse fit than traditional models. For such tasks, the usage of serverless may lead to increasing costs.

FaaS-Only Serverless Architecture Issues

FaaS functions have major local state restrictions, meaning you should not take it as given that the state from one invocation of a FaaS function will be available to another invocation of the same function.

If you cannot store states in memory, using a fast NoSQL database may do the trick alongside a number of other options, but all of them are significantly slower than in-memory or on-machine persistence, and the latter will not fit each and every project.

The Future is Serverless

It’s hard to predict where serverless computing will be a year from now. Looking back at the current state of serverless, its evolution over the last several years, how vendors address existing issues, as well as the growing community, we can expect the following developments in years to come.

Better Tooling. There’s no road ahead for serverless if the existing tooling stops evolving. Luckily, Amazon and other vendors have been improving things like deployment/application bundling and configuration, and we can expect vendors in general to make improvements in other important areas, such as remote debugging and distributed monitoring.

Serverless FaaS Will Fit More Applications. Serverless FaaS doesn’t have a consistent in-server state, so such an architecture will not be able to support high-throughput applications.

While vendors will surely try to make function instances active between events for a longer time, the hybrid approach — an architecture combining serverless and non-serverless execution models — is likely to be the better option for such applications.

Fewer implementation Issues. From deployment to packaging to integration testing to the opaqueness of monitoring support, there is a very long list of issues when it comes to implementing serverless applications as of today. As vendors are gradually fixing implementation-related issues, we can expect them to deal with all the problems existing in this area today as well.

Emergence of First Solid Serverless Practices. Although a lot is clear about nature serverless computing and how it can benefit teams and applications they design, it is still a very, very young field will little-to-no guidelines for the long-term as well as many blank spaces across the board.

So, in the next several years, we can expect the serverless rule book to start shaping up. It will outline where serverless fits best and where traditional ways are more favorable, the best ways to implement serverless, how to build a hybrid serverless architecture, and so on. The answers will come from both sides — the vendors, and the community.

That doesn’t end here, but vendors will surely try to tackle these first. Will serverless become the new normal for application architectures? It has the potential, but, as with many things, only time will tell.

Should your business switch to serverless now?

In 2017 the serverless market was worth around $3 billion. By 2025, it’s predicted to go up to $20 billion. Many giants are already adopting serverless. To name a few, Netflix, Coca Cola, Airbnb, EA, Vevo, MongoDB, Accenture, etc.

If you consider switching to serverless, we suggest keeping in mind two things:

You should not migrate all your apps to serverless right away. Try and test first;
Serverless is the right direction for the future for two main reasons: it gives the opportunity to deliver value to customers quickly and lets you pay only for the used resources.

Indeed, there are still numerous pitfalls and execution bottlenecks utilizing serverless. Moreover, security is one of the top issues that should be resolved over time. Yet one thing the entire market knows is that serverless is inevitable, and it will own the market. It’s all just a matter of time.

If you are ready to elevate your business with the serverless paradigm or need an extensive consultation on the matter, get in touch with our experts.

The hospitality industry depends a lot on keeping customers happy, but it’s getting harder to attract and keep them. The pandemic hit this industry hard, and now market competition is tougher than ever, with competitive offerings swaying customers. Hospitality businesses are willing to spend big to win customers back. The main questions for many are: how can we stay ahead of the competition, keep our customers, and increase revenue? Keep reading—we’ve got some answers.

Customers today have so many options that getting their attention is a real challenge. It’s not easy to make them choose your business over others. What worked 10 years ago doesn’t work the same way now. Back then, people often chose businesses based on reputation. But with new types of businesses (boutique hotels, craft cafes) popping up or big enterprises getting a new strategy, expectations have changed. The good news is these businesses have shown what works: great customer service. They focus on personalizing the experience, making things easy for customers, offering loyalty programs, and using smart technology.

In this article, we’ll explore these tech strategies and show you how they can help your business grow, and double the revenue. Keep reading to learn more!

The Importance of Customer Satisfaction in the Hospitality Industry

Customer satisfaction, which equals exceptional customer experience, is the backbone of the hospitality industry. It plays a central role in driving revenue and loyalty, as satisfied customers are more likely to return and recommend a hotel, restaurant, or other hospitality business to others. In fact, a study by the Harvard Business Review found that a 1% increase in customer satisfaction can lead to a 0.5% increase in revenue. Moreover, loyal customers are more likely to forgive mistakes and continue doing business with a company, even if they experience a negative encounter.

Let's quickly review the challenges the hospitality industry is facing right now so we can move on to the solutions and our case studies.

Challenges in Hospitality

As businesses navigate the changes in the hospitality industry, there are some key areas where a little improvement can go a long way. From improving customer service to embracing digital transformation and tackling labor shortages, we’ll take a closer look at today’s biggest challenges—and, more importantly, how technology can step in to help. Let’s get started!

Poor Customer Service

Even with strong and high-quality business offerings, poor customer service can drive potential customers and existing customers away. Common issues include:

Long wait times in customer service queues (it is worth remembering that our attention spans 8 seconds, and we live in a very busy world, so quick and efficient responses are more important than ever.)
Poorly trained customer service representatives
Lack of follow-up
Services not being done properly or quickly
Recall issues that require multiple service calls

These problems can frustrate customers. But, at Intellectsoft, we believe that the right approach, combined with technology, can address them effectively.

Digital Transformation Gaps

Approximately 50% of hotels are adopting new technologies, with 43% automating repetitive tasks and 39% upgrading existing systems.
Source: workstaff.app

Source: workstaff.app

While many businesses are adopting digital solutions, some still struggle with outdated systems and fragmented data. Legacy companies often face chaos when trying to manage their data and create new systems or add features.

Some of the recent examples include clients coming to us to create AI solutions for their services while their data simply was not ready for the advanced tasks. We advise stepping back, communicating with a company objective, and working on keeping the data clean (centralized, structured, and segmented).

When we’re asked to create advanced systems using AI, we always emphasize the importance of organized data. To train AI and build such complicated systems that truly work, you need to start from the very beginning—collecting, storing, centralizing, and organizing it. We encourage our clients to align all departments to work internally on the data so we can create a unified digital system that delivers personalized experiences.

If you’re unsure where to start with your data, we can help. Collecting feedback at various touchpoints along the customer journey is crucial for gaining insights into customer satisfaction and loyalty. Book an IT consultation with us, and our experts will guide you in mapping out a path to get more from your data and build a system that works for your business and team.

Reskilling Staff

The pandemic hit hard in early 2020, especially for the hospitality and travel industries. Even five years later, many businesses are still feeling the impact. Recruiting and retaining skilled staff has become a major challenge post-pandemic.

Reskilling to address technology’s impact is of utmost importance, as about 40% of hotel General Managers place it among their top three workforce challenges.

Source: Deloitte

We strongly believe that adopting the right technology can help. For example, creating an app to train your staff not only saves time but also ensures consistency in learning. AI assistants can also work alongside your team, helping with tasks like recruitment (providing industry insights, crafting emails) and staff training. Imagine having an app dedicated to making your team’s work easier and more efficient!

How Technology Tackles These Challenges and Supports a Customer-Centric Hospitality Culture

Automation, AI, and similar technologies may threaten many. However, the debate about replacing humans isn’t about that—it’s about cooperation and working hand in hand with technology to achieve the highest standards and establish brand-new “golden standards.” Technology is here to assist staff in listening to and collecting customer insights from data.

Let’s review some of our cases to see examples of how technology helps improve customer experience and supports customer service.

Examples of Intellectsoft projects

Property management systems (PMS)

We created a web platform and mobile app that makes managing daily tasks easier and offers extra services to improve residents’ experience. It gives a clear overview of daily activities and helps with managing units and users. Residents can easily book amenities, submit service requests, and report incidents. The platform also includes features for equipment management, key instructions, workflows, and custom permissions. This makes it easier for staff to stay on top of equipment and ensure residents have all the information they need. Plus, tools like announcements, quick votes, a forum, and a community calendar help build a connected and engaged community.

Guest Experience Management App

Our next app helped our client improve their guest experience by replacing printed marketing materials and the need for phone calls with a smart solution. Now, guests can easily order in-room dining, make reservations, and interact with staff— through a simple tablet in their room. The solution includes three parts: a custom in-room tablet with a variety of services, an admin panel for hotel staff and service providers, and a backend system that connects everything together. This approach makes things easier for guests and staff, improving both convenience and efficiency.

Existing Customers First: Building Loyalty with Personalized Touchpoints

Keeping existing customers is not just a strategy; it’s well-known that retaining existing customers is more cost-effective than acquiring new ones. In fact, research shows that it costs five times more to acquire a new customer than to retain an existing one. KPMG named customer retention as the number one revenue driver for the company.

Moreover, a 5% increase in customer retention can lead to a 25% to 95% increase in profits, showing the significant impact loyal customers can have on a business’s bottom line. Retention strategies, like personalized experiences and loyalty programs, can foster long-term relationships and generate recurring revenue, ultimately making them an invaluable part of any business model.

Personalization: How Technology Can Help?

Everyone loves to feel special—it’s part of being human. In hospitality, personalization has evolved from being a luxury to an essential standard. With the right technology to manage your data effectively, you can deliver those “wow” moments that guests won’t forget.

More than half of hotel chains are already using personalization features on their websites, booking platforms, and apps, and another 39% are planning to follow suit soon. They’re tailoring experiences to fit guest preferences perfectly.

Source: Deloitte

How does technology make it happen?

CRM Systems: They help you keep track of guest preferences, booking history, and special requests so you can offer services tailored just for them.
Loyalty Programs: Personalized rewards and offers show your guests that you value them, keeping them coming back for more.
AI Personalization: AI analyzes guest data to predict what they’ll love (from room upgrades to local recommendations) before they even ask.
IoT Gadgets: Smart room features like voice-activated assistants, or temperature controls adjust to your guests’ preferences, making their stay more comfortable.

With tech-powered personalization, you’re building loyalty and maximizing the lifetime value of every customer.

Our Case Study: Smart Hotel Management & Loyalty Program

For one of our clients, we created a smart room solution, complete with a custom IoT system. Guests can use a mobile app to control services, explore amenities, and find resort information-- with a special touch to their suite type. For the client’s entertainment business, we improved their legacy software by running a full IT and code check, fixing issues, and making the system better for customers.

Along with that, we developed a mobile app for the loyalty program, allowing businesses to effortlessly reward their customers and keep them engaged with exclusive benefits.

Our solutions not only helped the client with special experiences for guests; it also improved operations, cutting costs by eliminating inefficiencies. Here's what our experts shared:

"We transitioned away from ESB (Enterprise Service Bus) systems, which previously cost millions, and replaced them with more efficient, self-managed solutions. Similarly, we’ve implemented Device Farms that improved operations and saved resources."

Leveraging Software to Increase Upsell Opportunities

Here are some examples of tech tactics that will help your team sell more and introduce new offerings to existing customers, improve overall efficiency leaving your team grateful:

Dynamic Pricing Algorithms

For finance and marketing teams, manually calculating pricing by segment to introduce your clients can be incredibly challenging. AI-powered tools can strongly optimize these strategies by analyzing your database in detail.

Upselling via Apps

Boosting revenue in the hospitality business often comes down to personalized experiences. Imagine this: a guest books a room, and then your app suggests a spa package or a room upgrade at just the right moment. Later, it nudges them to book a dinner reservation or a guided tour designed to their preferences. With apps offering these personalized recommendations during and after bookings, you’re not just increasing your revenue per guest but also skyrocketing their experience. And you do it in a sustainable way, not by speculating, but by offering what your customers desire based on their previous experiences. It’s a win-win: seamless, helpful, and far from pushy.

Inventory and Resource Management Software

Making every resource count in your hospitality business is key. Inventory and resource management software allows you to effortlessly track everything from linens to room availability, ensuring nothing goes to waste. Having real-time insights to reduce overstock, avoid shortages, and optimize operations assists sustainably keep everything under control and know what you need to focus more. It helps maximize room occupancy by aligning bookings with available resources, ensuring every room and item is used effectively. This approach leads to smarter management, better guest experiences, and a noticeable boost to your bottom line.

Adopting these strategies not only optimizes your operations but also drives business growth. Ready to discover how technology can elevate your goals? We’re here to create a tailored solution for you.

Steps For Implementing a Customer Service Technology Solution

Improving customer service in hospitality doesn’t have to be a daunting task. With the right technology, you can smooth the path of your operations, speed up response times, and elevate the overall guest experience. Here’s where you can make it happen:

1. Understand Your Needs

Start by identifying the challenges your business is facing. Are you struggling to manage high volumes of inquiries, track customer feedback, or personalize the guest experience? Pinpointing your needs will guide you to the best solutions.

2. Pick the Right Tools

Choose technology that aligns with your goals. Look for solutions that are scalable, easy to use, and integrate effortlessly with your current systems. Options like CRM software, live chat tools, or a guest experience app can make a difference.

3. Equip Your Team

Technology is only as effective as the people using it. Train your staff to make the most of the new tools, so they can deliver exceptional service and resolve issues quickly. Confident, well-equipped staff creates happy, loyal customers.

4. Keep Improving

Once implemented, monitor how well the solution works. Are response times improving? Are customers more satisfied? Regular evaluations will help you fine-tune your approach and keep things running harmoniously.

Some Tech Ideas for Hospitality Businesses

CRM Software: Manage customer interactions and preferences.
Guest Experience Apps: Delight guests with personalized experiences right at their fingertips.
Amenity Management Systems: Simplify operations for everything from room service to facility bookings.
Helpdesk Software: Resolve customer issues optimally.
Live Chat Tools: Offer instant support and answers.
Social Media Management Tools: Keep customer interactions engaging and organized.

Integrating these strategies will not only improve your customer service but also deliver unforgettable customer satisfaction, loyalty, and, ultimately, your bottom line. Ready to take the next step? Book a consultation with our experts.

Conclusion

To wrap up everything we've discussed, customer satisfaction and experience are at the heart of hospitality. Retaining customers is more than just keeping them around—building strong, long-lasting relationships and consistently meeting their evolving needs. By understanding their pain points and offering personalized solutions, you can inspire loyalty and drive progress. With the right technology and continuous improvement, your business can stay ahead, let go of what no longer serves you, and keep growing.

At Intellectsoft, with over 17 years of experience in software development, our expert team is ready to help. We create everything from mobile apps to full-fledged portals and systems, leveraging the latest technologies like AI, Cloud, and Machine Learning. With deep experience in the hospitality industry, we’re here to craft personalized solutions that bring your business unforgettable customer experience and retain your valuable clients.

Ready to double your revenue and level up your customer retention strategy with personalized technology? Contact our experts, and we look forward to working hand in hand with you to build or revitalize the perfect app or system for you.

Tetiana Borysova

Content Writer