Building your own web application platform is locking you in
Organizations
have
been
transitioning
away
from
legacy,
monolithic
platforms
as
these
decades-old
IT
systems
bog
down
management,
flexibility,
and
agility
with
their
tightly
entangled
components.
Organizations
have
been
transitioning
away
from
legacy,
monolithic
platforms
as
these
decades-old
IT
systems
bog
down
management,
flexibility,
and
agility
with
their
tightly
entangled
components.
CIOs
have
shifted
toward
building
their
own
web
application
platforms
with
a
set
of
best-in-class
tools
for
more
flexibility,
customizations,
and
agile
DevOps.
This
choice,
however,
isn’t
right
in
all
circumstances.
In
fact,
it
could
be
locking
you
into
rigid
choices,
just
like
a
monolithic
platform.
Gartner
warns
that
building
your
own
platform
is
complex,
time
consuming,
and
may
not
save
you
money.
Independently
developing,
testing,
deploying,
and
scaling
your
infrastructure
requires
expertise,
agility,
and
a
shift
in
team
responsibilities.
One
proven
way
to
ensure
a
robust,
flexible,
and
streamlined
solution
is
to
invest
in
a
standardized
front-end
platform
you
can
build
on.
Here’s
why.
Building
distracts
from
your
core
business
Companies
(e.g.,
ecommerce
businesses)
opting
to
build
their
own
platform
will
ultimately
find
themselves
focused
on
the
platform
instead
of
their
core
business—selling
their
product.
Platform
development
includes
design,
coding,
testing,
securing,
and
deploying.
No
platform
is
a
fire-and-forget
type
of
affair.
What’s
also
overlooked
is
managing
the
platform’s
non-functional
requirements
(NFR),
such
as
ensuring
maintenance,
reliability,
visibility,
etc.
Developing
a
custom
platform
requires
the
expertise
of
top
talent.
This
talent
typically
prefers
to
create,
not
maintain,
so
this
type
of
talent
is
difficult
to
retain.
While
you
can
foster
the
loyalty
of
your
employees
by
investing
in
them—it’s
never
as
predictable
as
paying
a
fee
for
an
always-available,
all-in-one
solution.
Platforms
offer
predictable
total
cost
of
ownership
Large
IT
projects
are
hard
to
execute,
particularly
when
in-house
staff
is
often
pulled
into
multiple
directions
and
distracted
by
other
priorities.
This
can
be
costly
for
organizations:
A
recent
study
found
that
25
to
40%
percent
of
IT
projects
exceed
their
budget
or
schedules
by
more
than
50%.
Modern
platforms,
like
Edgio’s,
are
built
to
unify
application
tools
to
lower
the
total
cost
of
ownership,
increase
efficiencies,
and
reduce
errors.
A
comprehensive
and
streamlined
solution
can
save
you
from
overworking
your
team
to
deploy
new
updates
on
time
and
under
budget.
In-house
innovation
can
lead
to
lock-in
and
employee
frustration
A
Freshworks
survey
revealed
that
nine
out
of
10
employees
are
frustrated
with
their
workplace
technology,
and
the
majority
will
consider
finding
a
new
employer
if
they
are
not
provided
the
tools,
technology,
and
information
they
need
to
do
their
jobs.
Custom
platforms
are
usually
cobbled
together
with
different
tools
from
multiple
vendors,
making
them
difficult
to
use.
The
more
customized
the
in-house
platform,
the
more
entrenched
the
company
becomes
in
it.
This
limits
the
ability
to
adopt
new
tools,
techniques,
and
technologies
to
innovate.
It’s
much
like
a
vendor
lock-in
with
a
monolithic
platform,
but
one
that
was
built
inside
the
company.
This,
in
turn,
can
cause
slower
workflows
and
growing
frustration.
Over
5,000
DevOps
professionals
shared
details
about
their
processes,
and
69%
reported
wanting
more
consolidation
due
to
hidden
costs,
insufficient
agility,
and
the
time
maintenance
takes
away
from
managing
security
and
compliance.
Don’t
lose
your
employees
and
operational
efficiency
to
ineffective
and
inefficient
tools
and
workflows.
The
multi-billion
dollar
aggregate
investment
Custom
platforms
are
often
poorly
documented
and
maintained,
and
increasingly
difficult
to
use,
which
increases
time
to
market.
This
is
unforgiving
in
today’s
current
economy.
In
fact,
McKinsey
found
organizations
with
higher
developer
velocity
outperform
competitors
in
the
market
by
up
to
five
times.
A
standardized
front-end
platform
that
facilitates
continuous
integration
and
continuous
deployment
(CI/CD),
for
example
the
use
of
serverless
functions
driven
by
all
the
companies
using
the
solution,
can
drive
significant
value
to
each.
There
are
many
other
companies
using
the
solution,
and
their
aggregate
investment
will
always
exceed
your
potential
investment
in
your
own
platform.
Investing
in
your
own
tooling
will
never
scale
like
that.
To
build
or
not
to
build?
In
today’s
rapidly
evolving
software
development
landscape,
the
investment
in
a
robust
platform
provides
a
more
cost-effective
and
streamlined
solution.
It
enables
companies
to
focus
on
their
core
business
objectives
and
reduce
the
burden
of
developing
and
maintaining
customized
platforms
that
limit
their
ability
to
innovate.
Companies
need
to
be
strategic
in
their
tool
choices
and
recognize
the
importance
of
investing
in
a
reliable
front-end
platform
for
their
web
applications
that
facilitates
CI/CD
and
allows
you
to
build
with
flexibility.Â
Edgio
operates
a
globally
scaled
edge
CDN
network
with
a
vertically
integrated
frontend
platform
for
web
apps
and
APIs.
Click
here
to
learn
more.
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