How Business Goals Shape the Architecture of Future IT Systems: A Guide for Entrepreneurs

In an attempt to save money, entrepreneurs often tell you that you need to develop a small IT system, purposely omitting the real tasks, scope and goals. This article will help you understand how a clear definition of business goals and objectives influences the architecture of the future IT system. You will learn why it is important to be frank during the planning stages, what architectural approaches exist, how they relate to business goals. And most importantly, what is the cost of making a mistake? Hi, I'm Maxim from Sailet. We specialize in custom development, have been working since 2017, have completed many interesting projects, talk about automation and develop our EDMS. Earlier I wrote about mistakes in the public sector and how to avoid them. Now let's return to business and continue to sort out the problems that are still there at the start. One of the most common is understatement.

Transparency as the Foundation of a Successful Project

Yes, this problem truly exists. Entrepreneurs often downplay the real scale and tasks of projects in an attempt to reduce initial costs. This leads to an insufficient assessment of requirements and the selection of unsuitable architecture, which results in significant additional expenses in the future.

Real Case:

- We need to develop a system for receiving applications, something like a profile CRM. - How many users will there be? What are the deadlines? and other 100,500 questions. - There will be about 100 users, probably more, but not by much. 3 months for development. After 2 months: - Say, we can get 800 companies with 15k users onto the platform, right? - With the current resource, no. - Why not? We asked you for server and platform specifications. - We've given you 500 people to spare. - But we need 15,000.

Real Data:

1. According to a Standish Group study, 31% of IT projects are canceled before completion, and 52% exceed the budget.
2. A McKinsey report shows that 45% of large IT projects experience budget overruns of 50% or more.

Consequence:

• This leads to the choice of architecture that is unable to scale or adapt to future requirements. Be prepared to update the system every year or, in the worst case, never complete it.
• Due to the need for changes and optimizations during the operational phase, development costs increase.
• An unsuitable architecture may struggle with increased load. "Why is everything running so slowly?"

The contractor must clearly understand the REAL goals and objectives of the business in order to at least choose the right IT system architecture that will be most effective. IMPORTANT Discuss all usage scenarios and future plans from the outset. You are paying a contractor for experience and generating solutions. So provide real information so the decisions are the right ones. This simple thing will save you a lot of money.

What is IT system architecture?

We've covered the basics, let's get to the technical stuff. A quick primer. The architecture of an IT system is the foundation that defines its components, their interaction and operating principles. Properly designed architecture ensures stability, performance and scalability of the system. Incorrect one provides pain... a lot of pain... a lot of pain... Of course, I mean time and money first of all, not counting nerves, stress, lost profits and a lot of pain... I hope I managed to convey how much this pain will be. In one project it cost the customer x6 from the original plan and a complete system redesign, which was done on a 70%.

Main Types of Architectures

Monolithic Architecture

The entire system is developed as a single whole, where all components are tightly interconnected.

• Pros: Simplicity of development and deployment.
• Cons: Difficulties with scaling and updates.

Often used for MVPs, small platforms, internal portals, etc. Typically for up to 10k users.

Microservices Architecture

The system is divided into independent services, each of which is responsible for its own part of the functionality. Imagine a set of separate applications that interact with each other. Pros: Ease of scaling and updates. If one service needs changes, it doesn't affect the others. Minuses: Complexity of managing and customizing interactions between services. Definitely redundant at the start, but definitely ideal at scale. If you have 5k or more users at once, you should definitely use it.

Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA)

The system is built from services with common interfaces. It’s like different parts of your system being able to "talk" to each other through standardized protocols.

• Advantages: Integration flexibility. Easy to add new services.
• Disadvantages: Requires careful planning and management to ensure all parts of the system work harmoniously.

Often in ecosystems and superpipes like EGOV, Caspi, etc. Very large. Now, let's remember that the following parameters are considered when designing a system:

• Load: Number of users and data volume.
• Speed and Reliability: Response time and fault tolerance.
• Scalability: The ability to expand without losing performance.

And for this, it’s important to understand the goals and business objectives. What’s the plan for this IT system? For whom? How many users? What will happen with it next? What key problems should it solve? Where are we growing? And so on.

Divine Integration

We can definitely help with all of this. To do so, you need to submit a request. by reference. We don't do it for everyone, only after qualification, because it's free. If you want to avoid pain, stress and loss, be honest from the start. Be honest about your goals and objectives. Make 3 ground rules:

1. Share your real plans and forecasts with the contractor. This will help choose the right architecture and avoid cost overruns.
2. Think several steps ahead. Plan for scalability and consider potential changes.
3. Turn to professionals who can offer optimal solutions for your project. Well, how could you do without this?

P.S. Write in the comments the topics related to automation/development/programming/digitalization that concern you, and we will definitely cover them.

Instead of a conclusion

If you want to avoid pain, stress and loss, be honest from the beginning. Speak honestly about your goals and objectives. Make a note of the 3 ground rules: Share realistic plans and projections with the contractor. This will help you choose the right architecture and avoid overspending. Think several steps ahead. Plan for scaling and consider possible changes. Talk to professionals who can offer the best solutions for your project. Well, how could you not) P.s. Write in the comments topics about automation/development/programming/digitalization that bother you and we will tell you about them.