What Does “Backend As A Service” Mean?

Backend As A Service (BaaS) is a relatively new technology, but it has been getting a lot of positive attention due to its benefits for streamlining many operations in backend development. In fact, the global market for BaaS is expected to reach $31.6 billion by 2020.

Why is BaaS so important to modern tech? App-driven economies are on the rise across the globe. Even outside the tech world, mobile applications play a pivotal role in myriad businesses. BaaS is particularly useful when creating web and mobile applications as it makes development quicker, simpler, and more cost-effective.

Backend As A Service: What Is It?

In a nutshell, Backend As A Service automates backend development. It allows developers to outsource behind-the-scenes aspects of websites or mobile apps, freeing up their time to focus on frontend development and bettering user experience.

BaaS vendors provide pre-written software for things like cloud hosting and storage location services, user authentication, database management, and more.

Think of the head chef in a restaurant. They are responsible for multiple tasks. This includes preparing menus, directing food prep, training staff, managing schedules, and coordinating any necessary maintenance for kitchen supplies. In addition to managing the kitchen, a chef is also responsible for what happens outside of the kitchen as they cook and plate dishes customers see and enjoy.

Think of the kitchen as your backend and the dining area as your frontend. BaaS vendors basically take care of all the logistics of the kitchen, allowing your chef to focus exclusively on preparing and plating food. This frees up the chef’s time and energy, allowing them to focus on bettering the diners’ experience.

Your frontend includes things like user interface and client-side logic. The backend includes everything from database management to cloud storage to hosting. BaaS promises to take care of backend tasks – which can often be time consuming – to allow your team to focus on frontend development.

This is one reason BaaS is appealing for mobile app development. The success of an app very much depends on a positive user experience. BaaS allows you to spend more time researching and creating an app catered to your target audience without worrying about backend tasks.

The Benefits of Backend As A Service

No Extraneous Stack Development

BaaS provides you all your underlying processing needs. Developers no longer need to create, recreate, test, and debug new stack for every new application platform. This frees up hours of time as – with BaaS – developers can build off of existing structures instead of working from scratch.

Speed To Market

When you are able to create an application or website at a faster pace, this gives you more time to test new services, run focus groups, and make adjustments as needed. As BaaS simplifies the development process with ready-to-use features, this greatly reduces time to market. In a competitive playing field, swiftly getting your product to consumers is vital.

Reduce Costs

Development costs a lot – especially when you are building from scratch. When an application is created from scratch, the development team must plan the entire functionality of the application and also provide services like security and backups. BaaS vendors provide these services for you at an affordable rate, meaning your company will not have to hire a full development team to launch your application.

Provides More App Features

BaaS vendors offer a lot of ready-to-use features. You can add these features to your application with just a few clicks, the same way you would install a widget on a WordPress site.

Oftentimes, as companies are rushing to meet deadlines, they end up leaving out certain features and perks that would better the overall user experience. BaaS vendors allow you to alter your app quickly, creating a better final product in a shorter time frame.

Frees Up Your Team’s Time And Energy

From frontend development to core business operations, a lot goes into creating and launching a successful application. Automating some aspects of backend development allows you to focus on what is ultimately going to lead to success – creating an application that users will want. More time to focus on user experience, testing, and marketing increases your chance of success.

Backend As A Service: The Bottom Line

Web and mobile apps are going to drive the economy in the coming years. Backend As A Service technologies are poised to take off in turn. They provide a fix for many common bottlenecks and free up important time, energy, and resources that could be allocated elsewhere. BaaS can help many companies develop valuable, functional apps that provide users with the best possible experience.

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