Why should organizations focus more than ever on a solid technology stack?

In a difficult and changing time, the economic landscape, market fluctuations, or increased customer demands mean that companies are facing ever greater challenges.

In order to survive and excel in this hostile environment, companies must identify areas to drive growth by optimizing operations, fostering collaboration, and maximizing efficiency.

One crucial way to achieve this is to adopt a unified software strategy, through a single integrated technology stack, where data flows seamlessly between all departments, decreasing costs and the risk of dangerous silos, as well as improving collaboration and efficiency. Read on, because we’ll tell you all the details!

We should view a technology stack as a way of visualizing a collection of software systems used together to do a job, like a stack of things.

Technologists often talk about “low-level” software, that is, code that manages the hardware of a device. As you move up the stack, you move up in layers of abstraction: an operating system runs on hardware; software runs on an operating system; and, finally, humans, who interact with the software through a user interface.

Thus, the upper layers represent the software systems that we humans use and interact with. This is where the term front-end comes from, and, on the contrary, the back-end refers to the software that does not interact directly with people but which takes care of everything to make this happen (data management, business rules, operation of the software itself, etc.).

Investing in the different elements of your technology stack is a crucial step to achieve success as a company, as this stack gives the team the necessary tools to build and maintain your product/service, as well as ensuring that the customer’s needs continue to be met.

Some technology stacks are designed to work together naturally, and are named according to their components.

In these cases, especially in web stacks, they usually consist of three or four layers: an operating system, a web server, a database, and a programming language.

Among the most popular stacks are:

• LAMP: Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP or Python (or, decades ago, Perl)
• MEAN: MongoDB, Express.js, Angular, and Node.js
• WISA: Windows server, IIS, SQL Server, ASP.net
• Jamstack: JavaScript, APIs, Markup

In addition to the most common ones, the advent of SaaS products and services has facilitated access to tools that product teams and engineers can combine to create and maintain the perfect product for their market segment.

With this, we find the basic categories:

• Operating systems and programming languages: you can choose them according to the environment you are most comfortable with, as well as the type of application you want to optimize.
• Servers and load balancing: these include servers, content distribution networks, routing, and caching services that allow applications to send and receive requests, run smoothly, and scale capacity as needed.
• Data warehousing and querying: this layer consists of relational and non-relational databases, data warehouses, and data pipelines that allow all historical and real-time data to be stored and queried. These are key to storing data about what happens inside the application and the behavior of users when using it.
• Backend frameworks: these usually include some of the basic functions needed to create an application and provide the structure for aspects such as organizing and communicating with the database, managing user requests, and sending registration or password reset emails.
• User interface framework: the services and frameworks that are used to create the user experience, including the user interface and all client-facing functionality.
• API services: applications that help you connect to the tools that make up your technology stack. Some services are collections of thousands of predefined APIs, while others are gateways that help manage data.
• Monitoring and performance tools: tools that help you understand the performance of each layer of the stack. They collect and analyze data on the technical performance of the software and are designed to monitor the status of servers, databases, or other internal systems.
• Business intelligence solutions: BI tools gather data collected from various areas of the business and the marketplace, and are designed to help monitor business performance and make high-level business decisions.

Why is it so important to have the right stackNow that the technical side is clearer, let’s look at the business perspective and the importance of a unified technology stack for modern companies.

A unified technology approach dramatically improves operational efficiency and cooperation. Why? For example, when a company uses multiple tools for different processes, it is forced to deal with multiple logins, compatibility issues, or the need to manually transfer data from one system to another. This results in dangerously excessive time consumption, as well as increased human error.

The impact of this carries over to both the customer and employee experience, which can result in lost sales, lost revenue, and inefficient and cumbersome processes.

The solution? An integrated technology platform that eliminates compatibility issues, eliminates the need to manually transfer information, and minimizes costs and access barriers. With this unified system, tasks that used to take hours or days can now be completed in minutes or seconds.

Time is money, and optimizing and automating processes and tools to the maximum helps teams focus on what really matters: collaborating, driving growth, and serving customers.

The benefits are numerous, as a unified technology infrastructure drives collaboration, eliminates silos and improves visibility for all stakeholders into the customer experience, as well as mitigating coordination gaps, reducing lead times and administrative burdens, or improving quality.

For all these reasons, when companies improve their internal processes, the growth results are immeasurable. By aligning departments under a single technology stack, companies can deliver an enhanced, unified customer experience and respond more quickly to market changes, whether it’s seizing a business opportunity or overcoming a challenge.

And when it comes to selecting the technology stack that best suits your company, there are several factors to take into account:

1. Select a stack that aligns with your business objectives
2. Must be within your team’s capabilities
3. Fits your budget
4. Suitable for the size and complexity of your product/service
5. Compatible with your operating system and hosting environment
6. Includes the software products and services you need
7. Has good support and documentation
8. Is regularly upgraded
9. Scalable

At Plain Concepts, we can help you face the challenges that your company faces, giving your business the agility and flexibility needed to deal with present and future uncertainties.

We will study your case and give you the option that best fits your requirements, achieving a unified and scalable technology stack that allows you to expand your operations as your needs change. All this without having to worry about integrating new systems or training your staff.

You will get a stack that allows you to consolidate essential functions into a single integrated platform, optimizing your operations, responding faster to opportunities and challenges, increasing your ROI, helping you grow, and driving innovation. What are you waiting for to contact us?