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CLOUD ARCHITECTURE MATTERS – Continued from page 42

No/low code platforms have been growing in popularity • Development tooling, reporting, business logic
over the last several years because of the ease of use and • Workflow, security, application navigation
speed of development. The idea is that customizations can • Data migration tooling (in and out)
be made by business practitioners, thus freeing up IT to be • Customizations and extensions
more productive. To date, very few vendors have built an • Automated testing solution
enterprise grade solution on a no/low-code platform, but • Dashboard, visualizations
the value of using the same platform is apparent: consistent • Documentation tooling
software solutions and a unified, homogenous environment. • Internationalization, localization and support
for multiple currencies
2. Metadata is the heart of future proof. When metadata
is decoupled from the technology, it remains implemen- 6. Modern User Interface. Modern web user interfaces
tation agnostic. This separation can insulate companies must be attractive, easy-to-learn, easy-to-use and
from technology changes because it is up to the vendor navigate, but they also must be architected properly.
to expose those changes without impacting the applica- Single page applications leverage the power of the
tions. The metadata is a protected blueprint for what you browser and the local computing horsepower where they
want your ERP REM software to do so when technology run. They should avoid server roundtrips to serve page
or feature-driven requirements are implemented in the content to the user efficiently.
platform those changes must not impact the metadata
– only the platform layer. When a platform is truly future The user interface should support multiple device form
proof and the application investment is protected, there is factors and layouts without any application rework.
no barrier to the uptake of new technology changes and Consistency, predictability and discoverability are also an
features. Your software will always be ‘modern’. important part of a modern web interface. Finally, a user
interface should delight its end users: it should be good
3. Only a single set of interfaces. There shouldn’t be looking and engaging.
a runtime and integration version of your system, but
only a single set of standards-based RESTful interfaces. Conclusion
This ensures that outside parties will integrate into Cloud technology will continue to evolve and drive
your system using the same REST endpoints as the even more innovation for years to come. If built on an
user interface. Regardless of the interface consumer, architecture with these six platform components, you will
validations and security rules would apply the same be future proof and ready for what comes next.
way for consistent results, secure access, and no
transactional inconsistencies. Donnie Law is the Co-Founder, CEO and Chief
Software Architect of REMLogics, LLC. Donnie
4. Server architecture matters. A 100% stateless server has over 29 years of experience in enterprise
architecture is one of the most critical aspects of being real estate management software develop-
truly cloud-ready. Statelessness enables servers to be ment and best-practice implementations. As
stopped, started, and elastically scaled without any an industry thought leader, he is often sought out for advice
impact to the client. This allows your vendor to approach and recommendations in the real estate management
zero downtime in updates and upgrades and seamless industry.
failover in the event of disaster recovery.
Vito Solimene is a veteran of the enterprise
5. A complete solution. From a full application suite software industry, having worked in the
to a powerful enterprise-grade platform, the more business for more than 29 years. His
complete the solution out-of-the-box, the better. Your experience began at J.D. Edwards, where he
ERP REM software vendor should understand what it was instrumental in the design and
takes to build and deliver mission critical solutions to architecture for the application development toolset. He
businesses. Here are some criteria to evaluate before brings experience and creativity in all that he does, including
determining if a vendor’s solution is truly enterprise- building the next truly great company and product at
grade and complete: Nextworld. Vito holds three software patents.

1 “Behind the Cloud” by Marc Benioff, Copyright ©2009, Wiley-Blackwell, 1st edition

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