IT systems provide the base for a thriving business in today’s digital-driven world. Needless to say, the quality of the IT systems decides business performance, given that the majority of business functions depend on these systems.
However, to maintain reliable IT systems, it is first necessary to build an IT architecture that facilitates best practices in the organization to achieve organizational goals.
To do that, companies should undergo an IT architecture audit that impacts system scalability and stability. This article has mentioned everything you need to know to build a truly stable foundation for real business results.
Introduction
IT architecture refers to the structured design of the IT systems, software, hardware infrastructures, network configurations, and the overall data management processes in an organization.
It is very crucial in business growth because it allows businesses to move as per the market trends, upgrade technologies and processes accordingly, and scale daily operations in the same way.
The IT architectural choices heavily determine the software scalability and system resilience. Software scalability includes managing heavy workload during high traffic and system resilience refers to the system remaining resilient to the many changes made in the system over time.
Likewise, an IT architecture audit is extremely important when your business faces rapid growth, increased technical debt, and frequent system instability. Without regular audits, scaling your IT systems effectively becomes challenging. Additionally, skipping audits often increases technical debt which causes more complexity and instability. Regular architecture audits help your business grow smoothly and maintain manageable IT systems.
Overview of Software Architecture Types
Before a business team decides on which software architecture suits them the best, they must understand each one. The following are the different software architectures:
Monolithic architecture
Monolithic architecture is considered a more traditional type of software architecture. In this architecture, systems are combined in a single database. Though it is easier to start this architecture, it will eventually get more challenging to scale.
Microservices
The microservices architecture is all about modularity and scalability. You will find services coupled together. Each service performs a certain duty. Unlike the monolithic architecture, you can develop, deploy, and scale the services separately.
Event-driven architecture
Event-driven architecture is responsive and resilient. Still, you must handle it carefully. Since it leans more towards asynchronous communication, it allows for decoupled interactions and increased scalability.
Hybrid and layered models
The hybrid and layered models architecture is built to combine elements from various patterns to cater perfectly to the business needs. The layered model, similarly, layers the system into horizontal layers to facilitate simplicity and scalability.
Serverless architecture
With the serverless architecture, developers can simply focus on writing the code without managing the server. There are potential limitations in customization in this architecture structure. But, it can be quite affordable and scalable as well.
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Why Audit Your IT Architecture?
Auditing your IT architecture allows for your business to grow as per the business objectives. Moreover, you also gain insights into many IT aspects while making proactive improvements in the system.
Following are some of the major reasons why you should consider auditing your IT architecture:
Identify performance bottlenecks
Performance bottlenecks will create negative impacts on the system and user interface. An audit helps in identifying such bottlenecks by revealing problems like legacy modules which lead to outdated components not integrating properly, tight coupling that leads to over-interdependence within systems, and single points of failure.
Detect architecture misalignment
Architecture misalignment may hamper the present business goals and lead to lower performance. An audit reveals misalignments and helps you align systems with current goals.
Cost efficiency
The audit will help avoid costs of maintenance and waste of resources. When you recognize problems in the system beforehand, you will also be able to better allocate the IT costs.
Security and compliance risks
There has been an increase in cyber security threats because of old frameworks, unmanaged dependencies, and lack of governance. Architecture audit allows for an examination of vulnerabilities in the system, compliance to standards, and to align with the security protocols.
Key Components of an Architecture Audit
The following are the key components of an architecture audit that help in the scalability of a business along with the avoidance of major mismanagement and failures in the system:
Scalability assessment
In order to check the readiness of expansion of the architecture, it is necessary to assess what type of scaling best suits the architecture. Besides this, using modular designs can scale individual components independently.
Availability and fault tolerance
An architecture audit helps recognize points of failure and assess whether the system can recover from such issues or not. With the help of resource redundancy, an audit can further improve fault tolerance and maintain the availability of the IT systems.
Integration and data flow
The process of integration and data flow involves evaluation of API management practices, checking of data consistency, which aim at maintenance of smooth operations. Good integration also facilitates better communication between services.
Technology stack evaluation
Updating and renewing the technology stack helps make the system compatible with new tools. Technology stack evaluation also builds system resilience.
Maintainability and documentation
Proper documentation of the system allows for better maintainability, easier troubleshooting, rolling out updates, and greater sustainability. The audit makes the system’s architecture simple to understand and keeps the maintenance effort effective as well.
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...Outcomes and Recommendations
Performing an architecture audit helps in increasing the performance of the system along with increasing the maintainability in the following ways:
Refactoring monoliths
Refactoring or transitioning monoliths may be worth it when you’re looking to increase scalability and flexibility. It should be kept in mind that this step should only be taken when the benefits outnumber the cost and drawbacks of doing the same.
Modularization and encapsulation
Modularization and encapsulation help break down a system into smaller modules to maintain scalability and make maintenance easier. This step further simplifies updates and makes integration of new features possible.
Suggested tools and practices
Following are the suggested tools and practices:
- Architecture Decision Records (ADR): ADR helps in documenting architectural decisions for transparency and better decision making in the near future.
- C4 Model for system mapping: This model helps in clarifying the complexities of architecture. It can be considered a hierarchical approach for illustrating the systems, containers, components, and code of a software architecture.
- Observability tools: Tools like Grafana, Prometheus, and OpenTelemetry help in better monitoring and observability.
- Automated architecture analysis: Structurizr and SonarQube help in the better automation and analysis of architectural structures.
How to build a roadmap for architecture improvement?
To build an architecture improvement roadmap you need to assess current system conditions, define target architecture, prioritize initiatives, create a realistic timeline, and monitor the processes.
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...Conclusion
It is a requisite for companies to build an IT architecture that stays stable and fits changing needs. A strong IT architecture helps you adopt new approaches while reducing operational risks.
Regular audits help in creating future-proof systems that can also optimize spending. By investing in IT architecture audits, companies can gain a competitive advantage with the help of stable services and by making faster changes.
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