The Internet industry likes to make abbreviations for some words. In the cloud computing industry, the former include SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS. In the past two or three years, the concept of AaaS has begun to attract attention. What does APaaS mean, what is its use, and what is the difference from the first three? This article will thoroughly discuss these issues
What is cloud computing
Before discussing what is AaaS, we need to explain the concept of cloud computing. Imagine if you want to develop a software program, what technologies or facilities will you need? It doesn’t matter if you don’t understand technology, as long as you remember, a set of software usually contains the following nine levels:
- Application
- Data
- Runtime
- Middleware
- Operating System (OS)
- Virtualization technology (virtualization)
- Servers
- Storage
- Network
In the past, you needed to purchase and maintain these nine types of equipment/technologies, but now, some companies integrate some of these levels (such as storage, servers, operating systems) into a service and sell them externally. These companies are called cloud Computing companies, their packaging method is called cloud technology, this form of service is also cloud services.
You can rent these services directly, and you only need to pay monthly like utility bills. Isn't it easier to maintain the nine-layer equipment/technology before?
Not all companies have done all of these nine levels. There are currently three types of services on the market. They are: Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS) and Software as a Service (SaaS). The difference It depends on which services are provided by cloud computing companies and which are provided by themselves.
What is APaaS?
You can understand APaaS as a sub-form of PaaS. The full name of APaaS is Application Platform as a Service, that is, application platform as a service. Gartner defines it as: "This is a PaaS (Platform as a Service)-based solution that supports the development, deployment and operation of applications in the cloud, and provides users with basic tools in software development, including data objects. , Authority management, user interface, etc."
APaaS (application platform as a service) has the following two characteristics:
- Provide a rapid development environment, users can complete application development, testing, deployment within a few hours, and can adjust or update at any time.
- With low code or zero code, non-technical personnel can complete application development. (Therefore, many zero/low code application building platforms are actually a kind of APaaS)
What is the difference between APaaS and PaaS?
Both APaaS and PaaS can complete software development and deployment, and both support cloud access. The difference between the two is mainly reflected in the user population and use environment:
- PaaS includes all platform-level services required to complete the technical staff in local development and data applications provide , and then deployed to PaaS platform, and then distributed to users.
- APaaS is a sub-form of PaaS. In the APaaS mode, non-technical personnel can directly build, deploy, use, update and manage applications in the cloud .
It can be seen that PaaS is more flexible because it can be developed completely on demand, but the disadvantage is that the labor cost is high, because you have to recruit programmers to complete the development process. In addition, if it involves the adjustment of requirements, it will also involve Secondary development. Both labor costs and time are not affordable for ordinary enterprises.
The advantages of APaaS are fast and low cost. Non-technical personnel can develop a set of commercial software, which can be seen during the development process and can be adjusted at any time. For example, in the domestic AaaS platform Mingdaoyun, a sales director can build a complete sales CRM management system within 2 hours. Check out the introduction video.
Typical manufacturer
The rapid development period of APaaS is around 2016. So far, nearly 100 vendors have entered this field. In the small and medium-sized business market, the relatively fast-growing foreign manufacturers include Redmine, Jira, Odoo, Smartsheet, Airtable, and Zoho Creator. In the Chinese market, there are Jiandaoyun, Mingdaoyun, Tritium Cloud, and Partner Cloud.
The three characteristics of APaaS and the benefits to SMEs
Although there are already many general SaaS solutions on the market, SMEs still face the following challenges:
- These general-purpose software do not particularly meet the needs of your own business
- After individualized needs are fed back to the manufacturers, it is difficult for them to adjust the products specifically for a single company
- Business scenarios are changing, and new software products need to be purchased continuously, increasing the budget
- The data between these software cannot be connected, which increases the cost of IT operation and maintenance.
For small and medium-sized enterprises, the benefits of AaaS are obvious. We come from a closer look at the three main characteristics of AaaS:
Zero code/low code
Using APaaS solutions, non-technical personnel can build business applications.
These APaaS vendors abstract the permissions, interfaces, data, interactions, and processes needed to develop software to form a set of simple and easy-to-use configuration pages. Even without a wealth of computer expertise and coding capabilities, anyone can create a useful application on these AaaS platforms.
The benefits of zero code are obvious. Software development projects that used to take months or years to complete can generally be completed within weeks or even days. According to Garter's research, the labor cost saved by using APaaS tools can be as high as 350%
Scalability
Another feature of APaaS tools is their high scalability. Suppose you use a certain platform to develop an order management system, and later discover that you need to add new tools. According to the past practice, you must find a technician or a manufacturer to help you customize a function, but in the AaaS platform, you only need to find a skilled business person to quickly get the function online in a short time.
In addition, APaaS tools will provide API interfaces, allowing technicians to carry out more advanced development, such as docking with other systems.
cloud service
Compared with localized software, AaaS inherently has the advantages of cloud technology. This means that you can access data on multiple devices at any time. At the same time, the IT operation and maintenance capabilities of APaaS vendors are much higher than those of ordinary small and medium-sized enterprises, ensuring data security and reliability. In addition, in terms of usage costs, the cost of cloud services is much lower than that of local development.
What kind of enterprise is not suitable for APaaS?
Although APaaS has huge advantages, it can meet almost all IT needs of all industries and enterprises. Ren Xianghui, the founder of Mingdaoyun, wrote in his Zhihu article "What is a zero-code development platform and why should enterprise IT pay attention to it?" "It is pointed out that APaaS is not suitable for solving the following needs of the nature.
1) The industry has obvious proprietary characteristics
Some industries themselves have a high degree of specialization, and the differences between companies are not large. At this time, vertical industry applications may be more reasonable.
The most typical examples surrounding this feature are the catering and hotel industries. The operational logic of all catering industries is similar, except that single stores and chains may use different complexity schemes, and the application modules are similar. Moreover, the problem-solving methods and paradigms of this industry have obvious industry characteristics, such as the queuing and waiting system in restaurants, and the order checkout system. APaaS tools are more troublesome to build such a proprietary scenario, and they cannot effectively provide industry-specific views.
2) The industry has independent code audit requirements
The core business systems of financial and other industries cannot use the zero-code platform because of regulations and other requirements, because it cannot meet the requirements of code auditing. The APaaS platform may not be able to provide source code to user companies, and even if it is provided, it cannot prove the accuracy of the data processed by the application system. Because these industries have high regulatory requirements and ample funds, they will not apply APaaS solutions to core business links.
3) Customer-oriented front desk system
This of course refers to the e-commerce online store platform. Although the basic data management of e-commerce retail is not too far away from the capabilities of aPaaS, consumer-oriented front-end systems generally require greater flexibility and supporting marketing facilities. Business systems, such as Youzan, Weimob and other store opening programs. They provide not only storefront functions, but also marketing services and payment platforms around customers. These are areas where aPaaS is not good at.
The future of APaaS
The first APaaS platform was launched in 2005 and has changed a lot since then. New technological changes and changes in business management requirements have given APaaS more room for imagination. For AaaS, a very interesting evaluation is: "You will find that the problem that AaaS can solve is not only the one you want to solve in the first place".