In an industry that heavily relied on single-vendor technology platforms for decades, it increasingly became apparent that this posed limitations for businesses looking to increase their bottom line and meet evolving customer expectations as the landscape continues to modernize.
As monolithic systems become more obsolete, rapid advancements in technology naturally follow – which is where the MACH Alliance comes in. To support businesses looking to adapt to a more progressive digital world, the MACH Alliance was developed with four cutting-edge technology principles to lead the charge.
Why Modernizing the Digital Landscape Matters
The evolution of modern commerce that led to the creation of the MACH Alliance reflects the shifting demand of consumers and the need for businesses to quickly adapt to market changes. Embracing the MACH principles, a modern architecture for building and deploying digital systems, can be a differentiator for businesses by setting themselves apart from competitors who continue to depend on rigid, legacy systems. A digital strategy that includes Microservices, API-first, Cloud-Native, and Headless solutions gives you the flexibility to innovate, scale, and adapt to changing industry expectations – seamlessly.
From modern businesses to startups and enterprise-level corporations, a MACH commerce strategy can be leveraged to streamline operations, accelerate time to market, and enhance customer experience.
So, What Exactly is MACH Architecture?
To drive their mission as advocates of open and best-of-breed enterprise technology ecosystems, The MACH alliances formed an architecture for businesses to use as a standard for meeting modern technology requirements. That architecture includes:
- Microservices: a breakdown of complex applications into smaller, manageable services that enable flexibility and scalability.
- API-first: a seamless integration and communication between services and applications.
- Cloud-native: infrastructure for enhanced scalability, reliability, and performance.
- Headless: frontend decoupling capabilities from the backend that allows for more flexibility and customization.
The Future of Commerce isn’t Monolithic
Collaboration among technology companies and experts in advocating for the principles that founded the MACH Alliance is driving the modernization of commerce, paving the way for innovation and sustainable growth for businesses.
In modern commerce, the lifeline of business growth is meeting customer demands. Customer demands continue to evolve to prioritize seamless, personalized experiences across multiple channels and devices. Consumers expect fast, convenient access to products and services, tailored recommendations, and smooth transactions — something monolithic systems fail to deliver on.
Monolithic systems, with their tightly integrated and inflexible structure, are ill-suited to support the future of commerce. As commerce continues to evolve in the digital age, businesses face complex challenges, including consumer demands mentioned previously. The lack of agility and scalability required to adapt to these changes is why the MACH Alliance and its future-proof architecture are so important.
A MACH commerce strategy enables you to deliver on customer and industry expectations by embracing microservices, API-first, Cloud-native, and headless principles. Microservices are an effective way to turn complicated systems into manageable components and allow for quicker development and interaction of features. API-First design ensures seamless integration across your platforms for a more consistent experience across channels. A cloud-native infrastructure is a surefire way to provide scalability and reliability when tackling spikes in traffic and overall demand. And lastly, a core component of Kibo’s platform, composable and headless commerce solutions allow for the delivery of content and experiences tailored to the individual needs of your customers through decoupling of the frontend without interrupting your backend operations.
That is the power a MACH commerce strategy puts into the hands of businesses.
Tools and Principles To Thrive In the Digital Age of Commerce
With close to four years under its belt, the MACH Alliance is just getting started in building the tools, community, and support businesses and experts need to propel modern commerce initiatives. As a beacon of innovation and modernization in the digital landscape, the MACH Alliance offers comprehensive tools, programs, and community support to empower businesses to adopt the principles that support their growth.
One of the key offerings of the MACH Alliance is its robust toolkits, including a variety of resources designed to facilitate the adoption of MACH principles. From best practice guides and reference architecture to implementation frameworks and developer toolkits, these resources equip you with the knowledge and tools needed to successfully transition to MACH architecture.
This support also extends programs aimed at supporting you through every stage of the MACH commerce journey. These programs include educational workshops, training sessions, and networking events, providing businesses with opportunities to learn directly from industry experts, exchange ideas with peers, and gain practical insights into the implementation of the MACH architecture. This vibrant community of like-minded professionals and organizations is committed to driving innovation and modernization in the commerce space.
For businesses or individuals looking to take their commitment to modernizing commerce to another level, the MACH alliance offers certifications to validate their expertise in the MACH principles. These certifications serve as a testament to the businesses’ commitments to excellence, and innovation, helping them differentiate themselves in a competitive marketplace.
Kibo is one of the many businesses that earned this certification due to our continued commitment to modern commerce. Kibo recently joined the MACH Alliance in embracing MACH principles that not only power our business but the customers we serve. With Kibo’s headless and composable eCommerce solutions, B2B and B2C businesses can start unlocking the potential that accelerates their growth, fosters innovation, and improves customer satisfaction.
40% In-Store Upsell Rate on BOPIS Purchases
Boscov’s, one of the nation’s oldest family-owned department stores, discovered a demand from its loyal customers for BOPIS options. This required a solid strategy and MACH-based software that supported an exceptional end-to-end customer experience that rivaled its competition—that’s where Kibo came in to deliver.
They partnered with Kibo to build out the technical infrastructure required for a scalable BOPIS platform and integrated our order management system with their in-house eCommerce solutions, which garnered substantial results.
Learn more about what our flexible MACH solutions did for Boscov’s. And explore the Kibo Composable Commerce Platform and how we’re using the MACH principles to uncover lasting business growth for our customers.