The Role of Accelerators in the MACH World Part 2

How to implement accelerators?

Implementation of accelerators will be dependent on the client's appetite for risk (big bang vs strangler), the technologies being integrated, and the target architectural estate. Some accelerators focus on the integrations between products and some focus on the platform engineering required to roll out a composable architecture. Some accelerators focus on the operational aspects and some on the experience aspects. All are relevant and all are viable. Accelerators can be adapted gradually just like any MACH tools.

What accelerators are not?

Accelerators are not SaaS platforms and do not have a price tag. Typically, they are part of the toolkit used by SIs to implement a commerce project or are offered free of charge by an ISV to kick-start the project based on that ISV quicker.

Accelerators do not simplify the purchasing process — a customer has to enter multiple contracts and agreements with each vendor whose software is being used within the accelerator. However, as the accelerator offers built-in connections to certain tooling it can help in the research and make the decision process quicker.

Accelerators do not lead to vendor lock-in with multi-year contracts. They align with the API-first approach, offering speed, performance, and interoperability.

Who are accelerators for?

Accelerators can be used by both enterprise customers and Sis implementing the MACH project for a customer. Customers from all segments and of all sizes can benefit from an accelerator. Accelerators are most useful for brands looking to transform and innovate quickly and use the best-of-breed technology to do so but mostly have standard use cases where certain capabilities and features do not require full customization. This is why e-commerce and B2B commerce are good business models to adapt accelerators as many use cases overlap and can benefit from a standardized approach.

How to choose an accelerator and what to look out for?

“Accelerators implicitly come with specific tooling and infrastructure. It’s important to challenge those implicit choices against the organization's architecture. The potential issue here is that an organization chooses an accelerator for the available functionality which does not fit in the current landscape and knowledge making the solution expensive and hard to maintain.” — Krzysztof Molin, Senior Director, Software Engineering, EPAM

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Learn how EPAM is composing a truly agile future with MACH technologies: https://www.epam.com/services/engineering/mach