Software development is constantly evolving to meet the growing demands of businesses for flexibility, scalability, and performance. Yet, too many companies still cling to outdated monolithic architectures, leading to high maintenance costs, rigidity that stifles innovation, and increased vulnerability to failures.

At Edana, we frequently leverage hexagonal architecture and microservices to avoid these pitfalls and provide our clients with sustainable and competitive solutions. These architectures are not just technological choices; they are strategic levers to ensure the success and longevity of IT systems.

If your company continues to use a rigid architecture, you risk operational inefficiencies, difficulties in adapting to market changes, and, most importantly, increased dependency on obsolete technologies. In this article, we explore these modern architectures in detail and what they can bring to your business.

Hexagonal architecture: a modern design pattern

Definition and principles

Hexagonal architecture, also known as “Ports & Adapters,” was introduced by Alistair Cockburn to solve a major issue in traditional software: excessive dependency on underlying technologies. By decoupling the business core from external infrastructures (databases, third-party APIs, user interfaces), it allows companies to adapt more quickly to market changes.

Why is this crucial? Because technologies evolve. If your software is too tightly integrated with an aging database or an outdated interface, you risk being stuck when it’s time to modernize your system. With hexagonal architecture, you can change a technology without disrupting your operations.

Use case: the risks of a rigid architecture

One of our clients, a financial services company, was struggling with a monolithic system that slowed down its integration with new banking partners. Each new connection required weeks of development, significantly increasing delays and costs. By applying hexagonal architecture, we separated the business core from external interfaces, reducing the time needed to integrate new payment solutions from several weeks to just a few days.

If you don’t structure your software in this way, every future improvement will become a challenge, hindering your competitiveness against more agile players.

Microservices: the key to a distributed and flexible system

The dangers of an aging monolith

Companies that persist with monolithic architectures eventually face a major problem: rigidity. Every update becomes a risk as it can impact the entire system. This slows down development cycles and prevents the company from innovating quickly.

Concrete benefits of microservices

Microservices help avoid these pitfalls by breaking an application into several independent services, each of which can be updated or improved without disrupting the entire system. This ensures:

• Better resilience: A failure in one service does not affect the entire application.
• Increased adaptability: You can add new features without risking damage to existing ones.
• Effective scalability: Instead of over-provisioning an entire system, you can allocate resources only to the services that need them.

A successful transformation case

One of our retail clients was using a monolithic system to manage online orders. During peak traffic periods, a simple error in the inventory management module rendered the entire platform unavailable for several hours.

We restructured the system into microservices, decoupling inventory management from the rest of the system. The result: in case of a problem with one microservice, the entire platform remains operational. This transformation also allowed the company to launch new features more quickly, enhancing its competitive advantage.

Failing to adopt microservices means accepting a permanent risk of downtime and slow feature development, which is unacceptable in a world where agility is a key success factor.

Why combine hexagonal architecture and microservices?

The future of enterprise software

Hexagonal architecture ensures the longevity of your developments by decoupling your business core from the technologies used. Microservices, on the other hand, guarantee the rapid and flexible evolution of each component. Together, these two approaches provide the ideal model for any company looking to:

• Protect against technological obsolescence.
• Reduce maintenance costs.
• Accelerate innovation and time-to-market.
• Improve service resilience and availability.

In other words, these architectures are not just trends; they are necessities for any company that wants to remain competitive in the coming years.

What we did for Filinea

With diverse needs and the necessity of implementing an intelligent, sustainable enterprise ecosystem that evolves seamlessly without constraints, Filinea reached out to us.

We implemented a comprehensive solution, including an email client, intelligent intervention reporting systems, private and shared calendars, as well as other business logic tools revolving around human resource management and daily operational processes. An AI model has also be integrated in order to ease the life of the field teams.

To ensure this ecosystem was performant, flexible, and scalable while integrating seamlessly with the company’s existing tools, we opted for a microservices architecture. Each service is independent and can evolve without constraints. It is also easy to add new customized features and connect new tools.

Discover the Filinea case study

Talk with an expert

Mistakes to avoid when implementing these architectures

Many companies hesitate to adopt these architectures due to fear of initial complexity. However, by following a methodical approach, the transition is smooth, and the benefits are immediate. The key is to understand that migration should not be seen as an isolated project but as a progressive and strategic transformation of the information system.

Some common mistakes can slow down or compromise this transition. Here are the most frequent ones and how to avoid them:

1. Trying to migrate everything at once

Transitioning from a monolithic architecture to hexagonal architecture and microservices doesn’t happen overnight. A massive, abrupt migration exposes the company to technical and organizational risks.

Solution: Adopt a gradual approach. Identify critical modules and migrate them one by one, starting with those that provide an immediate gain in performance and flexibility.

2. Underestimating the importance of testing

A more modular system requires rigorous test coverage. Without robust tests, maintenance becomes complex, and regression risks increase.

Solution: Implement automated testing, including unit, integration, and load tests, to ensure system stability throughout the transition.

3. Failing to structure CI/CD from the start

Many companies implement microservices without adapting their delivery processes. Without a proper continuous integration and deployment (CI/CD) pipeline, updates become cumbersome and conflict-prone.

Solution: Structure your CI/CD pipeline from the beginning with tools like GitHub Actions, GitLab CI/CD, Jenkins, or ArgoCD. Automate builds, tests, and deployments to ensure fast and safe updates.

4. Ignoring monitoring and observability

In a distributed architecture, tracking the state of services becomes more complex. Without proper visibility, incident resolution can become a nightmare.

Solution: Set up an observability stack with tools like Prometheus, Grafana, OpenTelemetry, and Loki. Ensure that each microservice generates logs and actionable metrics.

5. Neglecting API and interservice communication management

Poorly managed communication between services can introduce latency or security risks.

Solution: Use an API Gateway like Kong or Apigee for centralized API management. Implement asynchronous messaging with Kafka or RabbitMQ to avoid direct dependencies between services.

Not involving business teams

Often, IT teams lead the transition without consulting business stakeholders, resulting in solutions that don’t meet real needs.

Solution: Involve business managers from the design phase to ensure the new architecture meets business needs, not just technical requirements.

Lacking a strategic vision

Some companies adopt these architectures just because “everyone is doing it.” Without clear long-term benefits, the project may stall.

Solution: Define clear business objectives before starting: reduced maintenance costs, faster time-to-market, improved scalability, etc.

Edana, your partner for a successful transition

At Edana, we support our clients at every step of their digital transformation by integrating these architectures pragmatically. We have helped companies avoid millions in maintenance costs and cut their service launch times in half.

Hexagonal architecture and microservices are not just technical choices; they are the foundation of an agile, high-performing, and resilient company. If you want to ensure the longevity of your IT system and accelerate your growth, adopting these architectures is imperative.

Contact us today to discover how we can transform your software architecture and propel your business into the future.

Talk with an expert