Image source: http://www.infoworld.com/article/3072929/linux/containers-101-linux-containers-and-docker-explained.html
A container, such as Docker, is thin layer of software that can wrap around almost any application and the libraries that application needs to function in a single package. Instead of having to spin up an entire virtual operating system per application, you simply package just what an application needs within a Docker container.
By wrapping an application in a container, you can technically optimize the software and infrastructure required to run the application to make it less resource intensive on the server. What this means is it makes the applications more flexible, easier to host, more isolated in a secure way, easier to scale, and portable since containers can be moved around, saved, easily backed up, and most importantly cloned.
However, putting your application in a container isn’t enough. You need to automate the deployment of that application in the cloud, creating a new instance of an application in a container every time a new customer wants to try or use your application. By automating the capability to have a free trial of your application you can let your software sell itself, and increase your customer conversion rate by talking to your free users and finding out what they want to get them to convert and subscribe into being a recurring revenue customer.
It use to be that you needed 100 engineers and millions of dollars to be able to scale a software company successfully. However, thanks to container automation solutions like the one I’m working on, Stratus5 Cloudware, that is no longer true.
The better you make your product, and the more value you provide the more you can charge, and the more customers you can obtain. It’s actually a fairly simple model in principle, and when combined with modern marketing techniques it is highly effective; hence all the multibillion dollar companies and products like Netflix and Spotify that use this business model.
By automating deployment of free trials you create a 1-click live solution for your potential customers to try your application in the cloud in a completely scalable way. Suddenly, you’re in business without having to worry about how cloud infrastructure or developer operations even works.
Whether you’re selling a custom WordPress website and hosting it, a CRM, healthcare software, chat application, video application, or game it doesn’t really matter. They’re all just applications in the cloud, and everything in containers in the cloud can be automated so you don’t have to think about it. As long as your software creates value for your prospective customer and they’re willing to subscribe monthly and continue to subscribe is all that matters so you can scale, budget, and focus your energy on building better products and working on your business instead of working for your business.
Orchestration without business automation is not enough.
Business service automation is the missing component that most open source projects, enterprise companies, and arguably even Docker themselves are still missing. While there has been a lot of advancement in orchestration platforms like Kubernetes, orchestration is only a link in the chain.
Everyone is so busy building their own products and platforms that they forgot to build automation tools to help software companies actually automate the process of monetizing their software. To successfully build an ecosystem around container technology, there has to be automation solutions that help others easily provide value to their customers. Only then will everyone be able to profit from container technology from cloud providers, the container automation platform, to the software companies who build incredible apps.
Container technology is the infrastructure required for business service automation.
Also, feel free to check out my previous article, “What is Business Automation?”
For more information about the business service automation platform I’ve been working on head over to Stratus5.com, and sign up for free. Our philosophy is our software is free to use, and we only make money if you make money.