How the IT infrastructure landscape is evolving [Q&A]

Earlier this year the MACH Alliance published new research looking at the evolving landscape of IT infrastructure, highlighting the growing importance of MACH technologies.

We spoke to Casper Rasmussen, MACH Alliance president, to find out about the key trends, insights, and implications shaping the digital landscape in 2024 and beyond.

BN: For readers who aren't familiar with MACH technologies, can you tell us briefly about what the acronym stands for and who the MACH Alliance is made-up of?

CR: The MACH Alliance was formed in June 2020 to help enterprise organizations navigate the complex modern technology landscape. We aim to show the business advantage of open tech ecosystems that are Microservices based, API-first, Cloud-native SaaS and Headless and guide companies on their transition to MACH.

All MACH Alliance members meet certification principles that are published on our website, and the transparency with which we assess members is something we take very seriously. We keep our standards public for all to see, and we apply them stringently to ensure that if a company is holding our certification mark, buyers know they’re choosing best-in-class vendors that can deliver future-proof technology.

Today we have over 100 members spanning independent software vendors, system integrators and enablers, which support functional areas of a MACH architecture (think: monitoring, data storage, cluster/container management, tracing and orchestration). The MACH Alliance welcomes technology companies and individual industry experts who will help us advocate for open, best-of-breed technology ecosystems.

BN: Can you tell us a little bit about the aim of this research, which we understand is now in its fourth year?

CR: Yes, this is the fourth year the MACH Alliance has commissioned this research, which was conducted by our partner, Mel Research. This year, we had 551 completions from IT decision makers director-level and above. Notably, 37 percent of respondents were c-suite executives, so we're really getting to that senior-most level, something we know is important as we look to gauge the sentiment of the most influential IT leaders. The US, UK, Germany and France were represented in the research, and all respondents represented companies with at least 5,000 employees.

The aim of this research each year is to examine trends in MACH adoption and the internal and external factors influencing it. We dive deep into the evolving landscape of IT infrastructure, highlighting the growing importance of MACH technologies within it and where the uptake (or decline) of MACH stands.

BN: A top finding from the data is that the US has just edged out Europe in terms of pace of MACH adoption. How does that compare to findings in past years and why is this significant?

CR: That's correct. MACH continues to demonstrate stable adoption, with the pace of adoption in the US slightly surpassing Europe over the past year. This is notable because it tips the scale for the first time with the US leading Europe.

In our 2023 research, we found the US was catching up with Europe but that a lack of board/leadership support was more likely to be a barrier to MACH adoption in the US than the overall global sample. At the time, we suggested that finding could signal that MACH was facing a perception challenge in the US among non-IT professionals, indicating the need for education and awareness to highlight the value and benefits it can provide. Perhaps the swing to the US leading in adoption has meant we’ve successfully addressed that perception challenge, or we’re at least making progress on that front enough to move the needle.

BN: The research also finds a reduction of internal resistance to adoption of MACH architectures. What is helping some of those walls come down?

CR: We were pleased to see the data indicate a reduction of internal resistance to adopting MACH architectures -- a descent from 33 percent in 2023 to 26 percent in 2024, while leadership support has gained traction. Today only 18 percent of respondents cite lack of board/leadership support as a barrier, compared to 28 percent in 2023.

The growing leadership support for MACH could be, in part, due to the finding that respondents are seeing ROI from their MACH investment. Eighty-five percent said they see clear evidence they are achieving measurable return, and 91 percent say MACH and composable technology will be instrumental to the success of their organization in the next five years.

BN: What would you say were the top one or two industry-specific findings?

CR: In terms of industry adoption, retail is ahead of the curve with the highest investment in MACH, followed by professional services and financial services. This is evidence that the benefits of MACH are being experienced beyond retail and commerce, which are where MACH has -- to date -- been most heavily embraced.

We were happy to capture anecdotes from IT leaders across the industry spectrum regarding how they’re experiencing the benefits of MACH. For example, a Senior Vice President from a large financial services company said, "We have seen most value in digital customer facing applications since the agility has allowed us to launch multiple projects that has driven good results for our organization."

BN: What do you think is ahead for this movement given we're seeing stable adoption over time and increasing support from leadership in embracing MACH?

CR: Desire to embrace MACH principles has increased over time in response to market volatility. Businesses are experiencing first-hand how embracing MACH can help them navigate the ebbs and flows in the economic environment through things like better responsiveness to customer demands and the ability to roll-out new services and functionality quickly.

With that, we anticipate the embrace of MACH will steadily grow. Sustained adoption is remarkable in an economic climate that at large has put substantial IT projects on hold. The research confirms a steady pivot towards scalable, composable systems that cater to evolving end-user requirements. It also shows that those companies are seeing tangible payoffs from their investments in MACH, a positive indicator that we believe will encourage more companies to begin, or expand on, their MACH transformation in the near future.

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