Title

AWS re:Invent 2022 - Supporting extensibility in SaaS environments (SAS302)

Summary

• Presenter: Bill Tarr from AWS SaaS Factory.
• Topic: SaaS extensibility, focusing on architecture and examples rather than code-level details.
• Definition of Extensibility: Extending a SaaS platform by allowing external developers to build features around the platform's edges without altering the core codebase.
• Importance of Extensibility: It's a growth model for SaaS, expanding the feature set, addressable market, and potentially the bottom line.
• Approaches to Extensibility:
  • Public APIs for data extraction and system connections.
  • Community builders creating apps for a marketplace.
  • Internal builders developing specific features or extensions.
• Challenges of Extensibility:
  • Maintaining a consistent tenant experience.
  • Trusting external code contributions.
  • Preserving agility while adding apps and extensions.
• Examples of Extensibility:
  • Slack for workflow orchestration.
  • Twilio Segment as an extension platform.
  • Freshworks (Freshdesk) for connecting business processes.
  • Stripe for its app marketplace.
• Developer Experience: Security, SDKs, and authorization flows are crucial for a successful app marketplace.
• Tenant Isolation Models:
  • Runtime isolation.
  • Per-tenant infrastructure.
  • Account per tenant.
• Extension Management: Managing the lifecycle of extensions and apps, including roles, audit trails, and environments.
• Takeaways:
  • Extensibility drives growth.
  • Developer experience is key.
  • Tenant isolation and cost management are new dimensions.
  • Extension management needs planning.

Insights

• Growth Through Extensibility: SaaS providers can significantly grow by enabling extensibility, which allows them to cater to a wider range of customer needs without diluting their core product focus.
• Developer Experience as a Priority: The ease with which developers can build and integrate with a SaaS platform is a critical factor in the success of an extensibility strategy. Tools like SDKs, clear documentation, and streamlined authorization processes are essential.
• Tenant Isolation is Crucial: Ensuring that extensions and apps do not compromise the security and performance of the core SaaS platform is vital. Different isolation models offer various trade-offs between security and operational complexity.
• Extension Management is Complex: Managing extensions is not just about toggling features on and off. It involves understanding the impact on the tenant experience, ensuring security and compliance, and maintaining the agility of the SaaS platform.
• Strategic Decisions on Hosting Models: Deciding whether to host the backend for extensions internally or to let app builders host it themselves is a strategic decision that impacts control, security, and the developer experience.
• Feature Flags for Extensibility: Using feature flags, such as those provided by LaunchDarkly, can be an effective way to manage entitlements and extensions, offering a granular control over who has access to what features.
• Continuous Compliance and Security: Tools like Amazon Inspector for continuous vulnerability scanning are important for maintaining security and compliance, especially when dealing with third-party code contributions.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Extensibility requires collaboration across different teams within a SaaS organization, including development, security, operations, and customer success.