Since 1936, Consumer Reports has been the go-to source for reviews and product comparisons.
Over the years, they have amassed a huge amount of data in a variety of systems and databases, creating a complex array of backend interfaces. As a result, any time Consumer Reports wanted to build a new app, they had to integrate across these multiple data sources and interfaces, which slowed development.
Consumer Reports knew that its current challenges in app development ran counter to the organization’s reputation for reliability and up-to-date recommendations, and the complexities for creating new apps limited their ability to attract new audiences. To solve this problem, they built an enterprise-wide container service using Clojure and Datomic that fuses together all the underlying backend systems and databases, providing a consistent set of services to developers.
With an enterprise-wide container service, apps that used to take weeks or months to develop now take days. Creating apps faster means Consumer Reports can develop more apps to meet consumer needs.
With a streamlined approach of the container service, one or two developers can create an app that used to require a team approach, since backend system knowledge is no longer necessary to create an app.
Using a unified service rather than replicating backend system logic for each new application decreases the risk of copying bugs from one program to another, reinforcing a 79 year old reputation for trustworthiness.
With the enterprise-wide container service, developers can create applications quickly with decreased risk and effort, and with more reliability. As a result, Consumer Reports can be more responsive in creating apps that provide the data consumers are searching for. To learn more, watch Paul deGrandis explain the strategy and methods used for Unlocking Data Driven Systems.