A More Versatile Headless Choice for SAP Commerce Cloud

Beyond Headless

**Introducing SkillNet’s Micro Frontend-based Headless Solution: Beyond Headless**

Build, manage, and scale your online storefront with ultimate freedom and flexibility

SkillNet’s next-gen Beyond Headless is a platform-agnostic headless solution built on micro frontend technology that represents a paradigm shift in the approach to building and delivering web applications. It empowers enterprises to create modular, scalable, and customizable applications without being tied to a specific framework or predefined set of features.

Beyond Headless offers pre-built integrations for SAP Commerce Cloud, and compatibility with any eCommerce platform of choice, delivering ultimate flexibility and freedom to organizations to make the right technology investments for their strategic needs as they evolve.

**Figure: *Beyond* Headless Architecture**

**Quick Facts: SAP Composable Storefront (Spartacus) vs Beyond Headless**

SAP Composable Storefront	SkillNet’s Beyond Headless
Compatibility is limited to SAP Commerce Cloud.	Platform agnostic, offering a future-proof, flexible alternative with no vendor lock-in.
Traditional Headless Architecture: Separates the frontend presentation layer (as a monolith) from the backend business logic, allowing for independent development and deployment of frontend and backend functionalities. Uses as single general-purpose API – the Commerce REST API (OCC) – to serve various UIs with different data needs.	Micro Frontend-based Headless Architecture: Goes beyond just decoupling the frontend from the backend by also breaking down the frontend application into independent, single-responsibility functionalities. Each micro frontend is developed as an independent unit with its own business logic, UI components, and APIs. Micro frontends are also deployed and scaled independently. Uses a Backend-for-Frontend (BFF) design pattern, which acts as an intermediary layer specifically designed for a particular UI. The polyglot microservices architecture enables developers to use multiple programming languages and technologies simultaneously, so individual frontend functionality can be built using whichever preferred technology is best suited for it.
Built with Angular and Redux.	Built with Next.js, Node.js, Typescript, and NRWL.
Deployed as a single app.	Deployed as micro frontends, where each micro frontend is deployed in a separate pod that can be scaled independently based on its resource needs.
Lacks reusability.	Each micro frontend is reusable, so its whole independent functionality can be readily reused across different parts of the application – or even across different applications.
Uses Solr (Search) and SmartEdit (CMS).	Enables the ability to integrate any 3rd-party Search or CMS (current pre-built integrations for leading solutions).
SEO optimization requires considerable effort.	SEO optimization is natively supported.
PWA natively supported.	PWA supported with some development effort.
Site analytics natively supported.	Site analytics natively supported.
OAuth2.0 natively supported.	OAuth2.0 supported with some development effort.
Multi-site support requires customization and duplicating relevant code.	Includes an app for easily changing themes.
Traditional SaaS business model.	The codebase is delivered upon implementation project, offering greater control and customizability, with support provided on an as-needed basis.

The Implications for IT and Business Users

Modular Development		Increased Scalability & Performance
Each micro frontend (i.e., component or feature) can be developed, deployed, and maintained independently for faster development cycles.		Teams can scale specific components horizontally and load them independently as needed.
IT Benefits	Business Value	IT Benefits	Business Value
Quickly develop and deploy specific features as independent units. Streamline development, testing, maintenance, debugging, and experimentation. Changes or failures to one component don’t affect others. Team ownership of specific micro frontends fosters autonomy and accountability.	Faster time-to-market, innovation, and experimentation for better user experiences, higher conversion rates, and increased customer satisfaction. Adapt swiftly to changing requirements and market demands. Lower long-term maintenance costs. Clearer ownership for better quality and faster feature development.	Fine-grained and targeted scaling handles traffic spikes efficiently. New features can be added without increasing complexity. Easier implementation of complex features.	Consistent performance during peak times prevents revenue loss. Isolated scaling enables cost optimization.
Reusable Components		Greater Technology Diversity
Individual components are reusable across different parts of the same storefront, or even entirely different applications.		Developers have the freedom to use diverse technologies (e.g., React, Vue, Angular) for different micro frontends.
IT Benefits	Business Value	IT Benefits	Business Value
Common UI components (e.g., product listings, shopping cart) can be built once and reused across all eCommerce stores.	Lower development costs and consistent user experience (UX).	Choose tools best suited to each component’s requirements. Seamless integration with third-party services or legacy systems.	Ensures easier future-proofing and enables a best-in-class user experience. Easily adopt new technologies.

Summary of Key Advantages of Micro Frontend Technology Over Traditional Headless

Faster development, deployment, and iterative updates:
Changes to a specific micro frontend can be made and deployed independently without affecting the entire storefront, as different teams can work autonomously to implement different functions simultaneously.
Reusability:
Functionality can easily be reused in other microsites, saving the time, effort, and cost of creating it from scratch each time. Furthermore, an embedded app allows for easily changing themes to achieve a different look and feel.
Better performance:
Specific modules are loaded on demand rather than all at once, thereby reducing initial loading times.

Improved maintainability, scalability, and resiliency:
Individual modules are easier to maintain and update because the code is smaller and less complex, and updates or bug fixes only affect the individual micro frontend. You can also scale specific features (e.g., adding more product filters) without impacting the entire platform, and if one module fails, the others will continue to function normally.
Loosely coupled teams and independent technology choices:
Different development teams can work on separate micro frontends using their preferred technologies for each specific feature without having to coordinate with other teams.