Understanding content microservice architecture

Let’s rewind.

Back in the late 2000s, the shift to mobile-first browsing revealed the cracks in traditional CMSes like WordPress and Drupal. These systems were designed for web pages, not for the multi-channel, mobile-first, AI-powered world we live in now.

Fast-forward to today, and marketing teams are pushing greater volumes of new content out to web pages, socials, mobile apps, wearables, an array of Internet of Things (IoT) devices such as touchscreens in cars, and so on.

And, as a result of this evolution, brands have changed their approach to content management. While legacy content management systems (CMSes) like WordPress and Drupal are focused on delivering webpage-based content, the digital landscape has changed to the point that most brands now also need to optimize experiences on all the other channels that their customers use to engage with them. 

One of the most effective ways of addressing that flexibility issue is for brands to explore the possibilities of content microservice architecture. 

But what are microservices? And how do they affect your approach to content management? 

In this post, we’re going to dive into the concepts of content as a microservice and help you understand how microservices architecture could enhance the digital experiences that your brand creates. 

What is a microservice? 

Microservices are small, independent services that run their own processes and communicate with each other to power a larger digital ecosystem. 

Tech stacks built with microservices architecture are extensible because developers can connect new microservices to extend their functionality, or swap out different microservices for superior performance. 

So, what is content as a microservice?

In its broadest sense, content as a microservice refers to the delivery of content to consumers via web-based microservices. 

But there’s more to it than that, and to answer that question properly, we need to take a look at the legacy content management systems that we mentioned earlier. 

Monoliths vs. microservices: A tale of two architectures

Legacy CMSes are like one-size-fits-all packages in which everything — content management, asset management, frontend hosting, and delivery — is bundled together and tightly coupled. This architecture is commonly referred to as “monolithic.” 

A monolithic CMS is very convenient if you need to get your website or online store up and running quickly, and are happy with the functionality your vendor is providing. But what if you need to make a change to your tech stack? Want to reuse content on socials, or push content that you’ve published on your website to a mobile app? Or to an IoT device?

To do those things, you’ll likely need developer support and a workaround. That’s because monolithic CMSes lock content to web pages, limit flexibility, and make multichannel delivery clunky and manual.

Microservices architecture, on the other hand, breaks content free. 

In microservices architecture, the components of the tech stack are not bundled together. As mentioned above, they operate independently of each other, and can be connected in any combination to achieve specific functionalities for the wider digital ecosystem.  

Hosted in the cloud, a headless CMS like Contentful powers microservices architecture by ensuring that data in the back end is delivered to every frontend application seamlessly. That means there’s no need to copy and paste content between different tools (and all the potential for error that entails), and that content experiences are consistent across every channel. 

With Contentful, content is created once, stored centrally, and delivered to websites, apps, store displays, and email campaigns via application programming interfaces (APIs). It’s clean, structured, and presentation-agnostic.

It’s an approach that delivers speed and flexibility for both developers and marketers, and that future-proofs the tech stack by enabling brands to extend functionality by integrating new microservices whenever they need to.

Essentially, microservices facilitate the kind of content management that modern digital marketing teams need, helping them sidestep technical limitations, react to new trends, and produce dynamic customer experiences over and over again. 

AI + content microservice architecture

There’s another huge advantage to embracing content as a microservice: namely, unlocking the power of AI automation. 

Monolithic CMSes weren’t built with AI in mind. Their tight coupling between content and presentation makes automation difficult and makes data messy. But microservices architecture, implemented through an AI-ready CMS like Contentful, makes content machine-readable across the entire digital ecosystem — which means you can structure that content down to its component parts, and reuse it anywhere. 

This opens the door to:

• Seamless integration with large language models (LLMs) for content generation, translation, and optimization (see Contentful’s AI Actions automation features).

• The automation of content workflows.

• Real-time content personalization at scale.

• Future-proof tech stacks that evolve with the introduction of new AI innovations.

Build better microservice architecture with Contentful

Adopting content as a microservice is a way to execute a future-proofed, AI-ready content strategy — at scale. Let’s look at some of the specific benefits of doing that with Contentful. 

• AI-ready from day one: Structured, machine-readable content is the perfect fuel for AI innovation. With Contentful’s built-in AI Actions, Workflow Automation, and Personalization features, you’ll be able to get the right content to the right audience effortlessly, and measure its impact precisely.   

• Composability: No more vendor lock-in. Contentful’s headless architecture lets you integrate exactly the microservices you need into your stack, adding, swapping, and scaling tools as your business evolves.

• Built to scale: As a cloud-native platform, Contentful scales effortlessly. While monolithic solutions can be migrated to the cloud, since they weren’t designed for that environment, they often face implementation issues that make scaling a little (or a lot) more bumpy. Contentful’s autoscaling architecture gives brands the ability to reach growth goals smoothly. 

• Fast, safe deployments: Microservices allow development teams to test and deploy new content management features, services, or updates quickly and efficiently, without downtime or disruption. Microservices architecture keeps systems running while new features roll out.

• Empowered teams: Within the Contentful Platform, marketers can manage content autonomously without any need for developer support, while developers themselves can remain focused on building new features and functionalities.

• Structured, reusable content: Headless and microservices architecture naturally support a structured content approach, in which content is broken down into its smallest structural components, such as header, body text, image, etc. These components can then be remixed into new pages, campaigns, or channels in minutes.

• Omnichannel reach: Contentful ensures that marketing teams are able to create once and publish everywhere — from websites, to apps, to wearables — without any risk of formatting error. That omnichannel consistency keeps brand voices and customer experiences intact across every touchpoint.

• Fast content delivery, everywhere: With Contentful’s global CDN, your content loads fast — no matter where, no matter when. And that’s even on the busiest days of the year like Black Friday, Super Bowl Sunday, or Christmas Eve.

Content microservice architecture: More than a tool

The adoption of microservices architecture isn’t like changing tools or making a technical adjustment to the way you manage content; it’s a fundamental shift in the way you think about, create, and deliver content experiences to your audiences now, and in the future.  

Contentful is a platform designed to grow with your brand, whether you're a start-up still finding its feet in the marketplace, or one of the world’s biggest enterprise organizations seeking to streamline content operations across multiple brands and websites.

You can explore the possibilities of our microservice ecosystem yourself in the Contentful Marketplace, learn more about our native AI Actions automation tools, or, if you’re ready to discuss your next move, get in touch with our sales team.

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