Best-of-Breed Trumps All-in-One
When mobile expertise was still hard to find, mobile platforms provided value by combining a set of finicky technologies (like authentication, push notifications, geo-location, analytics, etc.) into a bundled and tuned stack – an all-in-one platform for developers to consume. Building a mobile app has since become something that’s well within reach of most organizations and the bar has been raised significantly. Instead of cookie cutter apps, users now demand engaging, bespoke mobile experiences. With the rise in popularity of so-called microservices, developers have become quite comfortable assembling individual, best-of-breed services and combining them into custom mobile solutions. Similarly, forward-thinking MBaaS and MAPD vendors are breaking down their offerings into loosely coupled components that can be consumed together or separately as part of a “pluggable” architecture.
Recommendation: Insist on an architecture that allows you to run A/B tests – every month, if needed. Pick whichever service provides better results and incorporate the winner into your solution for continuous improvements.