The Future of the Deskless Workforce is Cloud-optional
Discover how cloud-optional apps ensure reliable operations in deskless industries by minimizing internet dependency.
Max Alexander, co-founder of Ditto, discusses the advantages of cloud-optional applications in deskless industries, such as fast food and aviation, ensuring seamless operations during internet downtimes.
Cloud-based applications offer plenty of benefits, but in “deskless” industries, such as fast-food restaurants, retail, and airline hospitality, any Internet downtime might result in lost profits and major disruptions in work.
The Problem with the Cloud
While cloud-only apps may be easier to build, it’s important to remember that cloud data travels a long way before being transmitted back to a device in the same vicinity. If the internet goes down, business-critical applications become unusable. Not only is this inefficient, but it can also be very costly. For example, in fast-food restaurants, if one point in the system, from the ordering kiosk to the kitchen, loses connection, customers cannot receive their meals, which directly affects revenue.
Even knowing there are many points in the chain where the cloud can fail, cloud-only applications are extremely popular. That’s because the resources to build them are easily accessible, most companies have plenty of experience building them, and many developer tools are geared toward cloud-only app development. Moreover, enterprises have collectively put billions of dollars into building cloud-only applications.
Transitioning to Cloud-optional Applications
Cloud-optional technology isn’t new—most of us have been using it in systems for years. Anyone who has ever sent a photo to a friend using AirDrop is actually using Peer-to-Peer WiFi (P2P WiFi) to share data between two devices. Developers building cloud-optional applications must make some special considerations, though. Importantly, they need a local-first database architecture to ensure devices can make data changes locally and backend logic to efficiently utilize local networks such as P2P WiFi to ensure data changes can be shared with or without the internet.
When creating these types of applications, there are a variety of things developers need to consider:
- First, the database prioritizes local data sync whenever possible. Therefore, rather than sending data via the cloud to a potentially faraway remote server, the application should write changes to its local database first, then detect changes from other devices on the network and integrate them as necessary. Devices within the local network must be able to connect with other devices through a mesh network. Mesh networks are designed so each device is connected to many other devices that work in tandem to transmit and route data effectively. They are reliable because if one device fails, there are multiple other paths for data to be transmitted. The more devices added to a mesh network, the stronger it becomes.
Throughout a mesh network, different devices tackle different responsibilities. Consider the example of a fast-food drive-through ordering system. Employees take customer orders through tablets, the order data is transmitted to kitchen monitors so staff can begin preparing the meal, and payment data is transmitted to handheld payment terminals. When the order is ready, it is then delivered to the employees working the windows, who deliver it to the correct customer. In this system, data is distributed between devices, and it is vital it is synchronized properly to be shared in real-time.
However, while mesh networks are important for providing organizations with cloud-optional architecture, they are not a panacea. Because devices transmit large swaths of data across the mesh network, every device should have different responsibilities when syncing data — small devices should handle only what is requested of them, while larger devices like local or cloud servers can focus on syncing as much data as possible to ensure users can access the data at all times. Developers can ensure this is the case through software development kits with different replication strategies.
- Second, devices must be able to leave and join the local network as needed. The same information must be distributed across devices, in contrast to the “single source of truth” model present in the cloud. While this seems like a simple fix, it poses a huge mathematical challenge to compute as the network topology changes over time. Therefore, it is important to create an ad-hoc network that is flexible, scalable, and can be set up spontaneously wherever devices are located without any predefined infrastructure. This is more efficient, meaning the network does not need the full history of a database to transmit data.
- Third, devices should be forward-compatible. This means that, no matter which updates have been made to the mesh network while a device is offline, the offline device should still be able to work with new data and synchronize with other devices on the network. Forward compatibility works by incorporating metadata about schema changes over time so the network can work with devices in a reliable order of changes that can be inspected. Take healthcare, for example – in rural areas where connectivity is limited, ensuring all devices have the most up-to-date patient information is critical to patient outcomes.
See More: Intelligent Connectivity Will Fuel the Future of Boundless Working
Use Cases for Cloud-Optional Technology
- Restaurants / Fast Food: Cloud-optional technology ensures restaurant point-of-sale systems can move customer orders from the ordering kiosk or handheld device to the kitchen display and even to the payment terminal without the need for Wi-Fi, in-store servers, or the cloud. With multiple devices involved in this process, peer-to-peer synchronization ensures customers have a consistent experience and employees have a reliable system for processing orders. In turn, restaurants that have implemented cloud-optional technology have seen major improvements in order to sync latency between devices and reliable uptime during cloud or Wi-Fi outages.
- Industrial: In rugged industrial environments such as car manufacturing plants, machines, tools, and equipment rely on signals from each other to keep operations moving smoothly across the assembly line. However, these environments have very unreliable connectivity, with big metal objects interrupting signals from access points and making it hard to find cellular connections. System downtime or just spotty connectivity in cloud-reliant architecture can result in major time and financial disruptions for already chaotic environments, where the order of assembly operations is crucial to the final product. Implementing peer-to-peer technology does two things for industrial plants: it unlocks offline data distribution for devices, meaning factory machines, IoT, and worker mobile devices continue to operate as usual during downtime, and it allows for a single online device to connect an entire mesh of devices to the cloud when Wi-Fi systems go back up.
- Aviation: Flight attendants work to ensure the safety and comfort of passengers through pre-flight inspection processes, collaboration between coworkers while in the air, and ensuring passengers receive the correct meal order. When airlines implement peer-to-peer technology, cabin crews can seamlessly hop data, such as meal orders, menu changes, tasks, and chat messages, across the aisle and between cabins, improving customer experience and expediting flight attendant task completion time. For example, this technology can allow passengers to order meals from their personal phones in-flight, meaning crews can trace orders back to a passenger in real time, even without connecting passengers to expensive inflight Wi-Fi. Flight attendants can also use it to perform internal processes such as guest services and delivery of onboard products more efficiently.
A Sizable ROI
While implementing a cloud-optional architecture may require more up-front work, the return on investment for organizations is sizable. Ensuring devices are always connected through a peer-to-peer mesh network, regardless of times when connectivity goes down, is paramount to keeping business operations across deskless industries running smoothly and efficiently. With the right tools, skills, and support, the cloud-optional future is upon us, and it’s looking bright.
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