MACH Alliance Forms to Empower Enterprises Taking Advantage of Modern, SaaS Technology

June 23, 2020

Group to educate enterprises on best-of-breed Microservices, APIs, Cloud and Headless (MACH) technology for the next generation of digital experiences.

Today, commercetools, Contentstack, EPAM Systems (NYSE: EPAM) and Valtech introduce and officially launch the MACH Alliance, a group of independent, future-thinking tech companies dedicated to advocating for open, best-of-breed technology ecosystems. The Alliance is rooted in the common belief that the interoperability and open architecture of modern software will propel current and future digital experiences. Algolia, Amplience, Cloudinary, Constructor.io, Contentful, E2X, Fluent commerce, Frontastic, Mobify and Vue Storefront have already joined as inaugural members, and the Alliance invites like-minded companies to do the same.

The MACH namesake, which stands for Microservices based, API-first, Cloud-native and Headless, is inspired by the supersonic speed at which software ecosystems can better serve enterprises. The MACH Alliance is committed to helping enterprises adopt and adapt the best and most agile systems, processes and skills to turn their digital practices into business differentiators.

The goal of the MACH Alliance is to drive awareness for the benefits of modern software ecosystems that provide the flexibility and openness that traditional software suites were not designed with,” Matthew Baier, Board Member of the MACH Alliance says. “The demand for flexibility and speed has been increasing for years and the current pandemic has further escalated the urgency to adopt and provide digital solutions and experiences. The alliance will serve as an educator and advisor for organizations embracing a more modern, agile and effective digital stack and ecosystem.”

At its debut webinar, founding members will demonstrate what a MACH platform consists of technically and answer questions about what the landscape of MACH suppliers looks like. [insert link to event]

“Today, there are hundreds of proven SaaS vendors that solve specific business problems (content, commerce, personalization, etc.) much better than the basic functionality offered in suites,” says Kelly Goetsch, President of the MACH Alliance board. “Due to the near ubiquity of support for MACH principles and how modern SaaS software works, it’s easier than ever to discover, evaluate, purchase, and integrate these vendors. As needs evolve, vendors can be easily added or swapped. We as members of the MACH Alliance represent the present and future of enterprise software and services and aim to be the catalyst for even more change.”

“We believe in “Transform by Doing”. The MACH architecture enables us to build and run solutions that are less of a compromise to our clients”, says Auke van Urk, Advisory Board Member to the MACH Alliance and Chief Technology Officer at Valtech. “MACH solutions can reduce time to first value significantly and are much more adaptable to the ever evolving business needs and customer expectations.”

“We see real pressure these days to adapt nearly every aspect of global business, and to do so faster and more efficiently than ever. These new demands call for an expanded set of choices that are enabled by the modern architectures and capabilities brought together by the MACH Alliance,” said Elaina Shekhter, Advisory Board Member to the MACH Alliance and Chief Marketing Officer at EPAM Systems. “Our role as a product and platform engineering leader for some of the world’s top enterprises has given us a front-line view of the digital transformations made possible by the wide-spread adoption of cloud and we look forward to seeing truly novel customer experiences brought to life by these new technologies.”

The MACH Alliance will ensure the best-of-breed alternative is clear, visible and omni-present, by:

• Sharing technical knowledge about MACH, and why and when it is better than what a suite can offer.
• Creating best practices that show organizations how to transition to a MACH architecture, as well as its products and services, leveraging case studies and peer-to-peer networking between organizations planning to make the transition with those that already have.
• Listing and explaining selection criteria for enterprises, such as what to ask for when RFP’ing best-of-breed tech vendors, and what criteria to use during the selection process. This information will be provided in the form of white papers, events, articles and more.
• Publishing technical documentation, such as architectural blueprints and other technical content, demonstrating how to integrate MACH technologies.
• Developing and hosting MACH Alliance events and serving as a collective resource at key industry events to demonstrate and educate the industry on the benefits of adopting an open, cloud-native, API first headless architecture technology ecosystem.

One of the Alliance’s top priorities is to expand its footprint by welcoming like-minded independent technology and services companies to be a part of this first-of-its-kind, open ecosystem technology collaboration. For more information about how your company can join the MACH Alliance, visit: www.machalliance.org/

About the MACH Alliance

The MACH Alliance is a [501(c)(3)] non-profit organization, governed by an independent board and does not endorse specific vendors, members or otherwise. The Alliance was formed in May 2020 to help enterprise organizations navigate the complex modern technology landscape. It aims to guide and show the business advantage of open tech ecosystems that are Microservices based, API-first, Cloud-native and Headless. All MACH Alliance members meet certification principles that are published here.

Founding members include: commercetools, Contentstack, EPAM Systems (NYSE: EPAM) and Valtech. The MACH Alliance welcomes technology companies and individual industry experts who share the same vision for the future. Learn more at https://machalliance.org/ and follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Contact:

Pascal Lagarde
VP Commerce, Valtech
pascal.lagarde@valtech.com