Serverless at Coca Cola
Serverless at Coca Cola
Innovation and Cost Reduction Go Hand-In-Hand
Recently, I was revisiting some fascinating case studies and came across Coca-Cola's transition to serverless technology, a particularly intriguing example of a large corporation successfully leveraging serverless for innovation and cost reduction.
In 2016, Coca-Cola took a decisive step towards innovation by initiating a cloud migration strategy towards adopting serverless technologies. A standout example of their implementation is the 'Freestyle' vending machines. These dispensers, powered by the AWS Cloud, not only offer over 200 drink choices but also help gather valuable consumer data that informs future marketing strategies. As highlighted by AWS, these machines serve over 14 million drinks per day, with the cloud infrastructure facilitating real-time data collection and analysis.
Financially, the transition to serverless has proven to be a boon for Coca-Cola. During an AWS Re-Invent conference, CEO Michael Connor underscored a staggering 65% reduction in costs. AWS also reports that Coca-Cola reduced the time to market for new features by 99% and improved system availability to 99.999%, further illustrating the financial and operational advantages.
Coca-Cola’s successful transition to serverless technology and the significant cost savings they've achieved counter the notion that serverless is too expensive or unsuitable for large, serious companies.
This example underscores the importance of taking such generalisations with a grain of caution, as they may not hold true in all scenarios or for every organisation.
I also found it interesting that this big transition happened in 2016. Around the same time, I was part of a pioneering team adopting serverless. Back then, it was understood and commonly accepted that serverless would dramatically lower costs and boost productivity.
Today, there's a growing belief that serverless is pricier. People cite Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) to argue it’s still worth it, but the prevailing view is that it increases your bill.
However, I've seen serverless reduce costs significantly for many projects. It's not a rule that costs must rise. A well-architected serverless system can indeed be a cost-saving tool.
Coca-Cola is merely one of numerous examples of this.