What is Node.js and Why You Should Use It for Enterprise Software?

Enterprise software development and web apps face some challenges in comparison to mobile applications. As users want ultrafast applications such as PayPal, Netflix, and many more, businesses across the globe and industries are constantly under enormous pressure for developing their enterprise applications the best way. Apps that don’t load within a few seconds can lose a large number of potential customers and targeted audiences. As a result, it is crucial to choose the right mobile app development company and technologies such as NodeJS for building powerful, and high-performing apps for enterprises. If you are planning to develop your enterprise software or application, NodeJS is the most recommended technology to proceed with the idea. Before we discuss further it, let us have a quick overview of NodeJS. 

A cross-platform, run-time development environment built on the V8 engine of Chrome, NodeJS has gained immense popularity as a preferred choice among businesses looking for web application development as well as enterprise mobility solutions mainly because of the simplicity and ease of development process required to build apps of all types and sizes. 

NodeJS allows you to write code in JS (JavaScript) and execute it outside of the browser. It is also very lightweight because it works at an event-driven input-output model that’s asynchronous and non-blocking. This results in two-way communication between the client-side and server-side of the web app. 

What are the key advantages of NodeJS?

 If you are still not convinced why you should exclusively use NodeJS for enterprise software development or web application development, let me tell you that NodeJS provides the ideal framework for developing and operating an app. It is scalable, cross-platform, and lightweight for coding and execution. NodeJS has been downloaded by billions of users and is the dominant platform for developing real-time apps, microservices, and IoT (Internet of Things) solutions. NodeJS is gaining popularity faster than any other technology today, and it ranks among the top few most in-demand developer skills.

Advantages of NodeJS

The key advantages offered by NodeJS are discussed hereunder for your quick reference: 

– It makes building high-traffic, high-performing, engaging, and real-time apps easy and fast and is ideal for gaming, chats, and similar apps. 

– It facilitates coding in JS for the client as well as server sides.

– It boosts the development process’ efficiency by filling the gap between backend and front-end developers.

– NodeJS Package Manager (NPM) provides developers with multiple tools and modules for use, which eventually boosts their productivity.

– Code is executed much faster than in any other development platform or language to which NodeJS is compared.

NodeJS is best for micro-services that are popularly used by enterprises these days. 

Why should you use NodeJS for enterprise software development? 

Any development environment or programming language you choose has something different from others. Why is NodeJS a great choice for your application development and why should you use it for your enterprise software or enterprise application development project? NodeJS is easy to use, with unquestionable performance and scalability. As a result, many companies are rapidly considering NodeJS for enterprise-level software and application development projects. 

NodeJS is based on Google Chrome’s V8 runtime and is developed in C++, as previously stated. NodeJS is designed for the superfast development of applications and software solutions for multiple OS. Both Node and V8 are updated regularly, with security patches, performance boosters, and to support modern JS features. The use of JS implies that the JSON data transformation is quick and easy by default. JSON is the most common and popular data interchange format available on the Web.

The event-driven, single-threaded architecture of Node facilitates the handling of various co-occurring connections effectively. Most web platforms work by creating an extra thread of every new request, which eats up RAM for all the time required for processing it. Whereas, Node operates on one single thread, utilizing the event loop and the callbacks for input-output operations. This way it delegates the tasks like database operations at the earliest. This makes it easy to handle millions of simultaneous connections efficiently. 

Furthermore, NodeJS adopts scalability right from the beginning, with very powerful features like the Cluster module that enables load-balancing across CPU cores. PM2 process manager and other robust tools simplify monitoring, optimizing, and deploying NodeJS apps. 

What makes NodeJS so popular among businesses looking for Nodejs development services?

The popularity and growth of NodeJS have increased at an unprecedented pace over the past decade. An increasing number of developers are now working on it. Moreover, NodeJS has emerged as the most coveted and highly desired technology among businesses and developers looking for enterprise application development and enterprise software development. NodeJS is quite popular among businesses as well as enterprise software & application developers across the globe. 

So, what makes NodeJS so highly popular among businesses and developers alike? Let us have a quick look at some amazing features of NodeJS. 

1. Scalability & efficiency: Enterprise applications must be scalable because the requirements of a business are subject to change as it expands in the future. Optimizing performances with Google Chrome V8 runtime on which NodeJS is built. NodeJS is written in C++ and developers can code with NodeJS for multiple OS (operating systems).

• The engine of the V8 is quite popular in facilitating performance and speed in apps for large enterprises. It is packed with the latest JS features as it runs through the latest security patches, performance enhancements, and regular updates. 
• Being single-threaded, NodeJS carries out input-output operations with the help of event lockup and callbacks. Node.js unique architecture helps developers in managing multiple connections concurrently. Therefore, using NodeJS is an ideal choice for enterprise application development because of its ability to efficiently handle various connection requests. 
• NodeJS’ PM2 keeps the apps alive: The PM2/Process Manager for NodeJS applications helps monitor the use of apps regularly.
• NodeJS comes with a load-balancer for ensuring that your app is always up and running. It can help you reload your application with no downtime. When NodeJS is used for enterprise applications, PM2 facilitates tracking app logging as well as clustering for a large user base. PM2 also offers various command-line tools for deploying your NodeJS enterprise app quickly.  

2. Cross-functional teams can work on enterprise apps simultaneously: A cross-functional team refers to a group of developers and other members who work on different phases of the app development process. It is a critical component of agile methodology and essential for obtaining a variety of viewpoints on how the app is shaping up. This sort of in-depth cooperation leads to highly innovative, better, and high-performing solutions and apps for enterprises. 

NodeJS is among the few JS frameworks used for both front-end and back-end. This means, your team of NodeJS developers at a NodeJS development company can work on both (front-end and back-end) sides effortlessly without not need to learn any additional programming language or technology. 

Therefore, we can conclude that when you use NodeJS for enterprise application development, you can give the required attention to each aspect of app development – client-side and server-side. This, eventually, reduces the efforts required for making app changes in the future. 

3. Reduced development time & costs for enterprise applications: Node Package Manager (NPM) is amongst the key features of NodeJS. It allows developers to install, update, use open-source software modules. There is no need for you to write/code common features and you can easily avoid facing new layers of complexities during enterprise application development. 

Node.js makes it easy to manage, enterprise apps’ local dependencies. NPM is immensely useful in managing these dependencies of project tools as well as globally installed tools. NPM offers a package (lock.json) that displays project dependencies. So, you may download various standalone tools for use immediately. Using NPM lets you manage various versions of your app’s code and code the dependencies with the least manual effort. 

NodeJS is ideal for enterprise apps. Enterprises have a lot of security and privacy concerns when it comes to using open-source modules. Node.js released NPM’s enterprise version of NPM to address these issues. Enterprises that work with sensitive data variations in using the cloud for storing their data. With the NPM enterprise version, these organizations can run NPM infrastructure right behind their (company) firewall. Hence, organizations of all types and sizes can easily control code access, replace unsafe/vulnerable code, and identify the security vulnerabilities with the help of NPM and NodeJS. 

4. Microservices architecture of NodeJS: The ability to facilitate app upgrades makes NodeJS highly suitable for enterprise applications. Some of the most typical issues that enterprises experience while upgrading enterprise software are as follows:

• Most enterprises begin their projects as small MVP (Minimum Viable Product) releases. The project grows with time and gains new features as well as users gradually. Before you get to know about it, your development team may be facing various development challenges. 
• You may want to add new features and functionalities to your app and this feature lets you deliver a great experience to your users. Adding new functionalities and features may result in new complexities being added to the enterprise apps. Let us understand this with the help of an example. Consider running an enterprise marketing app that serves CMS, reporting, and email marketing. Most of the time, the users will mostly only use one of these features than the other. Some people may use only the reporting part while others may use CMS more. 

As the number of app users rises, you will need to improve the computational power to guarantee that your app does not crash and functions correctly. Ideally, you should scale the frequently utilized section of the program. The rest of the components are expected to receive only moderate fine traffic, as per the developers. This method cannot be used with monolithic programs since you will ultimately need to grow the entire system. The application becomes unmanageable and difficult to maintain, and deployment becomes a chore for developers. Furthermore, the team grows too large to enable seamless coordination. Thanks to NodeJS’ micro-services, scaling enterprise applications becomes hassle-free, stress-free, and easy. NodeJS makes it possible for the developers to use micro-services architecture for development. 

A micro-service is a single-self-contained unit capable of working independently without the involvement of other units. The developers can easily work on these micro-units independently, which facilitates the working of different teams on different programming languages by coordinating and working together on the same project. 

• Boost efficiency and reduce costs with micro-services: NodeJS lets the developers run separate outsourced and/or in-house teams across the globe. This feature helps reduce costs and improve project efficiencies. It is mainly because more distributed and smaller teams are relatively a lot easier to coordinate with and manage. You don’t need to apply the whole codebase whenever you want to make small changes to the app. As your business expands, you may need to address various situations for avoiding breakdowns. With NodeJS’ micro-service architecture, you can easily manage your web development operations’ small aspects. You can manage many micro-tasks such as email marketing, reporting, deployment, and CMS via micro-services patterns. This is why brands like GoDaddy, Netflix, and PayPal use micro-service in their enterprise applications. 

 5. Cross-platform enterprise app development: Various platforms allow you to create cross-platform applications with NodeJS. Therefore, you may reuse some code from your web application on Windows, Linux, and Mac OS, if needed. NodeJS lets you use a single team for delivering a desktop app as well as a web app. Furthermore, you don’t need to hire Objective C or C# developers. If you want to build your enterprise application for mobile phones and your targeted audiences are mostly iPhone users, then you should hire an iPhone app developer for your enterprise application development project. 

• NodeJS developers have access to all the tools that front-end developers do, and NodeJS allows them to debug and profile back-end and desktop apps efficiently as they do client-side applications. As a result, NodeJS developers do not require a Windows computer or Mac for writing code for Windows apps and Mac OS apps, respectively. Code-sharing among different platforms becomes easy in most cases, with NodeJS cross-platform development that helps reduce the enterprise app development costs significantly.

6. Node.js caching helps make apps blazing fast: App developers who work on NodeJS enterprise applications enjoy the many benefits offered by caching singular modules. NodeJS caches the first module (when someone requests it) automatically on the memory of the app. NodeJS’ ability to cache allows quick loading of web pages. It is because the application does not need to keep executing the code again and again.  

• Other than this, NodeJS caching helps users in navigating the application which aids in enhancing the user experience as response time is accelerated. Quick response time helps improve the app’s SEO rankings as well. Hence, NodeJS is a great choice for enterprise application development from the SEO viewpoint as well. 

7. Great long-term support and easy learning curve: NodeJS’ ability to learn quickly and easily is amongst the key advantages offered by NodeJS. Being a JS-based language, NodeJS saves developers from the unnecessary hassle of grasping procedure and syntax learning. It is easy for programmers and developers to learn, develop, code, and deploy various scalable NodeJS applications. NodeJS lets developers code on both Unix and Windows with immense ease. Even beginners at a mobile app development company will tell you how easy it is to learn NodeJS. This ease of learning and long-term support has a direct impact on the app development process. The development time is reduced significantly and it is very easy to locate and hire Nodejs development services providers at the most reasonable rates. Hence, the costs of basic development are quite low. Furthermore, for an enterprise-level application, long-term support is a key point worthy of being considered. No one wants to keep switching between platforms and technologies consistently. 

 NodeJS provides long-term support for developers, allowing them to establish their organization around a single technology while eliminating the difficulties of moving between platforms regularly.

Summing up

NodeJS is rich in features that are quite helpful in addressing the challenges faced by most organizations when it comes to enterprise mobility solutions and enterprise app development. As NodeJS smartly bridges the gap between back-end and front-end development, the development process becomes exceptionally simple and fast. Furthermore, the NodeJS’ microservices architecture allows a large team also to work together with the performance and efficiency of the app. 

What is simply great about NodeJS for building enterprise apps is that it allows cross-platform development. Cross-platform development is immensely helpful in building MVPs and then scaling the app afterward. NodeJS, in short, is your best choice to accommodate and adjust to your ever-changing and growing business needs. 

You can hire a trusted and reputed enterprise app development or mobile app development company to help you create your enterprise application. Make sure the team of developers you choose has rich experience in the industry and has already catered to businesses from a wide range of industry verticals. You should check their project portfolios to catch a glimpse of their expertise in the domain and then maybe you can talk to their existing or past clients to learn more about their level of professionalism, commitment to quality, deadlines, etc.