An introduction to MACH, the MACH Alliance and its importance for retailers.

Contents
1. What is MACH?
2. What does the MACH Alliance do?
3. Why is MACH important for retailers?
4. The benefits of MACH architecture
5. Key learnings

Let’s put this into simple terms. Change is constant and change can be rapid. But most crucially, the ability to change and adapt quickly is essential in a modern retail environment.

The consumer landscape is evolving much faster than legacy software vendors can keep up with. A simple change to retail software could take months, and what happens in the meantime? The consumer has gone elsewhere.

It’s critical for retailers to have a modern IT architecture that empowers them to satisfy consumer demands as they occur and not months down the line; an essential success factor for businesses in the digital era, especially post-pandemic.

And this is where MACH comes in.

In 2020, the MACH Alliance was formed to advocate for an open and best-of-breed enterprise technology ecosystem.

The reason why Enactor is such a good fit for the MACH Alliance is that we’ve always believed in open, flexible software. Providing composable services is a core part of Enactor’s enterprise philosophy, from pioneering a low-code, flow-based approach to enterprise systems. Our mission is to give retailers the freedom to move at speed, essentially opening up an unhindered freeway of innovation on both the front and back-end.

– Kelly Goetsch, President of the MACH Alliance, had this to say about Enactor joining the Alliance –

Retailers don’t lose with a MACH approach. Let’s look at why that is.

Legacy software vendors are still aggressively pushing out clunky programs from a decade ago that simply cannot adapt to today’s consumer-driven market.

Hear our interview with the MACH Alliance on the benefits of MACH for retailers.

The MACH Alliance commissioned a study in 2022, ‘Enterprise MACHified’ which found that 82% of IT leaders say even though existing infrastructure is managing customer demands, less than half are satisfied with their ability to deliver customer experience improvements at speed. The Headless approach with Enactor MACH-certified services puts an end to that and gives retailers the independence that is vital today.

MACH architecture is all about decoupling the front and back-end for more flexibility, and it doesn’t end there. Each component of Enactor software is comprised of composable commerce, which reduces costs for the retailer by eliminating the need for a third-party or software vendor to get involved in modifications. All internal IT teams can make changes and customisations quickly to the platform using Enactor Microservices and the Enactor Toolkit.

Having this unprecedented independence and flexibility to react quickly to customer and market changes is critical to succeeding in today’s retail market.

There are several legacy software companies that claim their services to be MACH-based but it’s difficult for a retailer to validate their claims. Being a member of the MACH Alliance gives software vendors like Enactor professional recognition for their MACH approach and standards that retailers can trust.

The ‘Enterprise MACHified’ study reports some good news with a 19% increase in companies moving away from outdated systems to best-of-breed vendors like Enactor. A further 79% of tech leaders in companies plan to increase their investments in MACH-certified services next year.

There is no getting ahead of the curve anymore. The curve is already here.

Taking a MACH approach to your business and using composable, API-driven software empowers a business to be agile and on top of consumer demands.

Working with vendors who are members of the MACH Alliance guarantees you are investing in best-of-breed products.

Taking a MACH approach will enable IT teams to deliver CX improvements faster.