Rapid launch of a stable E-Commerce solution with perspective growth into a full-fledged product.

Deutsche Version der Publikation.

As part of our analytical process in creating solutions for offline businesses during the crisis, we have developed an approach to launch and further support an E-Commerce solution that takes into account the current unprecedented business requirements.

And so, let us make use of an engineering and analytical approach.

End-result requirements:

 - Ability to launch an E-Commerce system in a matter of days;

 - Ability to setup a relatively safe IT product;

 - Ability to setup a relatively stable IT product;

 - Capability to extend the product functionality from the start depending on the individual business niche requirements without the fear of jeopardizing security and stability.

 - Potential for continuous development after the crisis period. The product should not be a plug for a temporary hole, but a full-fledged product.

To comply with the aforementioned requirements, the necessary tools for building an online shop have to meet the following criteria:

 - Have to offer a ready-to-use array of functionality with no need for months of prior development;

 - Are created specifically to the needs of E-Commerce with relevant contexts in mind and are not low-quality ported tools quickly adjusted to "suit the need";

 - Do not have known - and ignored - security vulnerabilities;

 - Are built on the base of a technology that allows changes to features and functionality without putting integrity and security at risk;

 - Allow changes to be made without unreasonable costs of migrating said changes when updates to the chosen technologies are made in the future;

 - Allow changes and improvements to be made in a way that can be migrated to custom-built systems without requiring the development of the same changes from zero;

A tool complying with these requirements is an out-of-the-box E-Commerce system, but not just any system.

It has to be built on a developer framework like Symfony or something of the same level of sophistication.

This allows securing multiple aspects of stability and security, and most importantly, the following 2 factors:

 - There is no need to "re-invent the wheel" - the framework comes with integrated set of basic functionality and tools;

 - Steadily and securely change and extend the product by adding functionality.

Meeting all set requirements is possible owing to the engineering process taken during the developments on this solution. Important: it is imperative to involve teams with engineering qualifications during the development and support of the product.

Only this level of qualification allows creating an IT solution based on the aforementioned description and providing ongoing changes and support without risk of damaging the product.

Engineers reading this post, what can we do for those without the engineering qualification? Can we create guidelines in a way that helps them using the tools and methods? We’re looking forward to your feedback.