Decentralization and agility: How a choreographer drives digital transactions

Choreography is the ultimate in decentralized efficiency. It is the definitive and necessary breakthrough in securing digital transactions in all their diversity.

Choreographers vs. Orchestrators  

In technology, when it comes to coordinating interactions between multiple microservices, two approaches emerge: choreography and orchestration. 

Choreography refers to a decentralised strategy where microservices operate independently, coordinating with each other through pre-defined indicators or events.   

Orchestration, on the other hand, takes a centralised approach where microservices are conducted by an orchestrator or director. The key distinction between these two approaches is that choreography gives independence to each microservice to make decisions based on the needs of other services, whereas orchestration requires central control for decision making. In this sense, choreography seems to provide greater stability and reliability by avoiding, among other things, the potential impact of a system-wide crisis on a specific node.  

Efficient, decentralized management that prioritizes security and privacy, and allows the end user to control what is happening, builds trust. Making interactions with a digital platform more fluid and agile has a direct impact on the user experience, which is key to any business strategy. 

By definition, choreography is a flexible design approach that allows components or services from different vendors or technologies to be integrated in a completely agnostic manner.  This means that companies can use the best available tools and services, without being locked into a single vendor or set of technologies. This situation is known as Vendor Lock-in, a phenomenon that “locks” companies into using one or more vendors and preventing them from moving forward.  

Because each component or service is designed to be independent and communicate with the rest according to an internal logic, changes can be made without interrupting the overall functioning of the system. It also allows for an agile transition between applications and services, and even the possibility of using several simultaneously for the same type of transaction. 

Adding more parts to the system to work together at the same time and handle more work or demand, is more economical and efficient. Rather than investing in more powerful and expensive hardware or software to improve performance, the choice is to augment existing components or services.  

Benefits for digital banking or marketplaces  

Enhancing this collaboration between services improves the performance of complex schemes, where every small step matters. Any sector that bases its operation on the digital identification of its customers or users, from banks and fintechs to medical services, insurance companies or gaming and betting platforms, can personalise its services to the maximum and optimise its resources by making use of this paradigm. 

For example, in a marketplace, with an online order processing system, these “predefined indicators or events” could be the actions that a customer performs, such as adding a product to the cart, entering the shipping address and finally making the payment. Each of these actions triggers a specific system response, such as updating inventory, calculating shipping costs, confirming the purchase, paying for the purchase and signing the instalment contract.  

In the financial sector, the processes of authorisation, verification and settlement of transactions are executed in an autonomous and coordinated manner, which is essential in an area where security is always at the centre.   

However, the two systems can work together to serve particular interests. In a hybrid scheme, orchestration provides precise control and defined sequencing when needed, while choreography offers agility and adaptability in situations where microservices must react independently and immediately. 

Choreography implementation recommendations  

Adopting microservices choreography requires careful planning and transparent execution. Therefore, a few recommendations should be followed.   

• Once the company has decided that choreography is the best option, it is necessary to analyse the complexity of workflows and specific use cases.  
• Logically divide the application into microservices. Each microservice should have a clearly defined responsibility. This will facilitate coordination and scalability.  
• Establish monitoring and alerting systems to track the flow of events and detect any anomalies or problems in real time, for which there are specially designed cloud-based tools.   
• Conduct extensive testing to ensure the robustness and reliability of the system. This includes integration, load and stress testing, as well as resilience testing to simulate adverse scenarios.  
• Establish robust security policies, including authentication, authorisation and data encryption.   
• Comply with relevant security regulations and standards for each industry.  
• Provide adequate training and continuous retraining to the team, with special emphasis on the principles and practices of microservices choreography and security protocols. 

TrustCloud choreographer: agility, security, privacy and compliance  

The TrustCloud choreographer is in charge of creating a single, coordinated environment for all the modules located at a lower level (video identification, electronic signature, payments, wallet or KYC). This is why we can also speak of an orchestrator of orchestrators, in which all digital transactions deriving from these modules are coordinated from start to finish and kept in a shielded environment.   

For example, the choreographer organizes each step in a digital signature process, either when using a single provider, when switching from one provider to another or when using several providers at the same time. Also, each transaction that is related to those signature processes: user identification, contract review and sending, custody of all generated assets, etc. It is therefore the most personalised and efficient approach to manage secure digital transactions. The choreographer designs and activates the most appropriate transactional strategy for each use case and thus guarantees flexibility.  

Its ability to expertly orchestrate each critical phase of the processes ensures smooth execution. This agility is complemented by robust security measures, ensuring the confidentiality and integrity of information at all times.   

The TrustCloud platform works from a single API to access all its services, eliminating the need to deal with multiple vendor interfaces and contracts and creating a robust ecosystem from which all solutions work by continually adapting to needs and changes. In addition, the choreographer meets the most rigorous global compliance standards, providing customers with the confidence that they are protected in any location.