>But this seems like a classic case where microservices are needed. I dont think that will help. The fundamental problem is the amount of work necessary to be

>But this seems like a classic case where microservices are needed. I dont think that will help. The fundamental problem is the amount of work necessary to begin producing results. Take the POS talking directly to the DB. What you want to build is a unified API but to do that you first need to write a new POS system and replace a bunch of physical devices. The problem is how do you convince the business folks to spend years and millions on something that will save/produce the company 0 dollars? The path to do something like what's in the article is to first spend a year or so digging into code and finding every single issue like the POS one. Then you spend years fixing all of those issues. Then you spend more years actually building what you want. As a consulting firm if you come in and bid $100 million and 7 years while everyone else does $30 million over 3, well, you lose. So thats what you bid. Who cares if it goes tits up? You collect your fat bonuses for 18 months and then move onto your next firm/position. The inevitable failure can be blamed on the person who takes over.