What are Packaged Business Capabilities (PBCs)?
Packaged Business Capabilities (PBCs) are discrete, pre-built units of business functionality that deliver a specific functional outcome, such as catalog, inventory, pricing, promotions or search. Each PBC is self-contained, comes with its own user interface, APIs and integration layer, and can be deployed independently. This modularity lets you add, remove or update capabilities without re-architecting your entire commerce platform.
How are PBCs different from microservices?
Microservices break applications into fine-grained technical services (at the API level), while PBCs bundle multiple microservices into complete, business-aligned modules. For example, a “Catalog PBC” may include multiple microservices but functions as a single business capability. This reduces complexity, accelerates deployment, and helps IT and business teams align around business outcomes instead of technical details.
Why are PBCs important in modern commerce architecture?
Traditional architectures are stuck between monoliths (stable but rigid) and microservices (flexible but complex). PBCs provide the best of both worlds: the stability of pre-integrated components with the flexibility of composable design. They let organizations shift quickly with market and customer demands, accelerate time to market, and reduce long development cycles while avoiding the operational overhead of microservices.
Can I integrate PBCs with my existing ERP, OMS, or CMS systems?
Yes. Our PBCs are designed for interoperability. They communicate through standard methods like REST APIs, GraphQL queries, CSV uploads, webhooks and pub/sub events. This ensures seamless data synchronization with backend systems and allows businesses to modernize incrementally without replacing everything at once.
Can existing custom modules be transformed into PBCs?
Yes. Legacy modules can be wrapped with APIs or adapted to function as PBCs. This allows businesses to preserve prior investments while adopting composability at their own pace, gradually replacing or augmenting legacy capabilities with packaged ones.
