SAP recently launched a SaaS product called Hybris as a Service (YaaS), and Isobar—where I currently work—was invited to participate in a hackathon to explore its potential. Our small but mighty team took the opportunity to reimagine the post-purchase experience using IoT and microservices.

YaaS is built on a microservice architecture. A microservice is a small, independent feature or use case that reduces complexity and increases flexibility. With YaaS, customers can author and publish their own microservices to a marketplace, making it easier to extend products and experiment with new functionality.

During the hackathon, my team built a microservice designed to track physical products using NFC tags. When a product was sold, the tag could be scanned, and the microservice would log the transaction and related events. My role was to build the companion Android mobile app in Java, drawing on skills I had developed in my computer science coursework.

The idea came from my work with Coach, a luxury brand client. I learned how critical it is for companies like Coach to trace the lifecycle of their products. Our solution essentially gave physical goods a digital life beyond the point of purchase through the Internet of Things (IoT).

At the time of the hackathon, YaaS was still in private beta, which Isobar had early access to. I’m excited to see how the platform evolves and how brands continue to leverage microservices for richer customer experiences. You can learn more about YaaS here.