An introduction to event-driven architectures

INTRODUCTION
Events are everywhere: A customer places an item in a shopping cart. A financial document is
submitted. A new user creates an account. A healthcare dataset is uploaded. In an event-driven
architecture (EDA), events are the center of an application, powering communication between
integrated systems. Building event-driven architectures is driving innovation across industries,
with organizations like Taco Bell, Bosch Thermotechnology, and Nationwide Children’s
Hospital. Event-driven architectures can help you accelerate modernization, reduce total cost
of ownership (TCO), and build better products faster.
The diagram on the next page depicts a typical event-driven architecture, which comprises
event producers, event brokers, and event consumers. Business events like placing an order
or submitting a return are created by event producers. An event broker receives those events
and sends them on to the event consumers. Event consumers need to take action on the events.
They include backend systems, warehouse management, finance, and customer relations.