API Latency and User Experience: What Aspects Impact Latency and What are the Implications for Company Performance?

Abstract: Cloud computing has grown during recent years because of the ability for enterprises to scale without having to consider underlying infrastructure. As the complexity of the service increases, there is a significant risk of increasing latency between microservices and application programming interfaces (APIs). Identifying factors within the system that contribute to latency is therefore essential. Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud data from a start-up by the name Dibz has been analyzed to discover such factors. Findings show that Lambda layers and third party APIs contribute to latency. Additionally, results show that factors such as Simple Queue Service (SQS) workload do not increase latency. The results suggest a potential relationship between database operations and latency as well as caching and latency, yet they are not conclusive and require further investigation. Furthermore, this paper presents evidence that latency reduces user satisfaction and confidence in a service. From user tests in combination with previous research, a link has been established between latency and economic performance. Furthermore, a modern interpretation of the Service Profit Chain is used to assert this relationship.