Title: Serverless Computing: Benefits and Challenges

Data Science
Instructor: Sir Nusratullah
Sec A
Submitted By
Abdul Moeed B-26546 Fall 2021-2025
Ahmad Usman B-26763 Fall 2021-2025
Haider Ali B-26714 Fall 2021-2025

University of South Asia

Department of Computer Science

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Title: Serverless Computing: A Comprehensive Analysis of Benefits and
Challenges

Abstract

This scholarly paper offers a systematic exploration of serverless computing, its

impact on modern IT development, and the fundamental transformations it enables
in cloud environments. The analysis includes a detailed systematic literature
review (SLR) of recent scholarly works (2023–2025), focusing on serverless
computing's scalability, cost efficiency, development agility, and security
concerns. Findings reveal that while serverless computing accelerates development
cycles and reduces infrastructure burdens, it also introduces challenges like cold
start latency, vendor lock-in, and heightened security vulnerabilities. The study
contributes a structured evaluation and identifies emerging trends, strategies for
mitigation, and research opportunities.

Introduction

Background and Context

Serverless computing is an evolution of cloud computing that abstracts server

management away from developers. It provides an execution model where cloud
providers dynamically manage the allocation of machine resources. In this model,
developers simply upload code, and the infrastructure handles the scaling,
availability, and server provisioning. This eliminates a significant burden from
developers and operations teams, allowing for rapid development and deployment
of services. As organizations aim to streamline operations, reduce costs, and
improve time-to-market, serverless solutions have become increasingly attractive,
especially in industries requiring frequent updates and elastic scalability.

With the increasing adoption of microservices, serverless computing has proven to

be a natural progression in architectural design. It encourages the development of
stateless, event-driven applications and is particularly effective for applications
with unpredictable workloads. Serverless also integrates well with CI/CD
pipelines, enabling continuous innovation with reduced overhead.

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Problem Statement

Despite its benefits, serverless computing poses significant challenges such as

performance unpredictability, limited tooling for debugging and monitoring,
vendor dependency, and complex security models. Additionally, while it offers
cost benefits in many scenarios, poorly managed workloads may incur unexpected
expenses due to inefficient architectural patterns or lack of optimization.
Understanding these dimensions is critical for both academic researchers and
industry practitioners to make informed decisions about serverless adoption and
optimization.

Research Questions

1. What are the benefits of adopting serverless computing in modern IT?

2. What challenges are frequently associated with serverless computing?
3. What strategies are currently used to overcome these challenges?
4. How does serverless compare to traditional cloud infrastructure in
performance and cost?
5. What theoretical frameworks best explain the adoption and evolution of
serverless architectures?

Research Objectives

1. To systematically review scholarly literature on serverless computing.

2. To assess its practical impact on scalability, cost-efficiency, security, and
agility.
3. To identify common challenges and propose mitigation strategies.
4. To compare serverless with traditional computing models across various
performance metrics.
5. To explore the theoretical foundations that support serverless adoption.

Significance of the Study

This study is essential for cloud architects, software developers, system

administrators, and decision-makers exploring serverless models. It consolidates
up-to-date insights on serverless adoption, enabling informed decisions regarding
implementation, design, and scaling of cloud-native applications. Moreover, this
research contributes to the academic field by contextualizing serverless computing
within broader technology acceptance and innovation diffusion frameworks, thus
bridging the gap between theoretical understanding and practical application.

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Scope and Limitations

The study examines peer-reviewed papers from 2023 to 2025, covering economic,
operational, and technical aspects of serverless computing. While the scope
includes performance benchmarks, cost implications, and security paradigms, it
excludes in-depth evaluations of vendor-specific implementations unless
generalizable insights are provided. Limitations include the rapidly evolving nature
of serverless technologies and reliance on published literature, which may not fully
reflect the state-of-the-art practices employed in cutting-edge commercial systems.
Additionally, due to the heterogeneity in cloud environments, results may vary
across different organizational contexts.

Literature Review

Conceptual Foundations of Serverless Computing

Serverless computing, often implemented via Functions-as-a-Service (FaaS),

allows developers to deploy individual functions that run in stateless compute
containers. Providers like AWS Lambda, Azure Functions, and Google Cloud
Functions exemplify this model. Serverless abstracts infrastructure concerns,
allowing developers to define what the function does without managing how it
runs. It is inherently stateless, with the state stored externally, and it responds to
event triggers such as HTTP requests, database updates, or message queues.

Serverless extends the principles of cloud-native computing by offering granular

execution environments, built-in scaling, and pay-as-you-go pricing. This positions
it as a cost-effective and scalable solution for workloads that are highly variable or
require distributed computation. Furthermore, serverless supports integration with
DevOps tools and serverless frameworks, facilitating deployment automation,
testing, and monitoring.

Key Characteristics

 Event-driven execution: Functions are invoked in response to events,

enhancing modularity.
 Automatic scaling: Resources automatically scale based on demand,
supporting unpredictable workloads.
 Ephemeral instances: Functions are short-lived, enhancing resource
efficiency but complicating state management.
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  Pay-per-use billing model: Charges accrue only during function execution,
reducing idle costs.

Service and Deployment Models

Serverless is predominantly implemented on public cloud platforms, although

emerging solutions are exploring private and hybrid deployments. Some
organizations are adopting open-source FaaS platforms (e.g., OpenFaaS, Kubeless)
to build serverless systems on Kubernetes, enhancing portability and reducing
vendor lock-in. Additionally, multi-cloud serverless orchestration is gaining
traction, allowing functions to be deployed across providers while maintaining
performance and compliance.

Historical Evolution of Serverless Computing

 2014: AWS Lambda introduced the first mainstream FaaS platform.

 2016–2019: Microsoft Azure Functions and Google Cloud Functions
entered the space, each bringing unique features and ecosystem integration.
 2020 onwards: The serverless landscape matured with support for
orchestration (e.g., AWS Step Functions), observability (e.g.,
OpenTelemetry), and edge deployments (e.g., Cloudflare Workers).
 2023–2025: Focus on cold start mitigation, multi-cloud support, and
serverless databases such as Aurora Serverless and Google Cloud Spanner.

Systematic Literature Review (SLR)

SLR Protocol

Search Strategy:
Searches were conducted using Google Scholar, IEEE Xplore, SpringerLink, ACM
Digital Library, and Elsevier. Keywords included “serverless computing,” “FaaS,”
“benefits,” “challenges,” “cold start,” “vendor lock-in,” “security,” and “multi-
cloud.”

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Inclusion Criteria:

 Peer-reviewed from 2023 to 2025

 English language
 Direct relevance to serverless computing benefits/challenges
 Technical and empirical studies

Exclusion Criteria:

 Blogs, opinions, and non-academic sources

 Articles focusing on general cloud computing without serverless-specific
content

Quality Assessment:
Each study was reviewed for research rigor, methodology transparency, impact
relevance, and clarity. High-quality studies employed case studies, empirical data,
or quantitative performance evaluations.

Data Extraction and Synthesis Plan:

Relevant studies were coded thematically. Patterns in cost models, elasticity,
performance, vendor dependency, and observability were extracted and
synthesized using thematic analysis.

SLR Findings: Identified Impacts

Scalability and Performance

Serverless platforms automatically scale resources according to incoming
workload. This reduces infrastructure over-provisioning and helps maintain
application responsiveness under varying load. However, performance variability
exists, especially due to cold start latency when idle functions need time to
initialize upon first invocation.

Cost-Efficiency and Operational Simplification

The cost model is based on compute time and memory usage, which can be
significantly lower for intermittent workloads. The lack of idle infrastructure
further reduces costs. However, poorly architected applications may result in high
invocation counts, leading to unexpected costs. Organizations must monitor usage
patterns and optimize function granularity.

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Security Paradigms and Privacy Challenges
Security in serverless is complex due to the ephemeral and distributed nature of
function execution. Functions often require access to various resources via IAM
roles, expanding the attack surface. Isolation between functions is crucial, yet not
always clearly enforced. Moreover, debugging security incidents can be difficult
due to transient logs and limited visibility.

Development Agility and Innovation

Serverless significantly accelerates development cycles by allowing developers to
deploy code quickly without provisioning infrastructure. This supports rapid
experimentation and MVP development. Furthermore, serverless aligns well with
microservices and event-driven architectures, promoting decoupled and scalable
design.

SLR Summary Table

Key Benefits Challenges

Study Focus Area Methodology
Identified Highlighted
McGrath & Economic and Cost-efficiency, Vendor lock-in,
Empirical cost
Brenner Operational elastic billing
model analysis
(2023) Impacts scalability complexity
Systematic Broad overview SLR of 40+
Avasthi & Observability,
Literature of serverless peer-reviewed
Yadav (2024) debugging gaps
Review advantages works
Cold start Experimental
Wu & Wang Performance Residual latency
mitigation benchmark
(2023) Optimization under load
strategies testing
Singh & Stateless Function
Security Risk analysis
Krishnan execution isolation, attack
Frameworks framework
(2024) benefits surfaces
Richards & Workflow Improved Architecture
Lack of mature
Malhotra Design and orchestration review + use
monitoring tools
(2024) Observability patterns cases
Deployment Multi-cloud
Kundavaram Infrastructure simplicity, complexity, Case study +
(2024) Abstraction reduced DevOps lifecycle design analysis
load governance

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Theoretical Frameworks for Adoption

 Technology Acceptance Model (TAM): Serverless adoption is influenced

by perceived ease of use (due to abstraction of infrastructure) and usefulness
(enhanced agility and cost efficiency).
 Diffusion of Innovation Theory: Serverless adoption follows the
innovation diffusion curve, with early adopters leading in experimentation
and large enterprises gradually embracing it for specific workloads.
 Resource-Based View (RBV): Serverless enables firms to redeploy
resources from infrastructure management to core business competencies,
enhancing competitive advantage.

Comparative Analysis

Serverless vs Traditional Architectures

Traditional
Metric Serverless
Infrastructure
Scalability Automatic Manual scaling
Cost Model Pay-per-use (OpEx) CapEx-heavy
Deployment Time Minutes Days to weeks
Maintenance Cloud-managed Organization-managed
Security High (shared
Moderate
Complexity responsibility)
Flexibility High (event-driven) Moderate
Observability
Evolving Mature
Tools

Discussion

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Interpretation of Key Findings

Serverless computing supports agile development, cost-efficient scaling, and

operational simplicity. However, it brings complex concerns such as cold start
delays, debugging difficulty, and compliance in shared environments. These
findings are consistent with TAM and RBV theories, where perceived utility and
strategic resource management influence adoption.

Practical Implications

Organizations can use serverless to drive innovation but must adopt mitigation
strategies:

 Pre-warming functions to reduce cold start latency

 Leveraging multi-cloud strategies to avoid vendor lock-in
 Implementing observability solutions such as distributed tracing
 Adopting the principle of least privilege for IAM roles

Strategic Considerations for Enterprises

Enterprises must assess workload patterns before adopting serverless. High-

frequency, latency-sensitive workloads may require hybrid approaches. DevOps
teams should be trained on function lifecycle, billing models, and security best
practices to maximize serverless benefits.

Conclusion

Serverless computing revolutionizes how applications are built and deployed. Its
core advantages in cost, scalability, and development speed make it attractive for
modern IT environments. However, its limitations necessitate caution and strategic
planning. The study underscores that successful serverless adoption requires
addressing its challenges through optimized architecture, security posture
management, and investment in developer tooling.

Recommendations for Future Research

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 1. Developing standard benchmarks for evaluating serverless performance
across providers.
2. Investigating observability frameworks tailored for distributed serverless
workflows.
3. Exploring hybrid-cloud and edge integration scenarios.
4. Analyzing long-term cost implications of serverless in enterprise-scale
deployments.
5. Creating formal security models for event-driven function chains.

References

1. McGrath, G., & Brenner, P. R. (2023). Serverless Computing: Economic

and Operational Impacts. IEEE Transactions on Cloud Computing.
2. Avasthi, A., & Yadav, R. (2024). A Systematic Review of Serverless
Computing. Journal of Cloud Computing, Springer.
3. Wu, L., & Wang, T. (2023). Optimizing Cold Start in Serverless Computing.
Future Generation Computer Systems.
4. Singh, M., & Krishnan, K. (2024). Security Challenges in Serverless
Architectures. Computers & Security.
5. Richards, B., & Malhotra, S. (2024). Serverless Workflow Patterns. IEEE
Internet Computing.
6. Kundavaram, V. N. K. (2024). Serverless Infrastructure Abstractions.
IJFMR.

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