“Let’s build bridges not walls,” this famous quote by Martin Luther King Jr. is proving as an effective mantra in software development life cycle ever since DevOps practices took the centre stage. Yes, DevOps binds together otherwise silo functional teams of an organization.
DevOps is one of the many new, trendy ideas that businesses have adopted. DevOps constitutes a set of operations or practices that assimilates software development and IT operations. Google Cloud Platform & DevOps Research and Assessment (DORA) report for 2021 clearly identifies that the key differentiator between high performing and poor performing software teams is driven by successful implementation or in the delay adopting best DevOps practices. According to this research report, 50% of organizations worldwide have implemented DevOps practices for software development and IT operations. As a result, demand for DevOps services is increasing globally, even if many firms are still unsure about the business value of DevOps and the benefits it may deliver. Using DevOps saves time and money for businesses, as well as improves software lifecycle predictability and helps in creating a corporate culture.
Demystifying the Misconceptions in DevOps Implementation
Extensive automation is not DevOps
According to the Research Report of Puppet’s, a DevOps Institute, 62% of organizations are facing hindrance in DevOps journey despite having a high level of automation in place. So having implemented extensive automation need not make an organization good at DevOps.
Cloud migration alone is not adequate
Though 65% of mid-evolution organizations have deployed resources to public cloud only 20% are utilizing cloud to its full potential. So, automation and cloud migrations alone will not help organizations to be considered as highly evolved.
Organizations with strong teams, possessing well-understood identities, greater level of autonomy, well defined responsibilities, well-structured communication channels in place can succeed in implementing DevOps practices.
Having understood the organization traits needed for seamless adoption of DevOps practices let us focus on the benefits DevOps offers for an organization.
Business Growth Benefits of adopting DevOps
DevOps Helps Save Time and Money
Regimen and tedious duties make up a substantial portion of the IT operations. Most of them can be automated with scripts, but if the circumstance changes, the script will fail – and production scenarios vary a lot. Implementing DevOps principles such as Infrastructure as a Code (IaC), Continuous Integration (CI), and Continuous Delivery (CD) tools ensures task scenario homogeneity and infrastructure immutability, resulting in 100% automation efficiency and a significant reduction in the amount of time and effort spent on routine and repeated work.
Reduce Software Defects–Thus increasing Employee Morale and Customer Satisfaction
DevOps brings in process automation through which human errors and bugs in software are eliminated thus improving the quality of software delivered. Reduced software defects help to boost employee morale as the burden of attending 24/7 manual maintenance does not vest on them. Also, Improved quality of the software helps in enhanced customer satisfaction levels.
DevOps helpin promoting an innovative Corporate Culture
DevOps is intended to nurture cooperation and collaboration between different departments of an organization with a results-driven approach. In the DevOps domain, the limitation of roles and responsibilities of various teams become in distinct. DevOps fosters an environment of mutual collaboration, communication, and integration across the distributed teams. Thus, promoting a conducive environment for innovation culture.
DevOps Improves Business Continuity
Assume an organizational database is residing in a cloud and employees update by downloading it to some application or a tool. From a business continuity perspective, this process can prove costlier as the chance of data compromise or data loss is high. In such situations adopting DevOps practices help organizations through its motto of “Fail Fast and Recover Faster.” This DevOps approach not only helps in faster development, testing, and deployment of software but also helps for faster recovery from failure or service interruptions. Thus, helping organizations to enjoy better business continuity.
To conclude DevOps technically strengthens the interaction processes in businesses. It assists in the diligent construction and expansion of the project and encourages infrastructure structuring and automation of most processes. With the advantages of DevOps implementations, the organizational silos are broken down, making a more stable operating environment, allowing more innovation and creation. Organizations can stay ahead of their competitors by strategically providing DevOps solutions that are tailored to suit specific business needs and thus surge ahead in a dynamic and technologically dominant world.
The article has been written by Bhavesh Goswami, Founder & CEO, CloudThat
