Unlocking Synergies and Efficiency by Harnessing DevOps for Business

Today’s digital ecosystem, accompanied by an increasingly competitive market, has made major organizations look for ways to improve the speed and reliability of their software products. With the rapid advancements in technology, companies strive to stay ahead of the competition by delivering their products faster and with greater reliability.

DevOps for business is the ultimate solution if you, too, are looking for your digital product to excel in this market. Technology is a movement of IT leaders who want to see things change for the better—to provide amazing software to their clients consistently and with confidence. 

As compared to conventional methods, DevOps for enterprise businesses brings development and operations together, enhancing the efficiency, timeliness, and safety of software development and execution. 

Moving further, let’s understand DevOps for business and DevOps benefits for business in detail. In addition to this, we will also look at why it is a good investment for businesses in today’s technology-driven world.

What is DevOps?

Patrick Debois, one of the IT industry’s gurus, created the term “DevOps” in 2009. DevOps is a word that combines the terms “development” and “operations” to denote a collaborative or shared approach to a company’s software development and IT operations teams’ activities. A DevOps deployment methodology stems from an Agile approach to software development. It builds on the cross-functional approach to building and deploying applications in a shorter and more iterative manner.

In simpler terms, DevOps is a software engineering approach that is capable of bridging the gap between software development and software operations teams. It makes way for increased collaboration and shared responsibility between these two teams so as to maximize the operational efficiency and productivity. 

By originating a culture of shared accountability, DevOps is the approach that strives to streamline the software creation and deployment process. It is a valuable tool for organizations that want to maximize their software development capabilities.

DevOps Principles

In order to ensure the success of a DevOps mindset and realize its full potential for your business, it is also important to understand the basic DevOps principles. 

By utilizing DevOps principles as a framework, we can evaluate decisions not only on their operational value, such as faster turnaround times, but also on how they move the team closer to the practices of automation. These judgments and the principles behind them are essential for the development of best practices for the team. 

Aligning your DevOps approach with the seven principles of DevOps outlined in our blog post is a prerequisite for driving your team’s success. These principles provide a strong foundation for developing and executing a successful DevOps strategy, and when implemented correctly, can help streamline processes, reduce costs, and improve customer satisfaction

[Also Read: SRE vs DevOps vs Platform Engineering – A Comparative Analysis for Enterprises]

DevOps Precursors

Moving on, let us briefly understand the two key precursors of DevOps, which are agile and lean. Agile is a project management methodology that emphasizes collaboration, flexibility, and continuous improvement. Lean is a business philosophy that focuses on eliminating waste and optimizing processes for maximum efficiency. Both of these philosophies have been integral to the development of DevOps, as they emphasize the need for collaboration between teams, the importance of automation, and the need for continuous improvement.

[Also Read: How Can DevOps and Agile Work Together to Help Your Business Grow?]

How does DevOps for Business Work?

In order to understand how DevOps is used in business, you must first take a look at the scenario. For instance, development and operations usually work in different teams within a company. The development team would write the code, while the operations team would put it in place and manage the IT infrastructure. 

When a problem arises, they begin to blame each other rather than find a solution. This disconnect between these two divisions is extremely harmful and causes a slew of issues for software development firms. 

The DevOps methodology helps improve the situation and smooth out the software development process. DevOps for enterprise businesses also attempts to solve almost all existing difficulties and tear down the barriers between development and operations. This method allows the entire team to quickly develop T-shaped competencies and more actively adapt to market developments.

When you implement a DevOps culture, it further makes way for the implementation of changes that are done efficiently and in a timely manner. This results in creating an improved product that performs exceptionally in a business environment. 

Since the changes are implemented quickly and effectively, the methodology makes way for better performance and greater operational success. 

Over the past decade, businesses have been increasingly embracing DevOps practices for their product development projects. This innovative combination of practices has seen a surge in popularity, with the market value of DevOps expected to reach $26 billion by 2027. This demonstrates the growing acceptance of DevOps as an efficient and effective approach to product development.

Major organizations like IBM, Microsoft, and Atlassian have all recognized the positive impact DevOps has on software development cycles. Encompassing DevOps in their operation has made these organizations witness a transformation that has allowed for faster and more efficient software development cycles, resulting in the production of high-quality software in a shorter amount of time.

[Also Read: DevOps Compliance – The Answer to Enterprise Compliance-Readiness Roadblocks]

Now, in order to deeply understand the benefits of DevOps for business, let us first look at the various challenges imposed by a traditional SDLC culture, which resulted in the introduction of the DevOps approach. 

Traditional SDLC Challenges

The traditional SDLC (Software Development Lifecycle) approach has various significant flaws that must be addressed in order to improve software development efficiency. 

That is why DevOps is important to be adopted by enterprises. All of the major challenges and issues listed below have been eliminated with DevOps for business, resulting in increased productivity and faster software delivery.

Management Bottlenecks and Siloed Structures

The traditional SDLC method separated the software developers, test engineers, & maintenance departments into three distinct divisions, each of them performing the operational functions sequentially and without interaction.

A communication gap, along with a siloed departmental structure results in a disorganized and time-consuming approach, as well as a defective product.

Lack of Transparency and Late Feedback

Because of the several work stages, the consumer is engaged with the product later. This leads to inconsistencies between what was intended and what was delivered, needing rework. Employees are also compelled to work longer hours due to a lack of coordination and integration and often refuse to adapt to user complaints promptly.

Updates and Late Fixes

When there is no direct connection or responsibility between the test engineers and developers, fixing a bug, making new adjustments, and releasing them can take several months. An organization cannot expand and compete in the industry if it consistently fails to execute and deliver projects on schedule.

Inadequate Testing and a High Risk of Errors

In traditional SDLC, tests are done independently in-unit formats. Due to departmental silos, test specialists struggle in maintaining a continuous process at all levels of development. As a result of these issues, the teams face a slew of problems, including post-release problems that could be avoided if there is more frequent communication.

Benefits of DevOps for Businesses

To begin with, companies that do not utilize the DevOps methodology are prone to creating information silos, as teams working on the product are isolated from one another. In order to centralize and unify information, it is essential to adopt a functioning DevOps model. 

Moreover, any project that requires fast-paced releases and updates must adopt a DevOps approach. Otherwise, there is a risk of failing to meet the time-to-market, and thus, potentially losing out to competitors.Mentioned below are the major DevOps advantages for businesses and its respected business growth.

Enhanced Speed: Shorter Development Cycle

One of the DevOps benefits for business is enhanced speed. Due to a biased reaction from the development and operations teams, it becomes difficult to comprehend an application’s usefulness. The production and development cycles are overly prolonged, causing the process to be delayed. 

DevOps promotes cooperation by encouraging collaboration between development, operations, and quality assurance teams. The development approach is capable of removing barriers and pushing the teams to work towards a single goal. 

This further offers more value for your organization, which will enable you to provide more value to the customer. Applications are produced more quickly as a result of the collaborative effort, as are all other connected procedures. 

It’s a competitive advantage if an organization is able to complete a project twice as fast while also maintaining the same level of quality.

Also Read: How Does DevOps Methodology Speed Up the Software Development Process?

Faster Innovation

Another clinical benefit of DevOps for enterprise businesses that is frequently overlooked is corporate innovation. The key to harnessing software development innovation is DevOps.

DevOps for business enables you to quickly produce software solutions. Faster product delivery frees up part of your developers’ time, allowing them to experiment with new features or enhance the functioning of the ones they already have. Developers can test the feasibility of these concepts by doing a proof of concept and continuing based on the findings with minimal disturbance to the ongoing project.

Automation

With DevOps for business, a faster deployment process, backed by automation, can save a lot of time with quicker, smaller deployments that occur more frequently. (Time that can be better spent solving other business issues or promoting innovation.)

What do you suppose you should automate? Begin by focusing on the routine components of your releases. In most cases, parts of testing and authoring requirements can be automated. However, you need to understand why you’re automating and how much time you expect to save. Not every automation is worth the time and effort it takes to create.

Also read- How can automation be used to ensure security and compliance in business?

Minimum Production Costs

Another advantage of using DevOps is minimum production costs. The DevOps methodology is built on automating all development lifecycle operations. DevOps principles like Continuous Integration (CI), Infrastructure as a Code (IaC), and Continuous Delivery (CD) tools focus on ensuring task scenario uniformity and infrastructure integrity. 

It results in 100% automation reliability and a substantial decrease in the amount of time and effort spent on repetitive and routine work.

DevOps for business helps your departments minimize management and production expenses with proper collaboration by bringing both maintenance and new upgrades under a broader umbrella.

The challenge of inefficient resource use is solved via cloud migration. Top public cloud providers such as Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud Platform, and Microsoft Azure use auto-scaling and load balancing to ensure efficient resource use.

Bonus read- How is DevOps dictating a new approach to cloud development

Faster ROI (Return on Investment)

One of the most vital benefits of using DevOps for business is faster return on investment. Businesses can recover their investments and earn maximum profits by releasing the software updates faster and quickly removing the bugs before the deployment process. 

What’s more, in production contexts, a higher product quality reduces the amount of time consumed on security issues by 50%. Your apps will have fewer issues and generate more income. 

With all five pillars that are mentioned below, in place, your firm will be able to boost ROI while lowering the total cost of ownership and operational expenses. 

• Operational excellence is the best strategy to assist the development lifecycle and efficiently run programs. 
• Hardened security is the concept for greater data and system protection, as well as best practices for using cloud capabilities to harden security.
• The desirable state of the infrastructure is when each of its units functions well and fulfills its intended role appropriately, as defined by the reliability pillar.
• Performance efficiency refers to the best practices for efficiently utilizing IT resources.
• Cost optimization refers to practical methods for running workloads that are both efficient and cost-effective. This pillar aids in the understanding of how to provide more DevOps benefits for business at a reduced cost.

[Also Read: Ten Ways DevOps as a Service Fuels Innovation and Propels Growth for Enterprises]

Improved Customer Satisfaction

Improved customer satisfaction is one of the most prized DevOps benefits for business. Customers despite having to wait for services, and the longer they have to wait, the greater the negative impact. As previously said, DevOps for business speeds up software delivery, which has a direct and beneficial impact on customer satisfaction. In addition, because DevOps for enterprise businesses streamlines several areas of your workflow, you’ll be able to charge less for your products than a competitor who doesn’t use DevOps.

Reliable Service Delivery

One of the most important advantages of DevOps is reliability, which is a key sign of value for clients. Timeliness in delivery is a critical factor in achieving client happiness. Enterprises can split down huge projects into smaller units with distinct capabilities using DevOps approaches.

DevOps can help deliver the demands of the many components of a larger project at the beginning and later phases. DevOps can enable adjustments at any point in the process. As a result, businesses can make use of DevOps’ advantages to achieve better, more dependable service delivery.

High Productivity through Collaboration

High productivity helps to accelerate production and reduce the risk of errors. Primarily, as a result of the elimination of silo(ing) and promotion of collaboration, there is better communication among team members, allowing them to focus more on their specialized sector. 

As a result, integrating DevOps for small business has resulted in an increase in productivity and efficiency among a company’s personnel. Furthermore, processes do not have to wait for specific teams in the event of a dilemma. All systems and procedures become clearer when everyone works together.

Increased security

As the rate of cybercrime continues to rise, businesses must take steps to ensure their infrastructure and products are secure. DevSecOps (development, security, and operations) is an approach to infrastructure design that integrates security into the IT lifecycle. This strategy can bolster the security of a business’s infrastructure and product, enabling faster recovery time through incremental improvements, automated compliance policies, and granular controls. Implementing a well-crafted DevOps strategy is essential for any business looking to protect itself from cybercrime.

The advantage of having an agile development strategy is that it enables the team to remove any potential exploits rapidly. If a vulnerability is identified in an application already in production, the DevOps model allows the team to respond and address it quickly. This is beneficial, as the longer a vulnerability is left unaddressed, the more likely it is for a malicious actor to discover and exploit it.

How to adopt and implement DevOps in business?

In order to effectively implement DevOps, all individuals involved in the delivery cycle must be flexible and open to innovation. The DevOps team must be aware of their roles and responsibilities, and trained to work together to create a secure DevOps culture. 

It is essential to develop a comprehensive strategy if a business wishes to leverage DevOps to generate sustained commercial value. Without a well-thought-out plan, the potential benefits of DevOps will not be realized. 

Our latest blog post on DevOps Adoption and Implementation will help you understand the necessary steps that are needed to be carried out to witness a successful DevOps adoption. 

How can Appinventiv help you build a DevOps business case?

The technological and financial DevOps business benefits are enormous, as may be deduced from the above mentioned information. To recap, a well-thought-out DevOps strategy and implementation can significantly improve the efficiency of your end-to-end delivery pipeline. 

You can achieve business agility through DevOps by assisting your teams in focusing on the consumer experience, integrating teams for faster product deliveries, simplifying release goals, bringing automation (reducing errors and freeing up developer time for other developments), and establishing a feedback loop that ultimately benefits the company.

In order to successfully implement a DevOps methodology, it is essential to build a strong business case that will gain the necessary alignment, funding, and timeline from the business. 

If the evaluation process for the DevOps pilot has not yet begun, now is the optimal time to begin. Delaying the process any further could be detrimental to the business, and it is essential to act quickly in order to reap the benefits of a successful DevOps transformation.

Appinventiv can assist you and your team in laying the groundwork for DevOps for business, breaking down silos, and DevOps tools for business and procedures that promote a DevOps culture. 

As organizations evolve their IT culture to DevOps by choosing to focus on quick service delivery through the implementation of lean and agile practices, Our DevOps services facilitate teams to infuse comprehensive security testing at the perfect time, at the appropriate depth, with the right DevOps tools for business and methodologies, and with the right experience.

If you too are looking to build a solid DevOps business case to accelerate the software delivery while making way for business innovation, get in touch with our team to know more.

FAQs

Q. What is the main goal of DevOps for business?

A. The main goal of implementing a DevOps methodology is to bridge the gap between development, testing and operation team so as to provide high-quality software rapidly and efficiently.

Q. Why are major companies implementing DevOps?

A. Businesses are increasingly embracing DevOps due to the numerous advantages it offers, such as:

• Faster deployment 
• Increased revenue
• Powerful bottom line
• Enhanced customer experience
• Reduced recovery time
• Rapid innovation delivery
• Close-knit team

Q. What’s the difference between DevOps and DevSecOps?

A. DevOps is a collaboration between development and operations departments that aims to break down silos. DevSecOps is a security extension of DevOps, in which security is incorporated throughout the entire process chain, from beginning to end. DevSecOps was created to address the security issues that the DevOps culture had.

THE AUTHOR

Sudeep Srivastava

Co-Founder and Director