Business: Why Use DevOps to Respond Faster to Change

In businesses, the development team ensures that the Company’s IT infrastructure remains functional, and creates in-house applications that improve business processes. The operations wing focuses on productivity and profitability. Operations also manage people and processes to keep the business running in a smooth manner. Operations depend on the IT team to fix infrastructural issues and keep processes streamlined. But the ‘silo’ approach creates conflict and teams can work at cross purposes. This reduces the efficiency of processes with disastrous results.

The DevOps model merges the two teams at every stage of development, testing, and deployment of IT solutions. The safety of operations, the security of the business, and quality control come under uniform supervision. As revenue generation is the core purpose of any business, such a merger improves efficiencies and boosts business growth.

The 2017 State of DevOps report proved that DevOps improves troubleshooting at the deployment stage. It was responding to process failures and was reducing the time required for disaster recovery. The merger of development and operations was adding value to businesses in all areas – infrastructural, commercial and social.

DevOps Improve the Technical Efficiency of Businesses

In traditional businesses, software creation was functioning out of an Ivory tower isolated from the processes that follow its guidance. Following the merger, and with direct inputs from operations, the pace of technological change underwent a transformation. Unifying developers and operations teams guarantees faster results. The changes lead to a leaner and agiler organization. Improved efficiency is the takeaway.

With DevOps, Business Processes Became Technologically Advantaged

There are very few IT companies that hesitate to transition to DevOps. The promise of faster software development wedded to greater business agility is too good to resist. Leading experts at Bedrock IT company (http://ottawa-it-services.ca/) explain how small, midsized, and enterprise-level companies stand to benefit from using DevOps smart technology:

• The merging of IT and operations led to the effective integration of goals, systematic deployment, and faster delivery, paving the way for explosive business growth.
• The DevOps toolkit is bursting with options; Nagios (& Icinga) enables effective monitoring supported by an array of plugins. The easily configurable Monit watchdog identifies problems and restarts failed applications. The ELK Stack maintains an inventory of logs across applications, networks, tools, and servers, ready for analysis and troubleshooting.
• Application containerization – the ability of independent applications or services to run on a common host platform without deploying virtual machines – is freeing valuable resources.
• Software creation services become efficient with access to microservices – mini development teams that improve, install, and upgrade apps.
• Automated testing uses specialized tools to modulate app testing, and compares actual results against predicted models. The demand for the service is growing.
• Cloud computing platforms such as Amazon Web Services and JIRA project management systems are thriving on DevOps utilities.

The DevOps Model Sustains Software Development Over a Longer Term

Discarding the silo approach and bringing the development and IT operations team together helps them to move with a common purpose. This speeds up software development. The business benefits because every stage of software development is jointly monitored. This enables 24/7 deployment and rapid delivery of services.

With minimal conflict, companies reduce the delay between software release and deployment. More important, the developers have well-defined roles. They know what needs emphasis and what needs to be discarded. The result is continuous software delivery and a seamless upgrade.

Troubleshooting Is Easily Implemented, and Less of a Headache

Non-stop software delivery is possible. There are systems in place that track app performance with ever-expanding DevOps toolkits. Errors and bugs in operating systems are detected and removed. Downtime is reduced, and that contributes to the robustness of the software and the stability of business operations.

DevOps Improve the Administration of Businesses

The transition to a DevOps administration is a change worth welcoming. The move affects every aspect of the company, starting with sales personnel and the marketing wing to human resources and research and development.

DevOps Ease Collaborative Management

Instead of working at cross purposes, the merger helps developers and operations teams to work together to achieve common goals. Every challenge is analyzed jointly; every threat is neutralized together; every opportunity is exploited without losing time. Collaborative management improves employee’s productivity and boosts business growth.

DevOps Raise the Social IQ of Team Members

Under traditional silo models, there is always scope for conflict and clash of interests. Developers would say “we’ve done our job, now it’s an ops problem.” Operations may crib “We’re working against the clock, but IT isn’t responding to issues.’ Once IT and ops teams are aligned to common goals, we move from conflict to collaboration.

DevOps has changed the rules of engagement. Each player knows the rules, roles and company policy. Workers understand each other’s strengths and weaknesses. But everybody is on the same page. Both the mindset and workflow benefit with unified command, and the business flourishes when employee sociability indices improve.

DevOps Improve Worker Efficiency and Productivity

DevOps move employees from conflict to collaboration. In an isolated workspace, workers may display indifference to what other teams do. Individuals may be more focused on achieving their personal targets, overriding the company goals.

In a merged setup, employees share the responsibility for achieving project objectives without passing the burden to others. As industry-specific projects are initiated, every aspect is looked into, and all requirements are fulfilled.

In a collaborative workspace, each employee gets the opportunity to improve knowledge and skills. This improves efficiency.

DevOps Spell Commercial Success for Businesses

Because it is technology driven and focused, DevOps improves the scalability of businesses in many ways.

• The digitization of business processes improves employee productivity. This, in turn, improves the quality of services. The result is customer delight.
• The new software reaches the competitive market faster. The built-in troubleshooting mechanisms help companies hit the tarmac running.
• A collaborative workspace identifies IT and operational oversight and eliminates bugs before they creep into the market. This reduces the scope for errors when an app is readied for operations.
• DevOps create software that updates itself in a continuous process, and avoids becoming obsolete. The satisfaction level will be higher when users access bug-free, updated software with improved features.

DevOps Represent a Unique Alignment of IT and Businesses Creating Improved Efficiencies

DevOps has bridged the gap between high-quality software development and service delivery. The integration of developers and operations permeates every level of the organization. The result is that every change receives an integrated response; development is test-driven and deployment of services is automated. The software and business services roll out in a timely way. DevOps add value to business operations and raises organizational effectiveness to a whole new level.