Why do you need DevOps for your business?

Introduction

This fast era of digital transformations has taken us to new ventures by opening new dimensions to us. DevOps is a new-fangled term that came to the IT industry just a few years ago. Many organizations are adapting to it, while various are still confused about it. This article will help you to clear your confusion about DevOps. And it will make a clear path that whether you need it for your business or not.

Traditionally, the development team and operations team used to work separately. There were many communication and technical hurdles in this approach. In case of any problem in the product, both teams used to start finger-pointing and blame game. DevOps came in to break this silo system and ensure smooth workflows.

Besides, it improves business performance and automates infrastructures. It is gaining immense popularity because of its characteristic to bring the development team and operations on one page to streamline workflows.

But what is DevOps, and how is it helping to solve these major problems? Let us have a look at all these concepts in the upcoming sections!

What is DevOps?

The term DevOps, which stands for Development Operations, is a descendent of Agile Methodology. It consists of various key practices that break the barriers between development, operations, and the QA team. This is to ensure flawless collaboration among all of them. With its help, software operations have become so efficient without any friction from the deployment problems.

There was a time when the development team developed completely running code on their systems. But as the code went to the operations team, it started creating problems there. 

The code was not faulty, but the problem was the dependency. There are always associated dependencies with every platform. So, when the code is transported to another system, it creates problems if its dependencies are exported improperly. DevOps helps to efficiently build code and rapidly develop ready to use builds. 

In this way, it minimizes barriers and maximizes productivity and efficiency. It consists of implementation services, tools, and practices that increase the velocity of delivering work continuously.

Cultures

If you do not have a proper culture for DevOps, it is useless to have it. Let us discuss some of its cultures to have a clearer understanding of them:

Responsibility Sharing in DevOps

We see that in most of the organizations, the development team is concerned with only developing a system. They never know the pains of the operations team. Problems like how to manage a system and how to maintain a system are unknown to them. 

On the other hand, DevOps introduces the culture of shared responsibilities. In this way, the development team also thinks about the maintenance of a system. Eventually, it starts to work on easy and simplified deployments along with automated maintenance. Besides, it provides better logging facilities, which make it easier to track activities.

Removal of Silos

One of its main goals is to remove barriers between the development and the operations team. Traditionally, it happens in organizations that a team develops a document and delivers it to the next team. Frankly speaking, it is not called collaboration!

Collaboration is something when all of the teams are on board from the very start of the project. Development Operations brings both of the teams to such a point where there is no difference between the two. Therefore, collaboration becomes easier, and workflows become smoother.

Independence and Autonomy

Although there is no barrier between the two teams but, they work with full autonomy. They can make decisions on their own without any hindrance from the other team. This is what we call real collaboration, where teams are trusting each other. They are open to managing the risks without the fear of failing. 

Lifecycle

There are seven main stages in its lifecycle. Let us dig deep into all of them one by one!

Plan

This is the initial stage in which a complete plan is made. The teams plan about how the development will take place and what will be done.

Code

In this phase, the developers start coding the application according to the requirements of the client. 

Build

The integration of all of the code takes place in this phase. Small chunks of codes are combined together to make a working one whole.

Release

As the build passes its testing phase, it is ready to go live. This is the phase where the product/app goes online! 

Deploy

This phase includes the deployment of the code/app to any cloud environment. It helps to enhance its availability for the general public. 

Operate

In this phase, teams conduct operations on the product or app.

Monitor

It involves closely observing the app and locating its problems (if any). In this phase, teams make necessary changes in the app for the client’s satisfaction.

Why do businesses need DevOps?

We have seen above the basics of DevOps. But here comes the most prudent question why do businesses need it? And what is so special about them that other software development methodologies don’t have? Let us have a deeper understanding of this!

Being living in the twenty-first century, we experience an evolving and growing business environment. Businesses today are dynamic, and they respond to problems quickly. We no longer need stability and equilibrium in businesses. Instead, we want a dynamic environment, agility, and fast responses with short work cycles. 

Today, we need faster releases of apps that have high-quality, speedy bug fixing with shorter time within the fixes, and lower to no downtime. To cut the long story short, we need Continuous Development, Continuous Integration, and Continuous Delivery.

We get all these benefits and many more from Development Operations. Here are some of them:

Benefits for Culture

It provides increased collaboration and communication between the development, the operations, and the QA team. Team members start sharing knowledge with each other, which results in a robust process. They start to trust each other and start experimenting with new things. 

Teams work collaboratively to find out new customer needs and new ideas come out. Most importantly, it kills rule-based cultures and promotes teamwork creating harmony and satisfaction among team members.

Fruits for Business

One of its goals is to work continuously for customer satisfaction. For this, the development and the operations team work together to meet customer requirements which results in better customer relations. Faster and reliable applications provide satisfaction to customers and make them happy.

Eventually, a happy customer relationship leads to business growth and revenue generation.

Technical Benefits

We get faster releases because of the collaboration between the development and operations team increases. It increases production as we get continuous releases. Complex and intricate modules are divided into smaller chunks, and we get releases on the daily basis. The releases that took 3-6 months in the past can take only a few days now.

Continuous iterations, modular programmings, and smaller chunks of codes make the lives of teams easier. Besides, it also provides a competitive advantage in the industry due to increased performance. Here are some other technical benefits:

1. Process Automation
2. Continuous Integration 
3. Code Synchronicity 
4. Team Scalability
5. Continuous Delivery
6. Transparency
7. Security Maintenance

Do All Businesses need DevOps?

According to Forbes, the answer is YES!
All businesses that develop software solutions should have this culture in practice. It is equally beneficial for SMEs and larger enterprises. But it is highly recommended for larger organizations.

Conclusion

We have seen the need for DevOps for an IT business. It provides faster releases, continuous development, and continuous deployment. All of the organizations can have it. But don’t worry if you don’t have enough resources to start it. Start with a smaller budget and at a very basic level. Eventually, you will end up with an effective system that will have a complete implementation of it.

If you need any help, you can instantly Contact Us to get expert advice related to DevOps!

Sources: Agilie, Medium,Deviniti