The modern world is constantly evolving, and the majority of changes are obviously related to the tech field. As a result, such a term as DevOps has become mainstream when talking about the IT world. But these six letters may still be confusing for some people, especially for those who are far away from software development.
Let’s say you’re an entrepreneur and you launch an eCommerce startup. Or you’re a CEO at the TOP fintech company. The common thing between these people is that they have practically no idea about how DevOps can affect their business. The good news is that after reading our article, you’ll be able to determine the benefit you may get from DevOps.
DevOps as a philosophy
So, let’s start with the DevOps notion. DevOps is a set of practices that combines software development and IT operations. It revolutionized the IT field in 2009 — but nowadays, DevOps isn’t about just practices. It’s a cultural philosophy that helps to improve delivering processes and drive them at high velocity.
You may also ask, “What does DevOps stand for?” Again, the answer is straightforward: it means development and operations and implies that a whole bunch of processes like software development, QA, and IT operations (reviewing, testing, deploying, etc.) are integrated to boost the overall efficiency.
Why businesses need DevOps
According to Fin Goulding, CIO at British multinational insurer Aviva, “every business needs DevOps, it’s not just hype”. The general consensus is that organizations should be looking at DevOps practices to innovate in their industries. So it’s not the question of digitalization alone but of implementing DevOps practices to your business that’s already gone digital.
The key benefit of DevOps is to deliver better software faster — but there are several other advantages that may depend on the type of organization or field. Let’s look at the main business benefits of using DevOps practices:
- Improved agility — business processes become more versatile; things it took months to arrange now take a week of coordinated effort.
- Higher operational efficiency — you can manage the infrastructure processes on a large scale and with reduced risk.
- Improved customer experience — the first two benefits naturally lead to this one. Your customers won't wait for ages while the app is loading, all transactions happen with lightning speed. As a result, people are delighted and want to repeat their successful experiences.
- Competitive advantage — decreased loading time, security, frequent releases, automation, reduced Time to Recovery, and much more for your business to stand out.
- Increased revenue — it’s achieved due to all previous factors. Firstly, the software development process becomes stable, secure, easily auditable (what makes it cost-efficient). Secondly, your happy customers want to collaborate with you again as well as share their experiences with family and friends.
These results cover vast business needs, such as operational, cultural, technical, strategic, and practical ones. Of course, some companies may take longer to see the benefits but rest assured, you will see it.
If you still wonder whether you need to upgrade your development processes, keep one thing in mind. When software is being delivered faster and in a better state, it creates a domino effect regarding the potential benefits to the business. That means you end up with a considerable amount of advantages through a single philosophy implementation.
Big corporations implementing DevOps
There are numerous successful case studies related to DevOps integration to the business. Just have a look at some famous companies that use DevOps practices and rock their industries:
- Amazon
- Netflix
- Adidas
- Disney
- BMW
- Starbucks
Remarkably, Adidas transformed its cloud-native architecture and delivery cycle in 2015 after the company had released Yeezy sneakers, which were designed in collaboration with Kanye West. The demand was enormous, and the corporate software just couldn’t cope with it.
Speaking of Disney, it has been following DevOps aggressively for nearly a decade, redesigning its functional teams into a matrix organization. As a result, Disney improved cross-functional communications, which radically intensified its technical capabilities.
For Amazon, it was a constant challenge to predict how many dedicated servers to buy to meet traffic demands. However, once the company moved to the AWS cloud and established the CD process, it allowed engineers to boost capacity up and achieve higher customer satisfaction rates.
The DevOps era for Netflix began after they had changed their business model to streaming videos over the web. The main struggle was to run the company’s cloud infrastructure smoothly, and it was solved by automation tools. Netflix has been implementing DevOps practices for years, so today it’s absolutely about the DevOps approach on both organizational and technical levels.
Looks impressive, doesn’t it? And DevOps practices may seem nothing but a privilege for big corporations. But don’t be quick to judge.
What businesses should consider DevOps
It’s clear why businesses require DevOps services. So it’s high time we determine what companies must implement it.
Businesses can be classified by the number of employees (0–100, 100–999, over 1000) and annual revenue (up to $50 million, $50 million — $1 billion, over $1 billion). These criteria establish the type of your business: small-, medium-sized business or a large enterprise.
Speaking of DevOps services for small businesses, we mean a faster development pace for your company. Medium-sized businesses can transform into big enterprises without technical and management chaos. And finally, DevOps implementation in large enterprises guarantees you smooth and well-organized processes.
The truth is businesses of any size must embrace DevOps to challenge the competition and meet their consumers’ digital demands. It’s just the benefit you will get that differs. To get the most out of DevOps practices, you need to properly define your pains and business struggles.
TOP 10 industries that require DevOps
For businesses to compete in today’s market, they must be able to produce compelling applications and services and also be able to support them efficiently, at scale. Nowadays, practically every industry offers a wide range of digital methods to develop your project and get more happy customers. As a result, sectors can benefit from using DevOps even if they are not tech-centric.
Have a look at the primary industries that require DevOps services implementation:
- Technology
- Finance
- Insurance
- Healthcare
- Inventory Management
- Manufacturing
- Hospitality
- eCommerce
- Education
- Law
Let’s say you own a small accounting firm; you deal with lots of public documentation and private accounts daily. DevOps can help you manage your software system efficiently, reduce load time and improve your clients’ experience.
Or speaking about healthcare, institutions often use big data platforms for information collection and storage. DevOps implementation is an excellent solution since you can automate all processes and reduce failure risks. And even if you experience any issues, you detect and fix them much faster due to continuous support and monitoring.
Anyhow, don’t consider this list final — if your industry isn’t mentioned here, it doesn’t mean you can’t use DevOps for your business needs. Just define your struggles and compare them with the solutions DevOps can offer.
Conclusion
Digital transformations continue to seize our world and nowadays affect business processes more than ever before. Both fresh startups and old enterprises are driven toward innovations, and the main one is DevOps. It’s an investment that brings long-lasting benefits. So no matter what industry you represent, you should consider DevOps implementation as a sure way to get your business to the next level.
Our team of exceptionally skilled DevOps and Automation professionals can deliver excellent services with swiftness and engineering elegance. If you consider DevOps integration to your business or still hesitate whether you need it at all, feel free to contact us and get top-notch consulting. Find more information about our services on corewide.com or find us at the top 30 Managed Service Providers.
