The DevOps movement has picked up pace over the last decade, with more and more industries implementing changes in their operations strategy. It’s quickly become a must-have tool in every business owner’s arsenal. However, it’s crucial to understand what DevOps is all about and how its agile nature can revolutionize enterprises to unlock their maximum potential.
What is DevOps?
Essentially, DevOps is an approach that entails the union between development and operations teams to allow better collaboration and help businesses operate at full capacity. Applying a DevOps culture in your enterprise model enables quicker deployment, security, maintenance, and software development management. Unlike traditional methodologies, like the Waterfall model, DevOps consists of a sequential flow, so all phases are dependent on the previous one. This means each step requires collaboration and participation of teams for better results delivery and faster maintenance.
Steps To Take Before Transformation
When transitioning to DevOps, there are some factors to consider before proceeding. Here are some steps that can help enterprises embrace DevOps successfully.
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Evaluate the Need to Switch to a Different Model
It is necessary for an enterprise to check whether its objectives can be achieved by shifting to a new methodology. If the objectives aren’t compatible with this kind of approach, then the DevOps model is not for you. It depends on the kind of services your business provides and how the model can help you deliver those services effectively. Some businesses observed positive effects while some face difficulties.
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Your company’s goals could vary depending on the challenges it faces. It could include the desire to improve your service quality, make delivery of updates and new functions faster, decrease the expense of delivery and maintenance, etc. Conduct a thorough assessment of your current model to recognize the areas that can be automated to boost efficiency.
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Communicate Your Goals
To implement the new structure, it’s important to first discuss your goals with all departments and teams involved. Listen to their opinions and compare them to your ideas. It is your responsibility to introduce them to DevOps, teach them the basics of its implementation, and how it benefits your business to set them on the path to rapid innovation.
The primary function of DevOps is to eliminate the separation between teams and foster a friendly company culture to ensure everyone is on the same page. This level of collaboration is important to understand each team’s pain points and struggles and how the new model can make way for faster deployment through optimization.
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Start Small and Expand Gradually
To see if your enterprise will be able to boost its efficiency by using this model, begin by implementing minor changes rather than transforming the units altogether. It is recommended to employ the DevOps model to a smaller team and gauge their reaction to the transition. This helps to identify how successful the change is and whether you should proceed further with larger departments.
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Measure Each Step
Once you have decided to go ahead with the implementation, you need to keep track of all the baseline metrics related to the stages in the development and testing of your product. These metrics include the number of projects you have completed in a specific time period, deployment speed, average lead time, consumer feedback, etc.
As DevOps automates the process of testing the functionality of your service or product, it is necessary to keep a record of the performance of your automated testing program. If the process doesn’t test your code properly, then various bugs could appear in the end result of your product or software, which could incur losses for your business.
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Choose Relevant Automation Tools
It’s important that you leverage the right tools and technology to assist you and your workforce in transitioning to the new model. Essentially, these automation tools must improve your enterprise’s efficiency and boost overall productivity. If your business has an IT department, you can appoint someone within your existing workforce to train and educate the staff in these new skills.
This is much more cost-effective than hiring new staff to help surpass any technical barriers. Marketing agencies that specialize in digital marketing services have utilized the DevOps model to improve departmental collaboration, gauge KPIs, and implement changes with higher efficiency.
An ideal DevOps model thrives on automation as it enables better collaboration amongst workers and helps businesses streamline their workflow. Below are some of our picks of automation tools that can support your business systems:
- Code Management Tools: GitHub, Bitbucket, Gitlab.
- Collaboration Tools: Slack, Trello.
- Infrastructure Management Tools: Ansible, Chef, Docker, Kubernetes, Puppet.
- Deployment Tools: Jenkins, Bamboo.
- Testing Tools: Selenium, Sikuli, BrowserStack.
- Project Management Tools: Atlassian Jira, CA Agile Central, Blueprint.
- Build Tools: Gulp, Npm.
Benefits of Implementing DevOps for Your Business
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Faster Deployment
DevOps facilitates faster deployment of new systems, applications, and procedures as it simplifies your workflow and boosts efficiency. This makes it easier for businesses to implement changes and make tweaks to their strategies and keep moving forward.
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More Time for Innovation
Since the DevOps model is centered on automation, it leaves ample room for brainstorming and idea generation. Business owners that follow the DevOps model emphasize the exploration of new concepts that can be introduced into their system and help make their services better.
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Faster Troubleshooting
Problem-solving can be an incredibly challenging venture for enterprises once a product or service has entered a market. However, DevOps simplifies this part, so businesses don’t suffer from a major loss and can immediately make improvements wherever necessary.
Wrapping Up
Transitioning to DevOps is a major organizational shift and can feel bewildering. The approach requires re-evaluating several business objectives and turning to a more technologically-inclined route. Therefore, it’s important to keep track of your transition journey and ensure that teams are adhering to the strategies. Prioritize innovation, communication, and feedback at every development stage, so it’s easier to shift to a new operational framework. Once your implementation is successful, you’ll notice huge upgrades in marketing efforts, team efficiency, and product quality.