Latest DevOps Survey Finds Enterprise Gains
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DevOps, the intersection of software development, IT operations and quality assurance, is gaining adherents as enterprises look for tools and practices for speeding the delivery of applications and services while meeting compliance requirements.
A new vendor survey finds that the embrace of DevOps is accelerating while software development teams were generally satisfied with the rigor provided by a disciplined approach. "A key takeaway was that in order for DevOps to be successful, companies needed a well thought out plan including a clear understanding of available financial and human resources, and potential constraints," concluded the survey by KMS Technology, a provider of software development and testing services.
The survey of more than 200 developers released Thursday (Oct. 19) found that 79 percent of the respondents said the transition to DevOps had help achieve their primary goal, namely, getting stable, compliant software out the door faster.
Among the challenges to transitioning to DevOps was the familiar talent gap, cited by 28 percent of those polled. As IT budgets are squeezed, respondents also cited a lack of resources to implement DevOps. Still, 94 percent of adopters said they were able to overcome these and other institutional barriers to deployment.
Most transitions went smoothly if they were mapped out in advance, with most taking less than a year and costing between $100,000 and $500,000, the survey found. The majority of those funds were used to purchase the tools and technologies offered by Atlanta-based KMS and other DevOps tool vendors. Forty percent of those polled said they expect their DevOps budgets to increase next year by as much as 25 percent.
KMS asserted that its findings underscore a consensus among IT executives that the challenges presented by the transition are worth the effort. One reason was that DevOps helped automate parts of the software development process, thereby achieving the continuous upgrade and delivery of new enterprise applications and services.
Among the keys to success are developing a list of goals, and then gaining management support for the transition in the form of adequate resources. "DevOps deployments also should not be rushed or underfunded," Josh Lieberman, president of KMS Technology, asserted in a statement releasing the DevOps survey.
The embrace of DevOps also is being driven by a growing availability of open source tools and spin-off distributions that can be used to streamline existing business processes or create new ones. Among these are the JavaScript runtime Node.js along with Apache Spark and Git.
Meanwhile, other DevOps surveys have noted that the rise of hybrid IT infrastructure is driving requirements for automation in areas such as compliance. Nearly two-thirds of those polled earlier this year by DevOps specialist Chef Software said they have regulatory compliance requirements. Hence, Chef argued that compliance is one area ripe for automation tools that could help enforce application and data security.
