Top Benefits & Advantages of DevOps

The conversation surrounding the advantages of DevOps tends to focus on how the practice benefits the IT department and development teams.

But the impact of implementing a DevOps strategy is felt throughout the entire organization, which reaps the benefits of continuous improvement, agility, and faster time to value. In other words, DevOps done right results in better products and a better business.

In this article, we’ll go over some of the key benefits of DevOps.

Agility Enabled by DevOps

It seems almost too obvious to mention, but cultivating a DevOps environment brings the development and operations teams together in a way that strikes a balance between speed and stability.

Beyond nurturing a collaborative relationship between development and operations teams, DevOps is a holistic strategy that focuses on process improvement and culture.

As such, the methodology must be at the center of all planning and execution activities, technical or not. DevOps’ value must be found in the context of the business.

Business Benefits of DevOps Implementation

Agility

One of the most significant DevOps benefits is the agility it brings to the table.

For example, if you’re looking at it from the perspective of the development team, agility comes from near-instant feedback from users and the ability to quickly turnaround improved code.

While those results won’t be actualized until operations deploy them, agility depends on operations capturing feedback and sharing it with development immediately so they can make changes on the spot.

Agility hinges on the strength of this symbiotic relationship, which is directly dependent upon how efficiently both groups perform their tasks and communicate with each other.

When both teams use the same tools and platforms, it breaks down many of the barriers between them. Even something as simple as tearing down departmental silos and developing a shared language leads to a faster, more flexible workflow.

DevOps’ agile approach helps companies combat critical challenges such as unpredictable market conditions, increased competition, regulatory changes, and supplier instability.

The fast-moving practice makes it easy to analyze and respond to these changes quickly and is critical to maintaining a competitive edge.

Alignment

Keeping development, operations, and the rest of the business on the same page and working toward a unified set of goals hinges on maintaining alignment across all three groups.

We don’t just mean strategic alignment where everyone agrees on how to move. We’re talking literal alignment in day-to-day activities and a continuous shared commitment.

Delays in development, in delivering and deploying updates, and in providing feedback all slow down the process. It’s important to understand that each piece of the development cycle is dependent on every other process involved.

Organizations must develop consistent policies and procedures, along with a sense of shared responsibility to accelerate the process.

Achieving the benefits of DevOps truly begins with alignment, a practice far more effective than any team-building exercise or corporate retreat.

Risk Mitigation

Risk is very familiar to anyone in IT operations. Part of the job description is managing the constant threat of disruptions and delays caused by undetected development errors.

Those “invisible” errors present a massive financial risk for the business, from productivity losses to shutdowns that drive consumers elsewhere.

By breaking the development process into smaller tasks, rollback or resolution can be almost instantaneous. As a result, teams can reduce and even eliminate risks as they work through the process.

Velocity – A Major Benefit of DevOps

The greatest benefit of DevOps is that it allows teams to develop better software — faster.

Given that software drives every business, increasing velocity adds value as follows:

• • Faster time-to-collecting-and-implementing feedback leads to…
    • Faster time-to-improved-code which leads to faster time-to-production which leads to…
      • Faster time-to-market and, ultimately, much…
        • Faster time-to-value for the business and its customers which means that the business is exhibiting…
          • Faster time-to-respond to all the constantly changing market and customer conditions

Improved code doesn’t only refer to faster processing, it also includes constant quality improvements and increased operational stability, preventing costly anomalies or outages.

The old “time is money” adage has never been more true than it is today. These days, however, it’s the company that adopts the best software first that profits the most.

Process Optimization and Constant Re-engineering

DevOps is all about optimization and constant re-engineering. The process combines development and operations together with other stakeholders, with each party continuously observing and evaluating the state of the project.

This evaluation leads to innovation, as teams not only respond to the feedback they receive but also incorporate it into the code. Still, that power can only come from full participation and agreement from everyone involved.

Financial Benefits of DevOps

Software is one of the foundational pillars of their strategy — and any modern business strategy. As such, anything that contributes to making developing and deploying the best possible software is essential to a business’ ability to survive and thrive.

Among the many advantages of DevOps are the productivity gains and cost reductions.

Given that feedback is the fuel that powers the DevOps lifecycle, the pursuit of productivity drives the entire operation. These improvements to the productivity engine, of course, cut costs by saving time and by catching problems early.

The result comes in the form of increased competitive advantage, greater value to stakeholders and investors, and a massive return on investment.

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