The number of companies that are implementing, or planning to implement DevOps practices is growing, with interest in DevOps nearly doubling over the last 12 months, according to Google Trends[1].
However, as DevOps becomes more prevalent in the business landscape, organizations are discovering the gap between what they imagined DevOps would require, and the benefits it would provide, and the challenges that successfully implementing and nurturing DevOps to maturity entail.
To meet the challenges of DevOps as your company implements or matures these processes, it is important to note emerging trends that will affect DevOps in the future, both short-term and long-term. Incorporate these into your DevOps strategies, and use best practices to build the foundation for future DevOps success.
1. Secure all systems.
Cybersecurity is an emerging DevOps challenge, giving rise to DevSecOps – Development Security Operations. As companies adopt continuous integration / continuous delivery, and operational elements are divided between teams, ensuring that processes and data remains secure at all stages will be critical to DevOps success. Best practices for DevSecOps include:
- Automate security with testing
- Simplify to limit vulnerabilities
- Collaborate on continuous security
- Inject security throughout the CI/CD cycle
2. Implement AI.
As the company grows, organizational infrastructure and data will grow, both in size and complexity. Artificial intelligence (AI) can be extremely helpful in managing that complexity, analyzing usage and data to create suggestions for growth management and streamlining.
Simplifying tasks is a primary component of mature DevOps. AI can be used to find correlations between data streams across different platforms, applications, and monitoring tools to identify opportunities to improve workflows.
3. Prepare for 5G and IoT
It is estimated[2] that 5G networks will cover 40% of the globe by 2024, transmitting 25% of all mobile data traffic. 5G rollouts are integral to advancements in the Internet of Things, as higher-capacity 5G networks will improve the volume and speed of IoT data transmissions.
5G will change the technology landscape, affecting enterprise DevOps in a number of ways. There may be compatibility issues with applications and processes that were engineered to run on 4G, if they are not optimized for 5G. These compatibility and optimization efforts may cause unforeseen security issues as well.
To prepare for 5G, DevOps professionals should begin now to ensure applications and workflows are 5G-compatible and optimized for 5G performance, and that security vulnerabilities are addressed.
Teams can prepare for increased IoT usage by ensuring their DevOps platform is scalable and standardized as much as possible, increasing the possibility of streamlining IoT processes and reusing code between workflows.
4. Adopt microservices architecture.
Breaking down monolithic applications into smaller parts, or microservices, allows an organization to develop different aspects of an application in parallel. Used in a DevOps framework, microservices further speed the software development and delivery lifecycles.
Begin to adopt a microservices architecture now, by designing a cultural framework that encourages collaboration and organizing the DevOps team to accommodate microservices.
5. Prepare your team.
DevOps requires a fundamental transformation of processes and procedures, which must be bolstered by a change in the culture of the team that supports it and uses it daily. Preparing your team to implement DevOps, creating a culture of collaboration, communication and support is imperative to drive the process framework to maturity and is critical to DevOps success.
In the end, DevOps is more than just an industry buzzword. It is a fundamental shift in the way that software solutions are developed and deployed, improving business outcomes. Among elite performers[3], DevOps can result in:
- 208 times more frequent code deployments
- 106 times faster lead time
- 2,604x faster incident recovery time
- 7 times lower change failure rate
As DevOps continues to be a growing priority for businesses, improving agility, flexibility and outcomes, it is critical to lay the correct foundation to prevent issues in the future. Understanding the future of DevOps and implementing best practices now will help you prepare for long-term DevOps success.
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[1] https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?q=devops&geo=US
[2] https://www.vxchnge.com/blog/5g-statistics
[3] https://services.google.com/fh/files/misc/state-of-devops-2019.pdf
