The COVID-19 pandemic has inflicted unprecedented circumstances on businesses worldwide. DevOps consulting services have become even more crucial as organizations navigate these challenges.
Nearly the entire business world has been thrust into remote working with little notice. Embroiled in the new normal, IT businesses are being tested on their agility and ability to deliver software products and services quickly to ensure business continuity. DevOps service providers are key in helping businesses accelerate their software delivery process and adapt to the remote work environment.
However, the strong adoption of DevOps can help companies quickly deliver value to end-users. DevOps consultants can guide organizations through the complexities of adopting and implementing DevOps practices, ensuring fast and reliable software delivery.
Even though DevOps has been a goal for many IT firms for years, the work-from-home reality has shrunk the timeline for DevOps adoption. With the support of DevOps consulting services, companies can fast-track their transformation to meet the demands of the remote work era.
DevOps has become imperative for enterprises’ survival and to ensure business continuity. According to market estimates, the DevOps market is anticipated to reach USD 10.31 billion by 2023, at a CAGR of 24.7%, with DevOps consulting services driving much of this growth.
DevOps Aiding Remote Work
DevOps is, by default, developed for remote workspaces. It features an automated software development methodology that doesn’t differentiate whether the team works remotely or on-premise.
Due to its autonomous and distributed nature, DevOps can boost business deliveries during the ongoing crisis.
ALSO READ: 10 Ways DevOps Helps Digital Transformation
Leveraging DevOps During COVID-19 Pandemic
1) Relying on Continuous Delivery (CD)
DevOps aims to increase speed and flexibility with Continuous Delivery (CD).
CD facilitates automation of the software delivery process to enable assured and comfortable deployments. The DevOps team can use an automatic trigger to frequently release error-free code into production.
With CD, the DevOps team can-
- Frequently deploy working software
- Utilize a predictable deployment pipeline
- Ensure that code is in a deployable state
Conventionally, deployment is often considered a slow process that involves code freezes. However, with CD, the changes are almost insignificant and don’t require implementing code freezes.
2) Decoupling Release and Deployment
The economic uncertainty incited by the ongoing pandemic makes it hard to take risks. Introducing a new software product or service may further induce a financial burden.
However, despite this uncertainty, DevOps can allow organizations to take bold risks during software development.
Separating ‘Release’ from ‘Deployment’ is the required DevOps strategy.
By separating release from deployment, the product team can manage the risk of releasing features to end-users while the engineering team continuously delivers software.
One of the best ways to separate release and deployment is using a feature flag or feature toggle software.
3) Embracing a Holistic Approach
One aspect of DevOps often overlooked is the cultural transition from a rigid IT Ops team to an agile DevOps team. Ensure a holistic approach by integrating different teams and processes during any digital initiative.
The holistic approach helps the DevOps teams collaborate with product and development teams, facilitating more organizational cohesion. The DevOps team feels empowered to make decisions that align with customer-related business goals.
4) Moving Ahead with DevOps
During the COVID-19 crisis, a strong DevOps strategy helped end-users and positively impacted the organization internally.
DevOps helps IT businesses to deliver software products quickly while maintaining high quality and reliability.
It allows cross-functional teams to be more flexible and make smarter decisions during uncertain conditions that require bold actions instead of small, incremental changes.
Real-World Example: DevOps Supporting Business Continuity
Let’s explore a real-world example to illustrate the tangible benefits of DevOps in ensuring business continuity. One of our clients, an analytics provider, adopted a DevOps approach to speed up their software development process. Amid the uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, this shift enabled them to maintain business continuity by ensuring faster and more efficient software delivery, even during challenging times. The integration of automated testing, continuous integration, and streamlined collaboration between teams helped them quickly respond to market demands and maintain operational stability.
For more detailed insights, check out the full case study here: Analytics Provider Speeds Development with DevOps.
ALSO READ: Why Startups ‘Fail’ in DevOps?
In Conclusion
DevOps has all the qualities to help IT businesses sustain themselves in the ongoing pandemic. However, it’s imperative for the company and teams to effectively use DevOps methodologies and some best practices to exploit it as never before.