What is DevOps and why is it important?

Do you know what “DevOps” is? Surely the answer will be affirmative. In case you still have some doubts, it’s a term referring to or encompassing a variety of concepts, techniques, and practices. And no, not all of them are entirely new, although indeed they’re becoming popular in the world of software.

But, why are they becoming so popular? The main reason is that many companies, who are looking to ensure their competitiveness both in the present and in the future, are beginning to implement the DevOps methodology.

DevOps, the methodology that’s changing the way software is developed, not only in the technological domain but also for companies.

The objective of this article is for you to understand what exactly DevOps is about and why it is so important for organizations, aside from some trends.

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What is DevOps?

As we were saying at the beginning of this article, “DevOps” is a methodology, and also a term that encompasses many concepts, techniques, and practices, all of which are related to software development.

These concepts make it possible for the processes between development teams and operations/administration teams to be fully automated. That way, the relations and interactions between both these areas become much more straightforward, which in turn makes software internal creation faster, with fewer expenses and higher quality. As you can see, it’s all about benefits!

The primary objective of adopting a DevOps methodology is to fully carry out the software development process internally, as well as to make procedures faster, more reliable and with higher quality.

DevOps seeks to promote teamwork, focusing on collaboration and communication between the members of the different areas related to software development. As such, the company has to make sure that there is full transparency between all parts involved.

Why is it so important?

Now that we have defined DevOps, we must go beyond and analyze the reasons for companies to adopt this methodology.

Before we discuss such motives, it might be interesting to point out that, according to DevOps.com, the number of companies that have incorporated DevOps has been increasing exponentially every year.

The reasons that have contributed the most to DevOps’ development are:

1. Shorter development cycles that encourage innovation

The fact that both departments (development and operations) come together is an advantage when it comes to releasing new apps, products… It is generally known that the more innovative companies are, the higher their chances of outrunning the competition. Which is essential to increase significantly competitiveness.

2. More collaboration, better communication

Thanks to the union between both teams, productivity improves a lot. The DevOps culture is based on achieving the best performance in such a union, instead of worrying about individual objectives.

As a result of both departments being fused, the process becomes more fluid since everyone is oriented towards a common goal.

To ensure that your DevOps team reaches its best performance, it is necessary to create a transparency culture in which responsibilities are shared and immediate feedback is guaranteed.

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3. Reduced deployment failures and faster time to recover

Most failures during development occur due to programming defects. Having a DevOps team will allow for more releases in shorter time spawns. This way, it is easier and more likely to find possible defects in the code. For this same reason, and in case any problem must be solved, recovery will be quicker thanks to the knowledge and participation of all members during the development process.

4. Efficiency: Improved resource management

Increased efficiency helps speed up development and reduce coding defects and problems.

Nowadays, some programs are capable of automating DevOps tasks, reducing, as a result, the need for manual labor. What does this mean? Simply put, that software engineers can concentrate more on the kind of tasks that cannot be automated.

You’re probably wondering how you DevOps team could improve efficiency ratios. Luckily, we have the solution you’re looking for, contact our consulting team, they’ll be glad to assist you.

-Before you go! This might interest you: What functionalities and components make up the WSO2 platform?-

Development and operations teams, your moment has arrived!