DevOps: Still a big difference between expectation and reality
There is still a yawning gap between expectation and reality when it comes to DevOps: according to a recent survey, while 84 pe cent of UK organisations agree that it is vital to have IT and business alignment before setting out on the DevOps road, only 36 percent believe they have done this.
The study highlights the essential attributes for DevOps success, grouped in three main areas: a business-led approach, skilled and collaborative IT resources, and the adoption of key controls. According to the survey, UK organisations fall short in all these areas.
Furthermore, while 87 percent of businesses agree it is important to have the relevant IT skills in place, just 24 per cent say they have achieved this. Also some 85 per cent say it is important to have the right controls in place to deal with the security and compliance challenges of DevOps, though only 20 per cent believe they have this.
The survey, entitled Assembling the DevOps Jigsaw, was carried out earlier this year by the analyst firm Freeform Dynamics on behalf of CA. It included 506 respondents in Europe, from France, Germany, Italy, Spain Switzerland, and the UK.
Ritu Mahandru, vice-president for solution sales at CA, said UK organisations need to adopt "a much more rapid and continuous delivery of value to create competitive advantage, while simultaneously allowing IT to become more responsive and efficient".
CA's Mahandru: Organisations have to offer "a much more rapid and continuous delivery of value to create competitive advantage".
According to the survey, part of the reason for this can be due to "the lack of cultural harmony in IT". While 68 per cent of UK organisations said that it is important to break down cultural barriers between the development and operations teams, only 38 percent believe they have achieved this. To do better will take time and patience, the survey suggests.
Better news was that, according to the survey, a group of 'advanced DevOps adopters' with DevOps implementation experience in all parts of the jigsaw is emerging.
The UK is the among the least advanced of the countries surveyed, however. While some 11 percent of UK organisations believe they are at the advanced adoption stage, this lags behind Switzerland with 23 percent, Spain with 13 percent, and France and Italy with 12 per cent.
While DevOps may still be at a relatively early-to-middling stage of its adoption, there is, apparently, no question about the insatiable demand for the DevOps methodology among UK organisations. More than two-thirds (67 per cent) say they have broadly implemented DevOps or done so in selected areas of the business. This compares to 65 per cent in France and Italy.
DevOps is also important now "because digital initiatives highlight the role of software delivery in today's app economy", the survey says. Some 77 per cent agree or strongly agree that they must streamline IT to free up resources for digital investment, while 72 percent agree/strongly agree that organization must be prepared to experiment and "succeed or fail quickly on the road to success".
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