Research has found that some of the highest performing organizations were companies that have adopted DevOps in the cloud. Through a DevOps approach, many companies have found a way to mix their processes, technology and employees in a positive and collaborative way. 

DevOps is used to describe the practices and tools that an organization uses that enables them to offer value to customers. This includes your organization’s employees, technology and processes. The word is a combination of development and operations. Essentially it is a new way of approaching work that is believed to bring about better innovation and productivity. DevOps is an approach that seeks to transform the culture of your workplace.  

Some of the benefits of DevOps include:

• Efficiency through automation – DevOps looks for automated tools that can help organizations reach their goals in less time and with less expense. 
• Company optimization – it can improve the whole company by ushering in a culture that is more data-driven, adaptive and better at responding to consumer needs and wants. 
• Speed – researchers at Google have found that DevOps companies are able to develop and deploy software quicker. In turn, this leads to higher productivity, profits and customer satisfaction. 
• Enhanced company culture – the DevOps approach requires that an organization’s people become the center focus. Teams become more connected and communication is improved. This leads to more trust, which results in a more innovative and experimental approach to projects. With DevOps, teams and employees become more community-minded and less orientated towards individual goals. 

There are a few steps that you’ll need to take to bring DevOps to your organization. These include prioritizing training, automated performance testing and moving security beyond the cloud. 

Prioritize DevOps Training

DevOps is more than just adding new software solutions, it involves a cultural shift at your organization. To help employees adapt, extensive training will be needed to bring about the transformation of your workforce. The new culture at your organization will need to be open to collaboration and automation, as these are key to the DevOps approach.  

Essentially, with the DevOps methodology, your team that is involved in developing your product works closely with those involved in maintaining or the operation side of the product. This collaboration will require that each section of your organization adapt their approaches so they work together effectively. 

Some of the ways that you can help your employees get up-to-speed with DevOps methodology include:

• External training – your organization could encourage employees to attend external training programs by paying any tuition fees involved. Consider it an investment in your organization’s future. 
• Online certification – there are a variety of online platforms that offer DevOps training. This could be an option for employees who are motivated and responsible enough to learn on their own. 
• Internal workshops – hiring DevOps professionals to hold internal workshops for your staff is another way that you can boost the skills of your talent and transform your organization. 
• Mentorships – a mentoring program can also be a good way to transition your workforce from a traditional IT mentality to a DevOps approach. While mentoring has usually paired a more senior employee with a younger or new hire, reverse mentoring can be beneficial for your employees who don’t have a solid foundation in technology. 
• Peer-to-peer learning – because the DevOps methodology prioritizes community and team connectedness, peer-to-peer learning is an ideal fit. In this way, your employees can learn from one another, which can further help you develop a collaborative culture. 

Implement Automated Performance Testing

Many organizations have already automated their functionality testing, but it is important to also automate your performance testing. This can help you be confident in the product you are developing. 

There are a number of benefits that can be derived from automating your performance testing. These include:

• Effective – automating your testing means you don’t have to invest a significant amount of time and energy into the process. Consider the added benefit of being able to run more tests in less time if you use automated performance testing. 
• Cost – even though automating may require some financial costs in the beginning, in the long run, it will be a more cost-efficient way of testing. It is also important to note that there are often fewer upfront costs if you use the cloud. 
• Transparency – building on the collaboration that DevOps brings to the workforce, automated performance testing offers transparency for your teams. This can help all your employees become more productive and efficient in their positions. 
• Quality – with automated performance testing, you can broaden the scope of the testing, which helps you develop a quality product. Automated testing also gives you the ability to run thousands of complex tests, which is something that manual testing does not offer. 

Extend Security Beyond The Cloud

The cloud plays a key role in DevOps because of its centralized nature. It is the ideal environment for testing and deployment. However, it is important to keep security at the front of your mind. It is best to have a security-minded approach before a breach occurs.  Don’t simply trust your cloud provider to be in charge of your security. Consider it a shared responsibility. 

Security should be a key part of any automated testing that you do, whether it is in the cloud or not. In addition, building security into continuous integration and continuous deployment process is essential, particularly if you move to a cloud-based platform. Remember that during the transition to the cloud you will need to add security to your DevOps tools and the organization as a whole. The best way to ensure this happens is to hire someone who is dedicated to monitoring security for your organization. 

For more ways of introducing DevOps methodology into your cloud space, contact Technossus today.