DevOps strike a chord with IT managers

Most senior IT managers rank DevOps as an indispensable topic in view of shorter innovation cycles in software development. According to them, the most important goals of DevOps initiatives are to get new software functions, innovative products and services up and running quickly.

With increasing digitization, the pressure to innovate is growing and it is becoming apparent that conventional processes for commissioning new applications and solutions are not fast enough.

DevOps is seen here as an approach to integrating software development into the concerns of IT operations at an early stage of the development process. The requirement is to increase the efficiency and speed of development, testing, commissioning and operation with the aid of a consistent and coordinated process.

"Already, IT departments in large companies with more than 2,000 employees in particular are under intense pressure to support shorter innovation, release and go-to-market cycles"

describes Joachim Hackmann, Principal Consultant at PAC and author of the study "DevOps - Reality Check in German Companies"..

According to the study, cooperation between software development and IT operations in German companies is basically already in good shape today, even if it is not free of efficiency losses.

For example, responsibility is often unclear when new software causes problems during the transition to IT operations. 43 percent admitted difficulties at this point. Technical causes (lengthy configurations during commissioning; differences between test and target environment) also frequently delay software deployment and thus the rapid availability of innovations.

The respondents have high hopes for DevOps. In view of ever shorter innovation cycles in software development, 70 percent of the survey participants consider DevOps to be an indispensable topic in their companies, but a concrete introduction often fails due to a lack of know-how (69 percent).

Often, there is simply a lack of time and resources (67 percent) to pursue the topic with the necessary seriousness. Fundamental obstacles such as a negative attitude on the part of employees or incompatibility with existing processes, on the other hand, are rare.

The current implementation rate of DevOps in German companies appears modest at first glance: Eight percent of the participants stated that DevOps is a component in all development projects. Another 24 percent operate DevOps concepts in individual projects.