DevOps isn’t a new concept to start-ups, but for larger enterprises, it’s historically been much harder to implement – some might even say a real headache. As a result, many have fallen back on more traditional approaches to getting new capabilities launched. But now with even greater choice of app deployment services becoming available, the benefits of DevOps are coming back onto the boardroom agenda. But where should you get started with evaluating those choices?

Start with the business not the technology

The first question and most important questions to ask are where will my apps need to run? Will they be deployed in a hybrid environment or will I be focusing on cloud-native apps? Do they need to run only in public cloud, or in a Microsoft datacentre? What kinds of code will I be deploying – Microsoft only or across multiple tech platforms? Try to envisage what your business needs now and in the future based on your technology roadmap. Envisaging your desired end state will drive the right choices.

Where does DevOps fit with Digital Transformation?

Every business has digital transformation on the agenda somewhere and DevOps is a powerful tool to help enable it. But the business needs to embrace technology to make services available to customers electronically. Increasingly it will all become about how you keep innovating customer products and services and creating a well-oiled machine within your business that develops and deploys those products and services. You might be in a current state where launching new capabilities takes months with multiple disconnects across your organisation. DevOps will take that pain away. It will shift your business into an app dev/deployment cycle that takes days, not weeks or months.

Choices, choices – what’s the right cloud app service for your business?

So which platform should you choose if you’re either building or migrating internal applications to the Cloud? Of course, it depends on many factors.

Microsoft has just launched its AKS service for Azure. The ‘Azure Kubernetes Service’ is a fully managed container orchestration platform. Microsoft also continues to invest heavily in Azure Functions which provides an even simpler mechanism for deploying Cloud-native applications and services. Azure’s App Service is a container management platform, without any of the overhead.

If you’re only ever going to deploy to Microsoft datacentres, then the functionality in Azure’s App service is a great answer. It’s simple, just works and natively integrates with Microsoft DevOps tools.

However, if you want apps to run across multiple tech platforms you need to look at containers – generic objects that can move between different cloud platforms – and that’s where Microsoft’s new AKS service for Azure opens a world of possibilities. AKS will support hybrid kubernetes deployments allowing seamless transition of software from on-premises environments to Azure. These container management platforms can then connect to your DevOps tools to deliver automated testing and software deployments.

Put simply Microsoft’s investment in Azure has created great DevOps potential for large enterprises with plenty of choice based on the environment you want to create, out of the box services and full integration with DevOps tools like Visual Studio. It makes DevOps easier, faster and more cost-effective to implement.

Did you mention the potential to outperform? Yes!

DevOps will help your business processes, people and products come together and that means greater value being delivered to your users and customers. Here’s just some of the benefits waiting for your business around the DevOps corner:

  • Beat your competitors to the finish line

With a modern DevOps process in the cloud, you’ll be able to innovate, release and update faster. That means you can outperform your competitors and take advantage of new market opportunities quicker than ever.

  • Improve the performance and quality of your user/customer interactions

Your customers are online and if you can’t meet their needs through online products and services, you’re inevitably missing out. DevOps will help you to gather feedback more comprehensively and that in turn will enable you to keep enhancing and refining your services to meet customer demands and ensure your happy customers stay with your business.

  • Scale, scale, scale

Without on-premise infrastructure limitations, your business growth potential is unlimited. You can scale up and down as required and keep your agility for fast app development and deployment.

So, what’s the potential for DevOps in your business? If it’s a challenge you’re grappling with, connect with a New Signature expert today.