Future of DevOps: DevSecOps, AIOps and something else?

DevOps have become a popular term in the software industry since 2009. The primary reasons behind this increasing popularity are the high-speed and less-cost of development. DevOps were born to meet the increased software industry velocity. In comparison to DevOps, traditional Ops are 41% more time-consuming. 

Developers have started adopting DevOps practices to speed up the development process and provide end-to-end solutions. According to a Statista survey, it was found out that 17% of software development companies have fully-embraced DevOps in 2018. Here is a graph to represent the extent to which software developers have adopted DevOps in 2017 and 2018.

Apart from speed and cost, there are many other benefits of DevOps. The practices involved with this development approach are up-to-date and provide efficient results. These are the reasons why entrepreneurs prefer to hire software development companies that offer DevOps development. Let’s understand these practices in brief:

DevOps Practices #1: Continuous Integration:

Under this practice, developers merge their codes after every update in a central repository. This allows us to run tests automatically, find bugs quickly and improve quality. 

DevOps Practices #2: Continuous Delivery:

Under this practice, the code changes get built, tested and prepared automatically. This is done with the integration process. With this, there will always be a deployment-ready artifact that has passed the testing process. 

DevOps Practices #3: Infrastructure as Code:

Under this practice, software development techniques and codes are used to manage infrastructure. Here developers are able to use infrastructure in the same way as app codes. 

DevOps Practices #4: Communication and Collaboration:

It is the key practice on which DevOps is dependent. It allows bringing together the responsibility and works flows of operations and development.

DevOps Practices #5: Monitoring and Logging:

Under this practice, the data and logs are captured, categorized and analyzed. This allows the companies to understand the impact of application performance on end-users. 

These practices are followed in the present of the DevOps approach. The traditional Ops have become obsolete these days because of the various benefits of DevOps practices. Let’s have a brief about the difference between ITOps and DevOps:

ITOps VS DevOps #1: Flexibility

In the case of traditional IT operations, there are strict standards and processes, that reduce risks. But at the same time, it makes tough to implement the changes. On the other hand, the DevOps processes are as flexible as possible. This process is dependent on agile development methodology which divides the process into small parts that allow accommodating changes easily. 

ITOps VS DevOps #2: Speed

DevOps are meant to speed up the development process by many folds. The developers aim to complete the process in less time. In the case of ITOps, the delivery of stable infrastructure is important which takes a lot of time. 

ITOps VS DevOps #3: Risk

When you have to release software into production under strict processes and highest standards, it welcomes the greater risk of something going unwell. This happens in traditional IT operations. 

In the case of DevOps, there is a constant testing and submitting process which does not make the end delivery event a big thing. This reduces risk and smoothes the process of releasing the final product. 

ITOps VS DevOps #4: Centralization and decentralization

DevOps involve a dedicated team and small batch sizes to execute different processes. Hence there is no issue for a person’s time and no wait for infrastructure. Moreover, the management does not take decisions instead of a team to solve issues at their level. On the other hand, such an issue arises in the traditional IT operations team. 

These differences are another proof of why DevOps is gaining immense popularity among businesses. In the past few years, DevOps have brought a revolution in the software development processes. 

What does its future hold? There are many speculations related to the DevOps future. Let’s read about some facts that will help in shaping the future of DevOps:

Automation: A major goal for 2020’s DevOps cycle is automation. Making every process automated can increase speed even more. It does not mean that you need to automate everything but maximum automation is what DevOps process looks forward to in the future. 

Security: DevSecOps: Following security standards is highly important to deliver efficient applications. Earlier DevOps were about development + operations + application delivery. Gradually security factor is getting importance in the DevOps process from an early stage. This renames DevOps to DevSecOps. 

AI and ML: Integration of AI and its subsets into the DevOps process can automate the process and help in bridging the gap between operations and development more efficiently. AIOps can enhance operations by combining ML, big data and visualization.

Microservices Architecture adoption to increase: MIcroservices are independent entities that bring speed, innovation, and agility to software development processes. Microservices architecture involves the development of a single app as a suite for small services. This makes deployment and addition of new features easy. 

Introduction to DevOps assembly line: DevOps in the future will not only focus on the process of continuous integration. The focus will shift on connecting the activities of DevOps which are performed by different teams. This will help in achieving the aim of continuous delivery. 

Final Words: Future of DevOps

DevOps have replaced traditional IT operations but there are still loopholes. AIOps and DevSecOps can overcome those challenges. It is expected that these “Ops” will evolve in the future to enhance the DevOps process.   

Embracing the new technology; AIOps can speed up and eliminate the flaws of present-day DevOps culture and processes. DevOps have already changed the software development process drastically in the past decade. Our expectations are more from DevOps and they are not ready to die in the near future!