More than 50% of firms have already implemented DevOps

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The new Database DevOps Survey 2018 has revealed, that 82% of the 700 organisations asked say they have either already adopted DevOps or plan to do so in the next two years, up from 80% in 2017.

Over half (52%) have already implemented DevOps process on some or all of their projects, a jump from 47% last year.

However, a significant number of laggards are turning their backs on DevOps. While 60% of respondents in the retail and IT Services industries are already using DevOps, less than 40% of those in the government/education and not-for-profit sectors have adopted it.

And, over a third (36%) say they have no plans to implement DevOps within the next two years.

More than 60% feel positive impact 

The research also pinpoints the benefits that DevOps is delivering, and it shows that 63% of those surveyed feel that DevOps has a positive impact on regulatory and compliance requirements – a vital issue given the forthcoming EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), with its 25 May 2018 deadline.

This rises to 69% among those who have already adopted DevOps – showing that the further down the implementation path organisations are, the greater the compliance benefits.

Databases are increasingly central to business operations, with over a third (35%) of organisations deploying database changes either daily or more than once a week.

This is reflected in the key benefits that respondents see from adopting database DevOps – 28% say that increasing speed of delivery is the biggest advantage, up from 26% in 2017, followed by freeing up developers and allowing them to handle more added value work. This is cited by 23% of people in 2018, a big jump from last year’s figure of 17%.

Skills shortage to be biggest challenge to adopting DevOps 

Skills shortages are the biggest challenge to successfully adopting DevOps, identified by 24% of respondents, followed by disruption to existing workflows and the business (20%).

The survey found that DevOps is increasingly seen as a business priority – just 12% cite lack of awareness of the business benefits as the main obstacle to adoption, a fall of a third from 17% in 2017.

However, 40% of the laggards who have no plans to adopt DevOps blame a lack of awareness of the business benefits as their main challenge, demonstrating a need to educate management on the advantages that DevOps brings.

However, while the majority are pushing forward with DevOps, a significant proportion risk being left behind, missing out on the advantages this new way of working delivers in an increasingly data-driven world.