About a decade ago, a new buzzword emerged in the tech industry, called DevOps. Everyone was obsessed with this ‘new’ concept, so much so that it became a career for many. Fast forward nearly 10 years to today, and DevOps Engineer and DevOps Consultant are titles in development departments of thousands of companies.
The reason this concept caught on so well, was due to the fact that everyone already knew it was necessary but could not state it in a single word. This made justifying our efforts towards the goal so much easier. DevOps became a crucial effort for almost any development team or organisation.
From DevOps to EverythingOps
The whole DevOps concept grew quite a bit from its inception many years ago, to the point where technology organisations and leaders have been asking the question, “What else can we apply this concept to?”. A few newer concepts have already emerged from this, like SalesOps, EngineeringOps, InfrastructureOps etc. None of these concepts new, but the way you approach the topic changes the way you drive the task at hand. DevOps was not a new concept, but rather a new approach to an old problem: How do I effectively manage my Development Teams, effort and tools, but with the added concept of Continuous Improvement at the very core of it.
If you think about how “Ops” changed the way development typically works, extract what had an impact, we can easily see that this “Ops” effort is compatible with many problems organisations have. You will also be able to break the effort up into core actions:
Effective Management of Teams – Organisations are built on teams with a similar goal
Effective Use of Tools – Ask the questions, does our toolset work for what we want to achieve? Can they be tweaked to work for us? Are we using our tools correctly, or are we not working on the correct standard?
Effort – Is my team putting in effort on the things that bring us results?
Continuous Improvement – With every change, improvement should be measured to inform the next change. Every iteration of the effort should be an improvement of the process
The success of the above core actions has been very evident in the development world, to the point where it has become the standard for the majority of teams. Tools like Azure DevOps have these core actions in mind when they design and develop their offering. The same trend can be seen in Sales Pipeline tools as well. In the end, what you are left with is a system of how you achieve the task at hand. You focus on optimisation, performance measurement, performance enablement, setting down methodologies, managing toolsets and defining a growth plan on how to improve.
The “Ops” concept also goes hand-in-hand with the Agile concept. With every iteration or passed period, you look at how can we improve the next iteration, and re-evaluate your direction; Is the direction we are going, working for us as a team?
The Impact of Ops on Digital Transformation
Digital Transformation has been a journey for many organisations since the start of the Third Industrial Revolution, also known as the Digital Revolution.
The market trend for Digital Transformation is becoming greater with each passing year. The recent pandemic that affected the entire world motivated even more, that to become agile and adaptable as an organisation, Digital Transformation needs to happen. The key to success, though, is to approach Digital Transformation in the most effective way.
When thinking about Digital Transformation in an organisation, digitising and potentially automating a process is only part of the journey. Monitoring, improving, and optimising these processes and efforts will also be necessary, which falls in line with the ethos of our “Ops” concepts and core actions defined earlier.
The approach to Digital Transformation can be guided by the core actions of EverythingOps:
Effective Management of Teams: How will my Digital Transformation efforts allow me to effectively manage my team?
Effective Use of Tools: Are the tools I am currently using during my Digital Transformation journey being used effectively? Do I need an expert to assist with my implementation?
Effort: Are we focusing our Digital Transformation efforts on the areas that will make the most impact? Prioritisation of areas where the organisation suffers the most, is the key to successful transformation.
Continuous Improvement: Accepting that the first version will not be the last version. Each version will be an improvement of the previous version and it is all part of the journey to achieving improved efficiency.
Conclusion
Digital Transformation has proven to be a key success driver for organisations looking to become more agile and adaptable to market conditions. The world is ever-changing, and this change is becoming more rapid every day. We at First Technology Digital believe this is where organisations can gain a competitive edge over their competitors and serve their customers well.
About Me
I am Morné Kellerman, Operations Manager at the Automation & Integration Business Unit of First Technology Digital. I am an experienced software developer and technologist.
I have been a career-long advocate of DevOps and Automation. Having done a few DevOps Assessments and consulting work for customers over my career, I have seen the value that this concept can provide an organisation and believe that this is an ethos to live by in the business world.
If you would like to discuss any of the concepts or ideas covered in this article, please feel free to reach out to me on LinkedIn.
Let’s Discuss
If your organisation would like to embark on the Digital Transformation journey, please do reach out to our Marketing and Sales Team to find out how we use World Class Technology to help our customers achieve success.
Related: