Timely delivery of products and services is an important aspect of superior customer experience. Often, this is a big challenge for companies with small teams and limited skillsets within each team. Capacity issues may also be due to the poor communication between disparate teams working within the organization. If you are facing the same challenges in your organization, you are not alone. In fact, a recent report revealed that two of the greatest challenges companies face are to do with being at capacity with their software development teams and hiring more talent.

Is there a way to effectively tackle these limitations and deliver the promised product/service, without delay to keep customers happy? The answer lies in the right mix of Agile and DevOps!

Agile Advantage

Agile approaches like scrum prioritize customers and their needs. According to the State of the Scrum report, over 49% of top managers say that “uncompromising customer focus” is the primary reason for the success of agile. The principles of the Agile Manifesto itself state that satisfying the customer is the highest priority. Whether this is through early and continuous delivery of software, openness to changing customer requirements at any stage of development, undertaking any effort that will give the customer a competitive advantage – or all of them – would depend on the project itself.

What’s more, agile organizations are able to respond faster to market demands and customer demands, as it guarantees an improved time-to-market by 18-20%. 

DevOps Edge

The State of DevOps report reveals that organizations that practice DevOps can deploy 200 times faster than other organizations, have 2,555 faster lead times, and 24 times faster recovery times. It can also lower failure rates by three times!

The study that involved over 25,000 professionals also revealed that DevOps not only helped organizations get more work done but also created 10% more time for innovation! What’s more, DevOps improves the product life cycle which, in turn, can improve security, quality, business outcomes, and the organization’s work culture.

Agile + DevOps for the Win

Together, Agile and DevOps make a winning combination. They focus on shared goals, collaborative teams, rapid delivery, and high-quality products delivered by a quality team.

When teams – Development, Operations, and business units – work together and communicate effectively with each other and with the customer, sharing feedback, overcoming roadblocks, and driving better innovation becomes easier and more seamless!

Timely delivery of products and services is an important aspect of superior customer experience A few points to keep in mind while combining Agile and DevOps:

• Align your individual and team goals and streamline processes.
• Keep moving fast – whether you are fixing bugs, adding new features, or improving existing ones.
• Embrace automation and smart technology – including artificial intelligence and machine learning.
• Speed is important, but so is quality; do not compromise one for the other.
• It doesn’t happen overnight. Training your team and practising the culture will be necessary before you see results

CloudNow’s Successful Approach

At CloudNow, we helped a leading global bank organize their team, define responsibilities, avoid delays in sprints caused by new tech stacks, and ramp up resources with a DevOps and Agile approach. It resolved their capacity challenges and reduced their time-to-market significantly. Would you like to know more? Read the full case study or get in touch with us!