Highlighting the real benefits
The first part of the new ROI of Database DevOps research whitepaper is based on a study by highly experienced IT Director David Linwood, who undertook an MSc research project to discover the key success factors of DevOps. Over a six month period, he compiled a list of the most cited DevOps metrics and then compared them with the views of IT professionals who practice DevOps.
The results offer a fascinating insight, and the top seven benefits of DevOps that emerged are headlined by the faster speed and lower cost of releases, improved operational support and fixes, and a quicker time to market. He then added another aspect to his research by looking at the benefits from the perspective of the different stakeholders – the CEO, CIO and IT Manager.
As David Linwood says: “The only way to get a real understanding of the benefits of DevOps is to look at it through the lenses of those involved. CEOs, for example, are concerned about lower costs and higher revenues. CIOs, on the other hand, are more interested in cross-team collaboration. For IT Managers, higher performance and a reduction in defects are the major focus.”
The whitepaper shows the top seven benefits of DevOps – and then highlights how these and 17 further benefits are ranked by CEOs, CIOs, and IT Managers. Readers can thus understand how the appeal of, and success to be gained from, DevOps is viewed by the different audiences.
Calculating the real ROI
The second part of the research goes into the numbers – the $ savings that can be realized by adopting elements of DevOps for the database. The ROI of DevOps for applications has been widely discussed, but the database cannot be left behind, particularly when tooling has emerged that integrates with, and works alongside, the infrastructure already in place for applications.
Without a directly measurable monetary return that goes beyond a benefit like a faster time to market, however, the value of introducing DevOps for the database can still be questioned.
Using widely accepted industry figures, the method of calculating the cost of software development, together with the cost of introducing new DevOps processes and tools, is shown. With these figures to hand, the whitepaper then illustrates how the savings to be gained and the resultant ROI can be calculated.
To demonstrate the validity of the methodology, three real-world examples of introducing DevOps to different elements of the database development process are outlined. In database provisioning, continuous integration & automated deployment, and performance monitoring, substantial ROI figures emerge that demonstrate why DevOps for the database is now a business imperative.
Importantly, because the methodology is open and transparent, it can be used as a blueprint for any company or organization to calculate their own ROI.
As Kate Duggan, Redgate Marketing Manager, comments: “This whitepaper is an important step forward in validating DevOps for the database. DevOps for applications has already moved from the backroom to the boardroom. Including the database is the next natural step, and CEOs, CIOs, and IT Managers can now see the benefits of adopting it, and the ROI that justifies it.”
