Understanding DevOps
This method relies mainly on 3 practices: collaborative work, agility, and automation.
Initially, DevOps considers the constraints related to IT development and the deployment of developed solutions. On the other hand, agile methods aim to improve project management. Therefore, applying agile methods to the entire DevOps chain can only be beneficial when it is well mastered.
Finally, the implementation of a continuous integration and continuous deployment (CI/CD) pipeline aims to automate the solution's lifecycle, final testing, and production deployment.
To go further with the CI/CD approach
To begin, the pipeline represents an automated chain of processes, meaning its goal is to minimize human intervention throughout the solution's entire lifecycle, from its development to its delivery.
The lifecycle, on the other hand, represents all the phases a solution goes through before it is delivered to a customer. This includes development, integration into the external environment (compilation and automated tests), and automated deployment (staging, production, etc.). The initials “CI/CD” stand for Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment in English.
The benefits of DevOps for a technology project
DevOps ensures that companies save time and money through the controlled and automated expertise of the solution lifecycle.
As many project phases become automated, the DevOps methodology ensures faster production and delivery than traditionally.
Thus, customer experience and satisfaction improve with greater team availability, allowing them to focus on higher value-added tasks. This approach helps identify potential bugs and correct them quickly through simplified collaboration between IT teams.
Finally, DevOps breaks down the barriers between different IT teams within a company as they collaborate closely. With the application of agile methodologies, collaboration is organized, controlled, and productivity is maximized.
DevOps at Technology Partner
Since 2020, Technology Partner has been a Microsoft Silver Partner, and this certification allows:
Becoming a Cloud Service Provider (CSP):
Thanks to this partnership with Microsoft, Technology Partner has the opportunity to become a Cloud Solutions Provider. The specific advantage of being a CSP allows the certified company to provide and maintain the client's environment on the Azure cloud, and within the framework of DevOps, also to automatically deploy developed solutions there.
For teams to have access to all DevOps tools
Within this wide range of services, IT teams primarily use Microsoft's service, which integrates the main solutions necessary for DevOps: The Microsoft Azure DevOps platform. This packaging of solutions covers the entire CI/CD pipelines and other tools like Azure Repos or Azure Test Plans, for example.
The advantage is that there is little to no need to call upon other external solutions for project development. The tools are grouped and interconnected, thus ensuring time savings for IT teams.
Testimonials from Software Developers at Technology Partner
“DevOps allows me to forget about the build and deployment side a bit (since it's automated) and allows me to focus more on the project's development.”
“DevOps, when executed well, allows for very simple deployment to an environment, whether for staging or production.”
"Once implemented, DevOps provides a significant time savings, allowing me to focus on development itself."
To conclude
To implement DevOps in a company, a DevOps engineer must oversee project management to respond to IT teams' requests when a problem arises. Therefore, DevOps reduces barriers between IT teams, and through closer, personalized collaboration with the client, it increases their satisfaction.
Finally, being a partner with a company like Microsoft also allows us to host and track the evolution of a project through all its phases via the Cloud and to deliver a turnkey solution to the client, which will further ensure their satisfaction.
DevOps therefore enables companies to adapt to a market and to constantly evolving customer needs.
Written by Charline Pennisi and Patrick Jominet
