When different business functions come together to cooperate on the development of IT
services, organisations can bring new products to market faster. This is a proven theory,
exemplified in the DevOps methodology.
Businesses that have managed to break down barriers that existed between development and operations teams can release features at a much greater speed – every few days rather than every few months. The business benefits are so significant that 99% of companies that have adopted DevOps say it has positively impacted their organisation.
The spirit of cooperation that encapsulates DevOps has now spread, expanding to incorporate security teams, and also business analysts. Where we originally had DevOps, we then had DevSecOps and now BizDevSecOps.
As the approach has evolved it is helping to ensure the security standards that protect organisations are always factored into development processes and that patches can be deployed almost instantly. It is also allowing business teams to see the real time data that enable decisions to be taken – and then act upon them a rapid pace.
Adopting a transformative approach
This is providing companies with a competitive advantage. So, it’s no wonder that those yet to adopt the BizDevSecOps methodology are keen to do so sooner rather than later.
It is easier said than done, however. BizDevSecOps is a transformative approach that involves cooperation across multiple departments and requires both cultural and technological change. Any organisation embracing this approach for the first time will need to ensure stakeholders have bought into the concept and are willing to leave traditional practices in the past.
This is a challenge in itself, but assuming this has already been achieved, businesses will then need to deploy new tools that can coordinate those different functions and allow them to work together seamlessly.
Walk before you run
The good news is there are a vast array of technological solutions available to support businesses that are adopting this approach. It’s important that organisations don’t try to move too quickly in this solutions landscape, however. Foundations should be laid first – and this will often mean implementing the standard DevOps solutions before incorporating those tools more specifically designed for security and business purposes.
While there may be a temptation to skip over some of the more basic tools, to save time and money in the early stages of a project, neglecting these foundational solutions will have a detrimental effect in the long-term. Especially as the purpose of these tools is to help organisations manage resources better – so they can save time and costs.
These tools include Continuous Integration (CI) solutions, which allow multiple contributors from different teams to build and carry out testing within one central repository. This is part of the minimum trio of solutions that provide the starting point for all DevOps automation – alongside Continuous Deployment (CD) and Continuous Monitoring (CM).
Picking up the pace
When organisations do have those foundations in place however, they can pick up the pace. And there is no shortage of specialist tools in the BizDevSecOps landscape to help teams involved in the development process do that.
Whether they are looking to automate the update of security patches for known vulnerabilities or monitor the impact of an update on user experiences in real time, there are numerous options available. Businesses do need to evaluate the implications of each tool and match them to specific business goals, however.
It may be that a company can save costs by choosing a community version of a specific solution. But, if they are looking to increase productivity, by freeing up their engineers, they may find that deploying an enterprise version will provide the additional automation needed to release staff from extra monitoring duties. Or, if companies want to avoid being tied to specific cloud environments, they may want to deploy cloud agnostic tools.
The choice of BizDevSecOps tools can be crucial to the long-term success of an entire organisation. They can help control costs, increase speed to market and heighten performance, so it pays to take the time to choose these tools carefully.
Download our guide: Driving innovation using a BizDevSecOps methodology for more advice on how organisations can adopt a BizDecSecOps approach.
