DevOps.com

  • Latest
    • Articles
    • Features
    • Most Read
    • News
    • News Releases
  • Topics
    • AI
    • Continuous Delivery
    • Continuous Testing
    • Cloud
    • Culture
    • DataOps
    • DevSecOps
    • Enterprise DevOps
    • Leadership Suite
    • DevOps Practice
    • ROELBOB
    • DevOps Toolbox
    • IT as Code
  • Videos/Podcasts
    • Techstrong.tv Podcast
    • Techstrong.tv Video Podcast
    • Techstrong.tv - Twitch
    • DevOps Unbound
  • Webinars
    • Upcoming
    • On-Demand Webinars
  • Library
  • Events
    • Upcoming Events
    • On-Demand Events
  • Sponsored Content
  • Related Sites
    • Techstrong Group
    • Container Journal
    • Security Boulevard
    • Techstrong Research
    • DevOps Chat
    • DevOps Dozen
    • DevOps TV
    • Techstrong TV
    • Techstrong.tv Podcast
    • Techstrong.tv Video Podcast
    • Techstrong.tv - Twitch
  • Media Kit
  • About
  • Sponsor
  • AI
  • Cloud
  • Continuous Delivery
  • Continuous Testing
  • DataOps
  • DevSecOps
  • DevOps Onramp
  • Platform Engineering
  • Low-Code/No-Code
  • IT as Code
  • More
    • Application Performance Management/Monitoring
    • Culture
    • Enterprise DevOps
    • ROELBOB

Home » Editorial Calendar » A DevOps Checklist for Traditional Service Providers

A DevOps Checklist for Traditional Service Providers

Avatar photoBy: contributor on October 19, 2016 Leave a Comment

As companies such as Amazon and Google rapidly innovate to deliver new services, traditional service providers recognize that change is necessary to keep up with shifting customer expectations. Given the pace at which technology continues to morph, creating better, faster and more innovative solutions is a necessity, and if this isn’t achieved, even longtime customers will eventually look elsewhere.

Recent Posts By contributor
  • How to Ensure DevOps Success in a Distributed Network Environment
  • Dissecting the Role of QA Engineers and Developers in Functional Testing
  • DevOps Primer: Using Vagrant with AWS
Avatar photo More from contributor
Related Posts
  • A DevOps Checklist for Traditional Service Providers
  • With DevOps, Traditional Service Providers Adapt to New Industry Realities
  • Vote for the DevOps Dozen
    Related Categories
  • Editorial Calendar
  • Enterprise DevOps
    Related Topics
  • benchmarks
  • culture
  • devops
  • devops adoption
  • goals
  • processes
  • service providers
  • timelines
Show more
Show less

For younger businesses, taking a collaborative approach to IT and product development often comes naturally as it’s built into the company’s DNA. However, for more established service providers, adapting to this new way of doing business can prove challenging. Traditional service providers have spent years perfecting their technology and require multiple layers of review prior to rollout. While these checks and balances are in place to ensure a level of quality customers have relied on for years and expect to receive from traditional providers, it also can hinder their ability to react quickly to client demands. However, the adoption of the principles embedded in DevOps can allow traditional service providers to work more like a startup by accessing their technology and human skills in a new way, while also continuing to deliver products which meet the expectations of their established customers.

TechStrong Con 2023Sponsorships Available

Now the question is, how can traditional services providers successfully implement this DevOps approach? While it can (and has been) done successfully, there are five critical steps that need to be taken into account:

1) Establish a clear goal. The most important step is the first: Management must have a clear understanding of what they are looking to accomplish with the DevOps transition. Service providers have a long legacy of well-defined, reliable services, so all changes must complement their current product offerings and live up to the quality their customer base has come to expect. If an overall goal is not defined, customers will be left confused and disappointed, and ultimately, there will be no impact on the bottom line.

2) Set a timeline. While creating an unrealistic timeline is never advised, it is critical to set an aggressive, pragmatic and adjustable one. As mentioned above, without aggressively pushing forward, an organization will find itself continuously playing catch up to its competitors. The timeline is meant to push an initiative forward even when there are setbacks or changes that need to be made along the way. The right timing is a balancing act: too fast and you have a poorly crafted product rollout; too slow and you are stuck behind the competition. The key metric to measure progress is the degree of evolution to the DevOps model within key stakeholder organizations. If solutions are delayed due to existing processes, then either the scope of the team needs to be adjusted to encompass those processes or the goal needs to be changed so they are no longer an issue.

3) Collect necessary resources. Typically, the biggest gap that needs to be filled to move forward is with human resources. For many established companies, having design and architecture skills—core capabilities needed to develop a new product—hasn’t been a priority. Creating the right team that consists of new talent that have these missing skills, along with the addition of current employees who have a more intimate understanding of the company and customer, is a critical aspect in making sure this more collaborative and innovative approach to solution development and delivery works. And it doesn’t stop once the team is created, it is important to continue to foster an environment that encourages the new team to work together and promote their process within the broader organization.

4) Create benchmarks. To ensure the established timeline is being met and that there is an opportunity to change course if necessary, it is important to set clear deliverables at various stages of the process. These benchmarks must look to what people are doing today, not just the end goal. Initial measures should focus on the pace at which progress is being made, and later, focus on the end products being delivered.

5) Get the entire company on board. Changing an embedded philosophy isn’t easy, especially one that has worked well for so long. No matter the organization there is almost always resistance on some level when fundamental changes are being made. It is up to leadership and the DevOps team(s) to demonstrate internally and externally that the changes being made are not just for the sake of change, but in the end will benefit the entire company, as well as the customer.

While taking a deeper look at an organization’s “people, process, technology and information” and moving to a new mindset doesn’t happen overnight or come without its hiccups, the status quo is no longer sufficient to compete. The reality is, a more collaborative and faster delivery model is necessary to be successful in tomorrow’s marketplace.

About the Author / Tim Pearson

timpearsonTim Pearson is the director of product line management at Ciena. In his role, Tim leverages DevOps practices to break barriers in network delivery to meet the demands of mobile, VR and video applications.  Driven by challenge and fueled by deep industry knowledge, he has built a reputation for developing innovative business and product strategies to drive growth and open new markets. Tim holds a Bachelor degree in Electrical Engineering from Memorial University, a Masters degree in Management Science from the University of Waterloo and an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management. Connect with him on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Filed Under: Editorial Calendar, Enterprise DevOps Tagged With: benchmarks, culture, devops, devops adoption, goals, processes, service providers, timelines

« Deep Art of Scaling for Cloud Environments, Part 1
Automic v12 Promises to Streamline Business Automation »

Techstrong TV – Live

Click full-screen to enable volume control
Watch latest episodes and shows

Upcoming Webinars

Evolution of Transactional Databases
Monday, January 30, 2023 - 3:00 pm EST
Moving Beyond SBOMs to Secure the Software Supply Chain
Tuesday, January 31, 2023 - 11:00 am EST
Achieving Complete Visibility in IT Operations, Analytics, and Security
Wednesday, February 1, 2023 - 11:00 am EST

Sponsored Content

The Google Cloud DevOps Awards: Apply Now!

January 10, 2023 | Brenna Washington

Codenotary Extends Dynamic SBOM Reach to Serverless Computing Platforms

December 9, 2022 | Mike Vizard

Why a Low-Code Platform Should Have Pro-Code Capabilities

March 24, 2021 | Andrew Manby

AWS Well-Architected Framework Elevates Agility

December 17, 2020 | JT Giri

Practical Approaches to Long-Term Cloud-Native Security

December 5, 2019 | Chris Tozzi

Latest from DevOps.com

Let the Machines Do It: AI-Directed Mobile App Testing
January 30, 2023 | Syed Hamid
Five Great DevOps Job Opportunities
January 30, 2023 | Mike Vizard
Stream Big, Think Bigger: Analyze Streaming Data at Scale
January 27, 2023 | Julia Brouillette
What’s Ahead for the Future of Data Streaming?
January 27, 2023 | Danica Fine
The Strategic Product Backlog: Lead, Follow, Watch and Explore
January 26, 2023 | Chad Sands

TSTV Podcast

On-Demand Webinars

DevOps.com Webinar ReplaysDevOps.com Webinar Replays

GET THE TOP STORIES OF THE WEEK

Most Read on DevOps.com

What DevOps Needs to Know About ChatGPT
January 24, 2023 | John Willis
Microsoft Outage Outrage: Was it BGP or DNS?
January 25, 2023 | Richi Jennings
Optimizing Cloud Costs for DevOps With AI-Assisted Orchestra...
January 24, 2023 | Marc Hornbeek
Dynatrace Survey Surfaces State of DevOps in the Enterprise
January 24, 2023 | Mike Vizard
Deploying a Service Mesh: Challenges and Solutions
January 24, 2023 | Gilad David Maayan
  • Home
  • About DevOps.com
  • Meet our Authors
  • Write for DevOps.com
  • Media Kit
  • Sponsor Info
  • Copyright
  • TOS
  • Privacy Policy

Powered by Techstrong Group, Inc.

© 2023 ·Techstrong Group, Inc.All rights reserved.