I am presenting at the DevOps Summit in Santa Clara early next month.  The title of my presentation is “Enterprise DevOps: Same medicine, different dose.”  I will be attempting to tackle the sometimes sticky subject of whether Enterprise DevOps is a unique species or is there just DevOps for organizations big and small.

My personal feeling is DevOps is DevOps. That being said though, I don’t think anyone would argue that large enterprises are a different animal than smaller companies. The inertia in these organizations make culture change on a large scale harder, if not slower.  Just as you would give a different dose of medicine to a child then you would to an adult, I think you have to inject DevOps differently into a larger organization than you would a smaller one.

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Which of the following best describes how you currently monitor and manage systems across your hybrid cloud environment?(Required)

Multiple separate tools for different environments

Multiple separate tools for different monitoring and management functions

Single consolidated dashboard

Custom built monitoring and management solution

No full monitoring and management solution

Don’t know

How valuable would it be for your monitoring and management solution to incorporate predictive analytics to help you identify and address system issues that are critical and not waste time or effort working through all the data and “noise” that is not critical?(Required)

Extremely valuable

Moderately valuable

Somewhat valuable

Slightly valuable

Not valuable

How do you most typically address potential system issues BEFORE they impact your operations?(Required)

Automated workflows and playbooks to remediate potential issues as soon as they are detected

An orchestrated response process that leverages automation, AI, and human expertise to rapidly respond to potential issues

Advanced monitoring tools such as predictive analytics and anomaly detection to proactively identify and address potential issues

Respond to issues as they arise, using manual processes and troubleshooting techniques

A combination of automated remediation, orchestrated response, and/or proactive monitoring to address potential system issues

Don’t know

Other

What methods does your organization use to control and monitor cloud/IT spending?(Required)

Centralized procurement processes

Pre-approved budget thresholds

Automated cost monitoring tools

Department-level spending controls

Regular cost audits and reviews

Cloud cost optimization platform

Approval workflows for resource provisioning

Native financial operations tools provided by the cloud provider

No formal controls in place

Don’t know

Other

Please specify:

Which methods do you rely on most to detect security vulnerabilities in your systems?(Required)

Automated scanning tools

Manual assessments

Vendor notifications

Threat modeling (for early detection)

None of these

Don’t know

Other

Please specify:

What are the TWO most common ways you prioritize vulnerabilities to address within your environment?(Required)

Based on potential impact

Based on exploitability

Regulatory compliance requirements

Based on CVSS scores

Risk-based analysis of multiple factors

First-in-first-out approach

No formal prioritization process

Don’t know

How do you typically handle system updates and security patches?(Required)

Automated updates and patches

Manually review and apply updates and patches on a regular schedule

A combination of automation and manual review

Apply updates and patches on an as-needed basis.

Outsourced update and patch management

No defined process

Don’t know

Other

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That doesn’t necessarily mean that anyone selling enterprise DevOps services or tools is a snake oil salesmen though. I think understanding the differences between a large organization and smaller ones creates opportunities for vendors. I think that some in the community think that large vendors are just using the term enterprise DevOps to protect their existing turf from usurpers.

Anyway, I will be diving deeper into this subject at my presentation. I will post the abstract link shortly and will post me slides after the show.

In the meantime you can help me. I am interested in your thoughts on this subject and what you think is important for me to cover.  I respect all opinions so if you don’t agree with me, feel free to say so, but if you do, say why.

Thanks!