A new survey by Frost & Sullivan in collaboration with CA Technologies clearly shows that business executives believe modern software development helps them achieve KPIs. This is the latest in a string of surveys showing that modern software development practices such as DevOps result in higher-performing organizations, more profits and greater KPI achievement.

Key findings of the survey show that organizations with more mature programs are:

• Eight times more likely to declare that applications are very good at supporting the achievement of
  business KPIs;
• Seven times more likely to say their apps are completely integrated to enable functionality, data
  sharing, authentication and security; and
• Able to achieve two times’ higher profit growth.

I spoke with Ashok Reddy, Group GM, DevOps at CA Technologies about the findings. In addition to the key findings above, Reddy emphasized another key point: The survey showed that in organizations with modern software development programs, business executives outside of IT are key software decision-makers.

Traditionally, IT was viewed as servicing the rest of the organization as their customer. A key constituency of this customer base would seem to be non-IT business executives. They recognize that software and applications are so important to achieving KPIs. They are moving beyond just being a customer of IT to actually being involved in the software development process itself, according to Reddy.

Some Troubling Findings

Not all of the findings from the survey are rosy, though. Pressure to release software endangers quality and security, according to 69 percent of the business executives surveyed. More than two-thirds of respondents said that security is sometimes overlooked to expedite development. Software issues negatively impacting KPIs was cited by more than half of the respondents.

With modern software development practices becoming so important, the findings above seem logical—logical, perhaps, but not acceptable. We must continue to strive to make security a more organic part of the software development process. Security concerns cannot continue to be overlooked because they are a drag on software development. One of the key points that I believe about DevOps and modern software development is that you can have more velocity, speed and security by following these practices.

All in all, this survey is yet another brick in the wall showing that organizations around the world adopting modern software development practices such as DevOps, Agile, etc., are outperforming their competitors who don’t. It is quickly becoming a case of DevOps or die.

— Alan Shimel