4 ways mobile apps are accelerating DevOps adoption in the enterprise
Okay, so we all know most organizations always want to get better at what they do. So all the talk around Continuous Integration, Continuous Delivery and DevOps is great, but the road to achieve these is not an easy one. It takes commitment across all levels of the organization. And it takes investment at least on people and tools. But as several sources of data are starting to show, it is all worth it.
In working with different clients, we’re observing an interesting pattern. While on desktop applications the road to achieve a DevOps state has been a bumpy one, in mobile applications development things seem to be going smoother towards DevOps adoption.
1. Teams are still learning, more room for experimentation
Clearly mobile app development is still maturing when compared to desktop or web. We see that most of our clients developing mobile apps are still trying to figure out what the good practices are while development, testing and deployment tools keep on evolving at a crazy fast pace. There’s still a ton of daily learning involved. That’s all probably contributing to more experimentation and acceptance to failure as teams attempt to achieve a DevOps state.
The main driver for deploying a new version of a mobile app is the market. It’s not just IT trying to do a better job. Users’ expectations keep on increasing. When they like an app and can easily do what they want, the way they want and at the time they want, then they’re happy with the app and brand as they’ve had good customer experience.
2. Shorter deployment cycles due to business needs
But then, once that excitement starts fading, businesses try to figure out the next big thing to keep that excitement level high. That translates to more engagement, adoption, revenue, etc. From what we see in the industry, that is cyclical. And that drives the need to deliver more app versions, more frequently.
To achieve that speed, we see companies realizing they must have the right set of people, tools, infrastructure and proper collaboration across business, development, QA and operations. Since the market is demanding new features to be deployed faster, these teams have no choice but to work together.
Incidentally, we’re seeing that it is much easier to secure appropriate budget for hiring or training the right people, tools and infrastructure. Because if executives start seeing users decrease their app usage, they know that is going to negatively impact at least one of their business metrics (e.g. revenue, conversion, retention, etc.).
3. Test automation is the new standard in Mobile QA and Development
With the vast range of tools for automating tests in mobile applications, there’s really no excuse not to do it anymore. The majority of our clients have taken the plunge into the mobile test automation world, be it with open source or commercial tools. These are all evolving monthly, which is great for development and QA organizations as they have unlimited options to choose from based on their existing environment. There is always one that will be a good fit.
So whereas in a recent past we saw our clients gearing up for DevOps and struggling with the lack of support on the QA front for zero-touch automation across the entire SDLC, in today’s world that’s no longer an issue. Our clients are seamlessly connecting mobile test automation tools to CI environments, which automatically kick off test scripts for unattended execution part of the CI workflow.
4. Real mobile devices hosted in the Cloud
In addition to the automation itself, most of our clients are running these tests on real devices. Depending on their needs as well as their user base, some of them have chosen to simply connect real devices to a local server through USB cable and integrate them into their CI environment. Other clients have chosen to go with a Mobile Cloud platform, where real devices are hosted in a Cloud environment, also integrated into the client’s CI environment.
The end result in both cases is the CI process automatically deploying the latest app build in the real devices (hosted in the local server or Cloud) and kicking off all automated test scripts. This is not just true for the automated scripts created by QA teams, but also for the tests created by the development team (e.g. JUnits, etc.). Beta Testing teams can also access the real devices in the Cloud just before rollout to the real-world users.
All in all, mobile app development is accelerating the full automation (software and infrastructure) of the entire application lifecycle, as the market demands more app versions deployed to customers at a much faster pace than before. For the organizations still skeptical about it, we’re seeing teams across all industries being successful in adopting DevOps and enabling really good business results.
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9 å¹´Great article Alex! It's interesting to see specific industry verticals like retail, technology, and travel & hospitality really embrace this as their competitive pressures force nimble market reactivity.
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9 å¹´Alex - the link between DevOps adoption and the explosion of mobile application is quite strong. Your article does an excellent job of explaining how CI/CD are natural DevOps' output and the only REAL approach for creating a successful Agile environment - well done!