BizDevOps to enable a product-thinking approach

In the last 10 years, the concept of DevOps has gripped the software industry like nothing else. An approach that involves eliminating the silos between dev and ops teams with the main objective being to increase business agility.

The commoditizing of digital technologies such as cloud, IoT, AI, big data, etc. has meant that the digitally savvy end consumer is always expecting a better, even more personalized experience in every interaction with the enterprise. This means CIOs have to ensure that their IT systems are agile and can easily respond to these ever-changing demands.

DevOps covers the people, processes, and tools aspects of an enterprise to ensure that the development teams and operational teams are both working towards the single objective of increasing business agility. This is what drives enterprises to adopt DevOps practices.

And while this has helped several enterprises improve their time to market, there is one implicit aspect which is left for assumption – the involvement of business!

It is obvious that improving business agility and time to market is the need of the hour – but not all systems need the same level of business agility. Every enterprise needs a two-speed IT comprising some customer-facing applications that need maximum agility, and core systems that need stability and availability rather than frequent changes.

But, this is where some DevOps implementations go astray. Typically, it is the business that has the prerogative to decide on the level of agility needed for each application. But DevOps does not explicitly call out the need for involving business in this process. It is more focused on the collaborations between the development and operations teams.

With enterprises increasingly looking to adopt a product-thinking approach over a traditional project-thinking approach, it puts all the more focus on the active involvement of business in prioritizing and strategizing the transformation roadmap.

Introducing BizDevOps

BizDevOps is a software development approach that encourages development, operations and business teams to work together so the organization can develop software more quickly, be more responsive to user demand, and ultimately, maximize revenue.

Injecting business stakeholders into the value stream allows organizations to keep the rest of the DevOps cycle aligned with business objectives.

By integrating feedback from the business side of an organization into its delivery cycles, BizDevOps also ensures that features released through DevOps cycles are built specifically to serve business objectives.

This,  in turn,  enables  companies  to  execute  their transformation objectives faster and more efficiently.

Building your BizDevOps Environment

In a typical BizDevOps environment, the business, development, and operations teams analyze the business problem, collectively evaluate the business value created by each requirement, and prioritize accordingly.

This not only allows the business to have better control over the changes but also provides more say to the development and operations teams who get to see the business value created by their code.

Just as a fully integrated toolchain is essential to the success of any DevOps implementation, BizDevOps also has a significant dependency on tools that give real-time business metrics. While there are several APM tools, the focus here is to implement a real-time dashboard of business KPIs that provides a clear indication of the business value delivered with every release. Capgemini’s Business Command Center  provides a holistic, insight-driven, business-focused application management approach that helps business get a real-time view of value delivered.

For more details on how Capgemini can help setup BizDevOps environment, please reach out to us. We will be happy to help

Aliasgar Muchhala

Expert in Cloud, Strategy and Transformation

A strategic, focused, business-oriented leader and Capgemini Level 3 Certified Chief Architect, with an impressive record in architecting and building cutting edge systems that leverage new age technologies to enable clients transform their business, reduce costs and improve efficiency.
Extensive experience in
Reviewing enterprise wide business and IT architecture.
Recommending strategies that can be undertaken immediately to address key business issues by leveraging some low hanging fruits.
Defining long-term road map with a target architecture, to help an enterprise transform their business processes and IT architecture, to provide best-in class services to their customers and improving operational efficiencies.
Delivering complex projects aimed at realizing the proposed roadmap for customers through a cost-effective right-shore model
Track RoI / cost benefits for customers to evaluate the transformation initiatives undertaken.
Professional skills include:
Technical Expertise: Active, avid technologist both inside and outside the workplace. In depth, hands-on, experience with latest technology. Areas of expertise include Cloud, Microservices, IoT, eCommerce, SOA, Digital Manufacturing, etc.
Enterprise Architecture: Defined business and technology road maps; designed & implemented enterprise applications that help meet business objectives for global clients across multiple domains.
Leadership: Managed large global programs for multi-national clients across geographies, led global development teams, coached junior architects and team leads leading to high-performance teams.
Business Relations Management: Built credibility and established rapport with stakeholders at multiple levels, including those external to the organization.
Problem Solving:  Provided both tactical and strategic solutions for various customer requirements. Excellent at implementing innovative solutions while considering inherent risk and impact while constantly evaluating costs implications for clients.