The world of finance changes rapidly. New technologies and customer expectations put pressure on financial institutions to release updates faster. However, the highly regulated nature of the industry also demands that new rollouts adhere to compliance rules and provide adequate security. This causes a lag in delivery speed.
DevOps offers a solution by bridging the gap between speed and safety. Read on to learn how.
What Exactly is DevOps?
DevOps brings together everyone involved with a software application – developers, operations, QA, security, etc. – and treats them as one team. It is the combination of software development (the Dev part) and IT operations (the Ops).
In the past, these groups worked in their own silos and only came together after finishing their independent tasks. DevOps breaks down those walls so everyone collaborates from start to finish.
This unified approach automates manual processes and provides tools to quickly build, test, and release updates in small batches. New changes deploy rapidly through the same standardized steps instead of varied homegrown workflows.
Think of it as an assembly line for software updates – but with quality checks after each stage to prevent any defects from moving forward.
Top Benefits of Adopting DevOps
Switching to DevOps brings several advantages:
Faster Innovation Cycles
Smaller changes release more often without delays between teams. New features, upgrades, and experiments deploy rapidly to customers.
Improved Product Quality
Issues get caught early with consistent testing at multiple points. This reduces costly errors and protects company reputation.
Enhanced Data Protection
Automated security scans provide greater coverage than sporadic manual reviews. Controls stay consistent through the process.
Higher Operational Efficiency
Standardizing deployments saves time previously lost to fragmented approaches. Automation also cuts waste spent rectifying mistakes.
Better Customer Experiences
Frequent updates mean customers consistently access the latest capabilities tuned to their evolving needs.
According to research by McKinsey, companies that adopt DevOps practices can achieve deployment frequencies that are 200 times faster than their peers. Financial institutions can close feature gaps with competitors faster as a result.
Explore Our Software Development Services at a Glance
Conquering Compliance Struggles
Leaders sometimes worry that moving too fast might undermine compliance rules or reduce critical data protections. But designed thoughtfully, DevOps enhances governance.
Gradually Transitioning Legacy Systems
Instead of a risky immediate overhaul, companies can take a staggered approach. Critical services stay on legacy systems while automation expands to peripheral applications first. Lessons from smaller wins then guide larger modernization efforts.
Incorporating Controls Into Each Phase
Automated pipelines apply the same pre-defined checks during code reviews, test executions, infrastructure provisioning, and deployment stages. Security and compliance protocols embed within the process to prevent lapses.
Expanding Testing Scope
Comprehensive regression testing suites rapidly validate changes against business requirements and usage scenarios. Tests occur much more frequently as well – sometimes daily. This provides greater assurance of quality and compliance than sporadic manual testing.
Automating Deployment Pipelines
The key to accelerating deployments in a compliant way is implementing robust automation. Leading financial institutions like Capital One and JP Morgan use pipeline tools like Jenkins, Bamboo, or AWS CodePipeline to standardize release procedures.
These pipelines turn code changes into production-grade applications by orchestrating tasks like:
- Pulling the latest code from a repository
- Building executables and infrastructure templates
- Running extensive automated test batteries
- Scanning for security vulnerabilities
- Requesting approvals from oversight teams
- Deploying approved changes to customer-facing environments
Admin dashboards offer real-time visibility into pipeline health metrics and stages for each application. Automated tracking helps answer audits as well.
By codifying release protocols, risks reduce from inconsistent human execution or missed process steps. Automated pipelines enable faster innovation without compromising compliance.
Real-World Examples
Multiple financial organizations have already modernized platforms using DevOps practices:
- Santander Bank reduced deployment lead times by 70% and boosted releases from twice per year to over 20 times
- The London Stock Exchange shortened change review and testing cycles from months to just hours
- Online bank Bunq can conceptualize a new feature and release it within an hour using extensive test automation
- Payment platform Stripe runs automated test batteries against its services nearly 70 times per day
Getting Started With DevOps
Transitioning from legacy Waterfall methods requires strategic planning. Financial players should take an iterative approach:
Assess Existing Platforms
Audit current release processes and toolchains. Identify bottlenecks for enhancement opportunities. Set goals around lead time, quality, and compliance metrics.
Start Small
Begin modernization efforts with peripheral systems first. Target applications handling lower volumes or less sensitive data initially.
Phase Rollouts
Roll out revisions across departments incrementally. Fine tune procedures before expanding implementations more broadly.
Train Teams
Educate staff early on both technical and cultural aspects of DevOps. Foster tighter collaboration between groups.
Consider Compliance Always
Engage risk and security groups in designing automated pipelines. Embed control checks within systems using infrastructure-as-code techniques.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q. How can we adopt DevOps without compromising compliance and security?
A. Design pipelines purposefully to apply the same standards across environments. Infrastructure-as-code and policy-as-code approaches help enforce organizational rules reliably at scale. Security and compliance specialists should actively participate as well.
Q. What skill sets do we need to build for DevOps success?
A. While some new technical capabilities help, DevOps depends more on willingness to collaborate across functions. Operations staff gain development skills. Developers accept operational responsibilities. Automation skills like scripting become mandatory. Soft skills enable better cross-group partnerships.
Q. How long does it take to demonstrate ROI from DevOps investments?
A. While early efforts take 3-6 months to setup, optimized pipelines recoup costs through efficiencies in 6-12 months typically. After cultural and process maturity reach critical mass, productivity and innovation velocity savings accumulate quickly.
Conclusion
DevOps enables financial institutions to release innovations faster without compromising reliability or compliance. Automation, collaboration, and incremental modernization of systems allows companies to respond rapidly to market demands. Maintaining high standards through built-in controls provides the confidence needed to increase deployment speeds. Visionary leaders who adopt these principles position their firms for long-term competitive advantages.
Accelerate Innovation with DevOps! Talk to Our Experts Today.
