You’re hearing a lot today about the drive toward digital transformation. You’re also hearing a lot about the competitive need to implement a DevOps model. What savvy companies realize is that DevOps drives digital transformation, and vice versa.

Digital transformation is a model in which companies rethink traditional processes and approaches and embrace digital solutions and automation to increase innovation. DevOps, meanwhile, is a software development and delivery process that emphasizes communication and collaboration among product management, software development and operations professionals, with a goal of delivering applications and services more quickly and efficiently to meet customer demand.

Many people think of digital transformation as using more and more technology. But to achieve true digital transformation, companies have to do more than just pile on more tech products and services. Rather, digital transformation requires a radical, strategic rethinking of the ways in which—and speed at which–technology is integrated throughout the organization and its processes.

That’s where DevOps comes in. The DevOps model can improve the way organizations update existing applications, as well as how often and how well they release new internal and external services. DevOps certainly isn’t the only tool that companies are leveraging to digitally transform their companies, but it’s arguably one of the most important.

DevOps implementations use automation to accelerate IT service delivery and increase the standardization of systems and processes used to build, test, and run new software applications. DevOps initiatives break down the silos among various teams in the software development lifecycle–and the organization in general. Organizations that invest in a DevOps model—and commit to the cultural changes required to make it work effectively—can deploy code more frequently and with fewer failures, which speeds time to market for new and updated software applications and functionality.

And therein lies the critical connection between digital transformation and DevOps: Digital transformation isn’t a one-and-done process. It’s an ongoing process by which companies are constantly looking for new ways to leverage technology to improve internal and external customers’ experiences and the business’s bottom line.  With a DevOps model in place, business managers can be assured that strategic initiatives can be put into place in a tangible manner without the lag time seen back in the days of the “dev queue.”

How do you reach this critical juncture between DevOps and digital transformation?

In addition to close and constant communication among business and technology stakeholders, companies must set strategic IT priorities to:

By focusing on these areas within the context of the DevOps model, companies will be well positioned for digital—and business–transformation.

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