Redgate’s 2020 State of Database DevOps Report highlights agility of financial services sector
Healthcare and government sectors are among those that could learn from financial services businesses when it comes to developing their databases, according to a report by Cambridge software company Redgate.
Its 2020 State of Database DevOps Report highlights how the finance sector is focused on speed of development and freeing up developer time.
DevOps is the practice of bringing together developers and IT teams to enable software to be built, test, released and updated more quickly and reliably than through traditional approaches.
Redgate, based on Cambridge Business Park, helps companies to adopt this iterative approach in relation to database development.
Its latest annual report finds 77 per cent of companies in financial services use DevOps for some or all of their projects, compared to 69 per cent in other sectors.
And 34 per cent of respondents in financial services say increased speed of delivery is the biggest driver for automating the delivery of database changes, compared to 26 per cent across other sectors.
Report author Kendra Little, Redgate DevOps advocate, said: “At the heart of what makes the financial services sector so interesting is its willingness to adopt a generative culture, which focuses on breaking free of siloes and promoting a proactive, collaborative atmosphere.
“It’s what makes DevOps adoption work so well. This is a far cry from the culture and structure we saw from respondents in other sectors, which were often marred by little to no co-operation, and an inability to adapt to change.”
Financial services companies need to respond quickly to customers’ expectations of added value, while meeting regulatory requirements and protecting data privacy.
Yet 54 per cent of financial services businesses now deploy database changes daily, weekly, or on demand, compared to 49 per cent across other sectors.
And 66 per cent believe the move from traditional database development to a fully automated process for deployment could be achieved in a year or less - a figure that rises to 69 per cent in the US and compares to 61 per cent across other sectors.
Only eight per cent had no plans to adopt DevOps in the next two years, compared to 14 per cent in other sectors.
The main obstacles to adopting the practice were considered to be the disruption to existing workflows/business (25 per cent) and a lack of skills in the team (22 per cent).
Kendra added: “What’s fascinating about the deeper sector analysis is the way businesses in financial services are innovating faster and further than any other sector.
“The data shows they face the same obstacles and challenges, but most are still surging ahead. Those who are lagging behind may need to revisit their digital transformation plans in order to remain competitive.”
Responses came from developers, database specialists and IT leadership around the world across all industry verticals, and from small companies to big enterprises.
The full report can be downloaded at redgate.com.
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