How DevOps will help banks regain the competitive edge discussed at breakfast briefing

Senior representatives of financial services organisations gathered at a DevOps Breakfast Briefing hosted in London by IndigoBlue and Peru Consulting

London, 11 October 2017 - Senior representatives of well-known financial services organisations gathered at a Breakfast Briefing hosted by Agile consultancy IndigoBlue in partnership with Peru Consulting to discuss the key role DevOps will play in tackling the challenges posed by startup competitors.

In recent years, the banking sector has been significantly challenged by innovative non-bank companies that use banking infrastructure to provide value-added offerings.

These startups use Agile delivery and DevOps practices to respond rapidly to user needs and the evolving marketplace. In contrast, the large financial service organisations whose infrastructure these startups exploit are typically weighed down by legacy infrastructure and traditional software delivery practices.

Through its DevOps consultancy and the extensive experience of its Agile consultants, IndigoBlue has supported large organisations such as the Metropolitan Police and the Ministry of Justice to establish DevOps, facilitating the incremental delivery of digital products and services.

IndigoBlue’s DevOps services lead, John Wright, explained to the assembled guests that to be responsive to business and consumer needs, IT organisations needed to become capable of faster release cycles while remaining committed to quality and security. A DevOps approach was needed, requiring an evolution in skill sets, culture and ways of working.

IndigoBlue’s principal DevOps specialist, Brett Delle Grazie, explained the traditional perceptions of Development, Operations and Architecture, with silo working causing delays and inefficiencies. He then set out the DevOps approach, in which software engineering principles are applied both to software development and IT infrastructure, and in which specialist representatives of Operations and Security are embedded in Development teams.

At the heart of the approach was the concept of “shifting things to the left”, i.e. deploying to production as early as possible, providing early visibility to the Compliance, Security and Architecture teams and ensuring that their integrations worked from the outset.

He said that DevOps acted as the “grease in the wheels”, promoting trust, communication and collaboration between the different disciplines.

During a floor discussion, guests described blockers they had encountered in driving forward the DevOps approach, including vendor capability issues, legacy environments, and governance and compliance obstacles.

Encouragingly, the guests had already employed a variety of enablers to make real progress: showing that deploying as early as possible increases transparency; proving that releasing smaller batches reduces risk; and demonstrating how DevOps enhances rather than impedes governance through its emphasis on standardising approaches, policies and tools.

To discuss how IndigoBlue’s DevOps consultancy can support your own organisation on its journey towards DevOps maturity, contact John Wright at john.wright@indigoblue.co.uk.

IndigoBlue is one of the UK’s leading consultancies specialising in the application of Agile, Lean and DevOps processes for strategic consultancy, and programme and project management. IndigoBlue provides management and consultancy services that enable our customers to harness the benefits of Agile and achieve lasting competitive advantage from technology investment. For more information visit www.indigoblue.co.uk.

IndigoBlue
3-4a Little Portland Street
London
W1W 7JB
United Kingdom

Contact: Paul Dykes paul.dykes@indigoblue.co.uk

This release was published on openPR.