Kate Duggan

22 November 2017

Major new study reveals the true ROI of database DevOps

DevOps is moving into the mainstream, and the database is now being included, but what still holds some organizations back is the thorny issue of calculating the Return on Investment. If you’re a decision-maker in charge of running software development teams, you need to know that the investment you make in adopting new processes and tooling will deliver tangible results.

To directly address this concern, Redgate has launched a new research study that reveals the benefits different stakeholders can expect from DevOps, and provides a powerful methodology for calculating the ROI of database DevOps.

Highlighting the real benefits

The first part of the new ROI of Database DevOps research whitepaper is based on a study by highly experienced IT Director David Linwood, who undertook an MSc research project to discover the key success factors of DevOps. Over a six month period, he compiled a list of the most cited DevOps benefits, and then compared them with the views of IT professionals who practice DevOps. Of the seven key benefits to emerge, the headlines were the faster speed and lower cost of releases, improved operational support and fixes, and a quicker time to market.

David Linwood then added another aspect to his research by looking at the benefits from the perspective of the different stakeholders – the CEO, CIO and IT Manager. As David says: “The only way to get a real understanding of the benefits of DevOps is to look at it through the lenses of those involved. CEOs, for example, are concerned about lower costs and higher revenues. CIOs, on the other hand, are more interested in cross-team collaboration. For IT Managers, higher performance and a reduction in defects are the major focus.”

The whitepaper shows the top seven benefits of DevOps – and then highlights how these and 17 further benefits are ranked by CEOs, CIOs, and IT Managers. By learning how the success to be gained from DevOps is viewed by the different stakeholders, it becomes much easier to understand how you might seek buy-in for this process change across your own organization.

Calculating the real ROI

The second part of the research focuses on the database specifically and goes into the numbers – the $ savings that can be realized by adopting elements of DevOps for the database.

The ROI of DevOps for applications has been widely discussed, but the database cannot be left behind, particularly when tooling has emerged that integrates with, and works alongside, the infrastructure already in place for applications.

Without a directly measurable monetary return that goes beyond a benefit like a faster time to market, however, the value of introducing DevOps for the database can still be questioned.

Using widely accepted industry figures, the method of calculating the cost of software development, together with the cost of introducing new DevOps processes and tools, is shown. With these figures to hand, the whitepaper then illustrates how the savings to be gained and the resultant ROI of database DevOps can be calculated.

To demonstrate the validity of the methodology, three real-world examples of introducing DevOps to different elements of the database development process are outlined. In database provisioning, continuous integration & automated deployment, and performance monitoring, substantial ROI figures emerge that demonstrate why DevOps for the database is now a business imperative.

Importantly, because the methodology is open and transparent, it can be used as a blueprint for any company or organization to calculate their own ROI.

To find out more, download a copy of The ROI of Database DevOps whitepaper.