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As more enterprises make the move toward utilizing a DevOps approach to software development, many of them are still seeing a problem the process is suppose to eradicate: They’re experiencing a software testing bottleneck called the “QA wall” that puts a damper on the speed of software releases.
DevOps emphasizes cooperation between developers and IT operations. The goal of DevOps is to change and improve the relationship between software developers and operations by advocating better communication and collaboration between the two business units. Continuous delivery and rapid iteration of software versions and security patches are two of the desired results of DevOps.
But this new-fangled approach to IT apparently isn’t working for everybody in exactly that manner.
Testing Phase is Where the Problem Lies
This bottleneck information emanates from new data via a Vanson Bourne survey commissioned by DevOps platform maker Appvance. It revealed that while 73 percent of respondents have adopted some DevOps processes, 54 percent of those adoptees have identified their current QA automation as a bottleneck.
Seventy-nine percent of respondents reported that increasing the frequency of software releases is a priority for their organization. The same percentage agreed that increasing the frequency of software releases would help them achieve their business objectives.
“Enterprises have adopted agile and continuous-delivery processes to improve efficiency, productivity and to deliver business results, but they often maintain traditional thinking about software testing, which has not changed significantly in over twenty years,” Appvance CEO Kevin Surace said.
“As a result, companies still struggle to get past the QA Wall created by old test automation tools that can’t move as fast as DevOps moves. Until the silos created by those tools are eliminated, the QA Wall will continue to impede software release schedules.”
The survey was conducted by Vanson Bourne in October 2016, and polled 200 Enterprise IT decision makers in the U.S. for their thoughts on DevOps and software testing. To download a complimentary copy of the research report, go here.
DevOps Still Very Popular
There has been a flurry of activity in the agile and DevOps worlds of late, with vendors providing new software, services and support for developers.
The goal of agile environments is to get developers to move their applications from source code to production as quickly and painlessly as possible. This means breaking down silos and integrating core components for more simplified development using a contiguous pipeline approach.