BizDevOps and Real-time Metrics are topics that are very important to LeanIX. On the one hand because we notice their importance for our clients every day, on the other because we believe that both are important bases of a modern IT to successfully meet the challenges of digitalisation. We are very happy that Forrester agrees with us on this path in their current report.
The importance of BizDevOps
“CIOs of all industries already know or will know shortly that traditional approaches to IT delivery cannot do justice to customers’ expectations and the increasing speed of innovation.”
Forrester mentions two main points for organizations how to deal with these challenges:
IT has to build a homogenous team that can act at the highest speed possible and puts the customer at the heart of its efforts. This is exactly the essence of DevOps. DevOps allows the IT to react quickly to market developments and problems – and to ensure that the best code is always running in production. Techniques like Continuous Deployment help IT to reach this goal.
Business has to take on responsibility – the times during which departments pass their requirements to IT and let them work on them for six months are definitely over. As DevOps reaches its limits if Business keeps thinking in requirement specifications, it is necessary for organizations to build bridges. Someone has to make the decision whether improved performance, fixed errors or the new functionalities are the most important thing right now. This decision can only be made by the business and it has to be communicated quickly and directly.
Customer orientation – the meaning of metrics
Forrester recommends a clear customer orientation instead of technical orientation for companies. In particular, companies ought to be “insight driven”, meaning they get to know everything about the customer. We are taking even a step further. Metrics offers LeanIX users the chance not just to have data about customer behavior, e.g. number of logins to a website, but also data about performance and stability of IT systems at a glance. Only this way the responsible people for applications from business and IT can take a joint decision how to best react to customers.
Impact on IT architecture
Forrester stresses open IT as another basis. LeanIX agrees with that. LeanIX offers a collaborative platform to enable cooperation of everyone involved instead of thinking in the silos of old. We can also see the trend to let the IT architecture be generated from loosely connected building blocks. We are also using microservices for the exact same reason. Only if systems are divided up in small, manageable parts can teams manage their complexity. Prerequisites are stable and well documented APIs that other systems can rely on.
The end of bimodal IT?
Forrester is calling for the end of bimodal IT and appeals to organizations to use an integrated approach. While the objective is understandable, the path for companies has to be considered. For our client Axel Springer bimodal IT is a key element to manage digital transformation.
In most companies there is still an organizational separation between IT development, IT operations and Business Status Quo. Large, established software systems like SAP mean a dependency on external suppliers – what use is continuous deployment if the supplier only passes on a new version every six months? And what happens if I am not yet in a technical position to implement continuous deployment? This is where a look at bimodal IT is still relevant and this is where the advantages of a lean EAM come into play.
