How DevOps Powered by AI and Machine Learning Is Delivering Business Transformation

Green Apex Solutions Limited
7 min readJul 28, 2020

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DevOps came into being an essential part of software development mechanism more than a decade ago to address the disparity between application development and execution. Over the years, systems and efficiencies have evolved but so has the data load and the delivery complexities. For an effective and efficient DevOps, you need a lot of data, flawless operations flow, solid monitoring and effortless error recognition. Not only do companies struggle with keeping development and delivery, as two opposing streams working in sync with one another, but this also leads to a cumbersome process that is often noted to hamper growth.

However, as all tech evolves, so have possibilities of powering DevOps with futuristic and time efficient mechanisms. Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) are no longer high-sounding fancy words to pitch to Venture Capitalists but are creating path breaking assistance in otherwise exhausting tasks, case in point being DevOps Services.

Efficient Data Analysis

Time is money- this has been proved time and again and leaders in Data Science are the ones who will take away the trophy. The rut of the manual data analysis, the vast margin of errors in deployment and the tedious task of interpretations of bulk data are all burdens that DevOps service companies are very well aware of. Turning to Machine Learning makes for an interesting observation as to how Bulk Data analysis and interpretation can happen with AI. Including a script that can check for data consistency and quality after validation can increase efficiency immensely. Of course, the process of machine learning requires a to build a strategy for data acquisition and cleaning, but when this can happen extensively, not only will an automated learning and reporting mechanism change the way your application is deployed, but will also open gates for churning through all the data acquired, instead of skimming through predicted patterns taken safely from the edge when you do not have the liberty of exhaustive analysis. Machine learning is changing the way we approach data — the seriousness and extent with which we acquire it, process it and utilise it to be incorporated in our applications. This is changing the way we look at DevOps as a service, instead of merely being an operations mechanism, it is directive, responsive and effective beyond its current interpretations.

Testing for Errors

Data access and software testing are at the core of DevOps to establish efficiency and relevance of applications. In this, AI and especially Machine Learning plays a very important role in timely and accurate identification of errors and codes, thereby building a pattern for identification and communication. To make this even more seamless, training and re-training of ML for code-testing needs to be given extra attention.

Machine Learning, and AI in general, are changing the way not only we are able to gauge and assess the possible errors in our data but also possible means to correct them. Absorbing model outputs and performances helps to replicate the steps if included efficiently in the scripts. What this means then, is that once learning through digital automation has been brought about, data cleaning, correction and even interpretations and suggestions can be revealed faster during deployment, allowing a lot of scope for experimentation with the data. This will not only help to increase quality assessment efficiency but also produce directives for the future, thus preventing mistakes, even before they have happened. AI has the capability of mapping indicators that may be completely uninterpreted or misinterpreted by humans, especially in a timely manner. With the power of Machine Learning, early predictions and alert systems can lead DevOps teams into identifying and revisiting the issues at hand before any consequential damage has been done to the software development life cycle (SDLC).

Predictive Analytics is the Way to Go

With Digital Citizens leading market access and thus creating trends, assessment of bulk data is common by outsourcing to a DevOps Consulting Company. But the way this is being taken to the next level is through Predictive Analytics and Mobile Analytics with the help of AI and ML. Instead of tedious and erroneous processes, efficient ML can help pick up patterns and thereby helping read emerging trends of issues in DevOps. If you’re offering DevOps as a service, there can be little better than this edge of predictive mechanism to give you the edge. Another significant challenge that most tools in DevOps face is data retention and historical tracking. Is it easy to go back to a specific time and read patterns on a new interpretation to see how it happened back then? No! This is where AI steps in with its machine learning which enables data analysis to map a trajectory and keep all data as a reference, so we don’t have to start from ground zero every time. Imagine the way this transforms business approach by becoming more organic, adaptive and responsive with AI enabled Digital Automation! Machine learning is a constantly evolving platform that allows the system to get as close to the desired result as possible, so you’re not just building a pattern, you’re also building a path to achieve that pattern. Once the patterns are clear, analysing user behaviour, strengths and threats for a business become an inherent determinant in optimising your model.

Integrating AI with Processes and Tools

The holy trinity of DevOps- people, processes and tools are the most constantly evolving necessities of the modern business. Unfortunately though, by the time something is learnt and integrated, something else has come up and is beating the market leader. Which is why, the pink unicorns of the world like Netflix and Amazon integrate a whole culture of automation, thus ensuring a constantly learning and evolving mechanism for their applications. Which is why, the role of the Chief Analytics Officer of your organisation now becomes pivotal in deciding the curvature of growth that software development and operations can achieve in semblance.

We are looking at a time when data is not just a feedback incorporation into models that happens when an operation is well into execution. One knows how significantly important closing this loop in time changes the fate of the product but it is also known how difficult it is to achieve this. The speed and efficiency with which real time data can be processed and actions taken minimises scope of error, increases efficiency and therefore, changes the scope, actions and results of data processing through Machine Learning. Not only do we get to change testing experience but also the way we experience data and reproduce results after its assessment.

Seamless Learning in DevOps

When we are looking at a time where the future becomes the past even without us realising, principles and strategies miss or pass at the touch of a fingertip. Businesses simply cannot afford to continue in a unilateral direction to achieve success, it has to be multidimensional. When Gartner proposes the strategy of Continuous Next, he is already incorporating the learning of change management by projecting into the vivacious and fast-paced future growth in technology. Since we know now that change is and will continue to be an unavoidable component of growth, it is best to systematise it as a core of our management system. This is where AI and ML step in for scientifically and accurately helping to quantify the change and circumambulate it into development and operations.

Security and AI

If we keep our eyes and minds open, we can see how the digital wheels have already been set into motion by AI driven DevOps and their results are hard to miss. While some services have employed feedback mechanisms through AI to proactively provide learnings in programmes at very early stages, others have been using fluent and efficient communication through multiple channels using chatbots. Some of the most efficient and practical applications have been in creating priority notification systems based on machine learning to help QA teams assess issues and employ actions based on priorities. Not only that, but a lot of data security is being powered by AI to hustle against continuous and repetitive threats to data access, thus making the mundane but critical task relatively effortless for DevOps. Another tried and tested integration has been troubleshooting mechanisms set to motion rather effortlessly with machine learning, where, while removing scope of human error, AI helps to replace human necessity for repetitive and boring tasks too.

In conclusion, we are looking at a completely new scale, efficiency, treatment and learnings from data for DevOps with execution and continuous evolutionary loop with the help of ML and AI, these are not just buzzwords but are changing the way human to machine interaction happens but redefining how machine learning can help developer operations turn into time efficient, fruitful and highly accurate mechanism. It is not far off into the future when AI and Machine Learning will be integrated more deeply and substantially into organisation strategies. It is time that DevOps incorporates the same at the earliest, to ensure that by the time implementations are exercised, the DevOps Services are already powered and mastered with AI and Machine Learning, thus making the systems and approach, both adaptive as well as proactive into the race for fastest evolution.

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Green Apex Solutions Limited

The mission of Green Apex is to provide innovative and disruptive technological solutions using the Sprint concept and Agile 2.0.