DEVOPSdigest

A survey of more than 750 development team leaders in the US and UK, revealed that 68 percent plan to build more apps during the next 12 months. At the same time as reporting increased volumes of development, 91 percent of developers surveyed agree that user expectations for innovation and quality have increased, but app deliveries continue to fail.

The study entitled Application Crisis Research, conducted for Testplant, uncovered the pressures that businesses are under to continually deliver more complex apps and services, further exacerbating the pressures on DevOps teams, as organizations rush towards digital transformation.

The App Complexity Crisis

The research confirms that organizations are not only planning to build more apps in the next year, but the complexity is also increasing.

Over the next 12-18 months, 50 percent say they will develop more apps with IoT components. More than half (58 percent) say their company will develop more apps with AI components. And 62 percent say their company will increase the amount of apps deploying machine learning/deep learning components.

The App Gap

Almost half (42 percent) stated that they are expected to design, develop and test apps in an unrealistic amount of time with over a third (36 percent) admitting they are not given enough time to ensure apps are properly tested before deployment.

81 percent believe that with more time, apps deployed by their team would have a greater impact on the business.

56 percent of respondents agree that use of outdated techniques and tools is holding them back from meeting the demands of the digital world. Interestingly, 75 percent said that with better tools, apps deployed by their team would have a greater impact on the business.

Pressure Cooker

The majority of pressure comes from within the company, according to 60 percent of respondents, whereas nearly half (49 percent) say pressure comes from competitors.

66 percent feel pressure from their company to innovate quickly, and a staggering 40 percent admitted to releasing apps without testing.

On closer examination, automation beyond execution was ranked as the most critical challenge for application and software testing by 67 percent, despite 70 percent claiming they are now more focused on automated testing than they were in the past.

The digital age is upon us and technology is advancing at breakneck speeds, as evidenced by the sudden onslaught of AI, IoT, and machine learning capabilities. It is clear from the research that companies are struggling to keep up with the pace of digitalization and there will be a quality toll unless businesses see the imperative to completely re-think their traditional development processes and move towards more automated, intelligent solutions and tools. Given the top down pressure for continuous delivery and DevOps, the old manual approach to testing just doesn't work.

The next 12-18 months will be a critical period for development teams to rethink their approach to digital transformation and how to seize the opportunity. It is fair to say that if organizations continue to use outdated approaches, they will lose out on the app opportunity and they will continue to release apps and software that are not consumed.