By now we’ve seen plenty of cost justification on the efficiency of using cloud infrastructure. You can easily Google “Cloud Computing Value” and get a stack of analyst and vendor reports. Or just pop open Amazon’s AWS value calculator and plug in some numbers. There are huge one-time and recurring IT cost savings to be realized by moving on-premise systems to cloud infrastructure.
So we get a better deal on compute cost with cloud. That’s something. Now let’s wring value out of one the most expensive and high-risk IT activities: software development and testing.
Software development is still a labor-intensive task, prone to late delivery and numerous failures at every phase. Even when using a cloud infrastructure, many of the same problems persist in app dev and test groups, especially for larger enterprises. Teams wait on IT for provisioning processes. They spend time configuring and resetting test environments. And they don’t seem to be collaborating as effectively as they should be, given the elasticity they expected to achieve.
If we simply change the infrastructure for dev and test, but leave all other processes the same, are we just migrating our hardest problems to the cloud? Remember, successful change in IT only happens with “People, Process, Technology” – in that order.
So, get ready to hear a lot more about value beyond the infrastructure itself from us here at Skytap, because the work of software development and testing represents a larger investment, and the bigger improvement opportunity for most companies. Real value happens when teams collaborate more effectively, test more efficiently and adopt development approaches that increase the overall output level of new software features.
We are working closely with our leading customers to not just measure infrastructure cost savings, but understand what practices work for them, and how they can forecast and deliver higher levels of value in cloud-based DevTest environments. You can also be assured we eat our own dog food here at Skytap, using our solutions to accelerate development, test, and release cycles.
Our dev and test experiences in the field become part of Skytap’s own Business Value Realization (BVR) delivery process. Even the best technology is at best an enabler for better practices. So expect more on this value thread over the coming year as we discover more.
