The importance of DevOps for SaaS businesses

SaaS has born a big marketplace for the Information Technology sphere. Because of its demand there is an urge to develop quality products. In the modern world, if you have to expand on the market, it is not enough to have an extraordinary idea. If the company wants to expand the number of loyal customers and increase the revenue, it must have timely approach in delivery scheme.

High-speed innovation has allowed startups like Amazon, Google, and Netflix to dominate markets. However, at some point, they all ran into problems familiar to existing companies. Slow, risky releases and the gap between development (dev) and operations (ops) pushed them towards a radical DevOps strategy.

Why DevOps?

To gain an edge over SaaS Enterprise competitors or even other startups, enterprises need to deploy DevOps automation. Continuous delivery with zero downtime is always critical for all projects. DevOps bridges the gap between operational engineers and developers and saves time.

What do you need for DevOps solution?

The main reason companies fail to realize the benefits of DevOps is a lack of planning. If you are going to implement DevOps as a part of SaaS automation process, you should remember the things below:

• Design and Process Assessment: to ensure CI/CD, enterprises need to evaluate the workflow and designs of the application to align with DevOps.
• Define deployment areas: all distribution processes should be outlined. In case of any inconsistencies, standardize the process at this stage.
• Organize deployment: As soon as the process of deployment has been planned in details and aligned with the strategy, delivery needs to be automated. This way the code will be delivered just by clicking a button.  
• Testing: it ought to be automated so that errors do not interfere with the process. This way recovery will be easier.
• Alerts: they should work instantly and notify the team of any issue during  the deployment process.
• Make a rule to address any problem immediately.

Advantages of DevOps

Creating continuous integration process

Continuous Integration enables you to build, test, and deploy your code across multiple environments. Developers do not need to worry about making changes as feedback is fast, and problems are quickly identified when they arise. Changes are not applied until they are created and tested in a repetitive manner. This early step in the CI / CD pipeline helps quickly identify problems and should be the first step every SaaS launch must take.

Using continuous integration server

Deploying a continuous integration server allows developers to walk their code through multiple environments and tests. Provides stability across various systems and increases confidence when deployed in a production environment, allowing for faster product releases and updates.

Installing continuous deployment (CD)

As a SaaS startup, you want to systematically launch a new environment or build servers and deploy code to them for development, testing, or production. The software must be ready for deployment at all times. Think of it as the process of clicking a button: when you have a new feature, the infrastructure is deployed, and the code is already written, ready, and waiting to run.

Using CI / CD Pipeline

The CI / CD pipeline helps you deliver features and fixes to your customers as soon as possible. This strategy starts by creating your application or function, integrating it, and deploying it. This multi-step process ultimately helps prevent errors that could affect your users even before they are deployed. If something slips in the process, the source is easily identifiable so that you can fix it faster for redeployment.

Implementing Automated Testing Into CI / CD Pipeline

This is an essential aspect of your CI / CD process that cannot be bypassed if you want to stand out from your SaaS competitors. Outdated testing methods slow the pipeline down to traversal, and developers often view these methods as obstacles to continuous delivery. Automated testing enables customers to deliver capabilities faster, with higher quality, and more security.

Realization

Introducing new features to your customers quickly builds your solution's reputation and ultimately attracts new customers. This is why partnering with an experienced DevOps team is essential for SaaS startups. The faster you can turn an idea or customer request into a feature of your application, the quicker you can determine that feature's business value.

DevOps and CI / CD implementation can seem like an important project, mainly when your priorities should be focused on the SaaS product. DevOps benefits your SaaS company in various ways, from improving workplace interactions and workflow optimization to reducing TTM and cost-effectiveness.

How you use the DevOps mindset depends on the specific needs and budget of your SaaS business.