Clinovera
First Line Software is a premier provider of software engineering, software enablement, and digital transformation services. Headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the global staff of 450 technical experts serve clients across North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia.
The combination of agile development and cloud computing has dramatically changed software delivery. And let’s be clear – there is no way to get there with waterfall and cloud! Agile and cloud are the present and the future of all software delivery for enterprises of all sizes, all industries, with focus on the customer experience, business agility, and cost reduction.
Companies using cloud with agile have already realized significant competitive advantages over their competitors — higher quality, faster market responsiveness and greater business agility. And this is not just about the start-ups….. These benefits have been realized in large, global enterprises as well.
Since its introduction in 2001, agile has become the dominant software development approach for most software companies because of its flexibility and rapid time-to-market. Cloud computing has also gained momentum over the past ten years, and is estimated to reach $500 billion in revenue by 2023, driving significant growth in the tech industry.
Agile and cloud support a paradigm called DevOps, with cloud and agile as the DevOps accelerators. Cloud supports the true realization of rapid delivery to the customer through agile. Cloud accelerates agile by supporting rapid delivery, and agile in turn forces the shift to rapid deployment (acceleration) of infrastructure and associated capacity availability through the cloud. When agile is paired with cloud, obstacles are minimized for deployment. Not only can developers test innovative ideas in their individual sandboxes, but they can also quickly deploy and test them in the marketplace, get customer feedback, and make adjustments based on that feedback. Agile and cloud bridge the divide between development and operations, and clearly demonstrate how, if worked in combination, accelerate delivery of new functionality.
Development cycles are weeks, not months. And customer experience is key, and this goes beyond just shipping more features or becoming more cost-effective. This is the realization of the customer-centric marketplace, for all goods and services.
Cloud and agile are effectively supporting the “new economy,” where small start-ups are using cloud and agile to compete with large corporations. Agile development paired with cloud supports the true realization of the benefits of cloud. Without agile, cloud is just a short term cost play, and doesn’t tap the potential of “fast to market” future of cloud development for all business units. In combination, agile and cloud help organizations of all sizes compete in the global marketplace, offering business agility, lower costs, and better customer experience.
About the author: This guest post is by Debbie Yedlin, a partner at ReedITC. She brings 25 years of extensive enterprise and consulting experience in delivering global transformation programs to the Fortune 50, with particular emphasis on Strategic Services, Program Management, Information Technology, Operations and Organizational Alignment. A Certified Scrum Master, Debbie has also been responsible for Agile development initiatives and has helped organizations implement Agile transformation initiatives.