How DevOps can help your business

Discover the transformative power of DevOps in software development. Explore collaboration, efficiency, and continuous improvement.

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Introduction

DevOps is a transformative approach to software development that has gained significant traction in the modern business landscape. It focuses on breaking down the traditional silos between development and operations teams to foster collaboration, efficiency, and continuous improvement. In this blog, we will delve into the world of DevOps and explore how its practices can benefit businesses.

What is DevOps?

DevOps is a software development approach that combines development (Dev) and operations (Ops) teams to streamline the software delivery process. It aims to break down the traditional barriers between these teams and promote collaboration, communication, and shared responsibility throughout the development lifecycle.

At its core, DevOps is guided by several principles and objectives. First, it emphasizes close collaboration and integration between development and operations teams, ensuring that both sides work together seamlessly to achieve common goals. This collaboration eliminates the traditional handoffs and silos that often lead to delays, miscommunication, and inefficiencies.

Another key principle of DevOps is the automation of processes. By automating tasks such as code deployment, testing, and infrastructure provisioning, DevOps enables faster and more reliable software delivery. Automation reduces the risk of human error and accelerates the feedback loop, allowing teams to iterate and improve their software continuously.

DevOps also places a strong emphasis on continuous improvement. It encourages teams to adopt a culture of learning, experimentation, and feedback. By continuously assessing and optimizing processes, DevOps teams strive for greater efficiency, quality, and customer satisfaction.

By bridging the gap between development and operations, DevOps fosters collaboration and efficiency. Development teams gain a deeper understanding of operational challenges and considerations, while operations teams become more involved in the development process, providing valuable insights and feedback. This close collaboration leads to faster feedback cycles, quicker issue resolution, and ultimately, the delivery of high-quality software products that meet user needs and exceed expectations.

Streamlined Development and Deployment

DevOps practices bring significant improvements to software development and deployment cycles, enabling organizations to deliver software faster and more frequently. This streamlined approach offers numerous benefits, including increased productivity, shorter time-to-market, and improved software quality.

Continuous integration (CI) is a fundamental DevOps practice that involves regularly merging code changes into a shared repository. This process allows development teams to detect and address integration issues early on, promoting collaboration and reducing the risk of conflicts. By automating the CI process, developers can build, test, and validate their code changes quickly and efficiently.

Continuous delivery (CD) builds upon CI by automating the release process, allowing organizations to deliver software updates more frequently and reliably. With CD, software changes undergo a series of automated tests and checks before being deployed into production. This ensures that only stable and tested code reaches the end-users, reducing the likelihood of bugs and issues. The ability to deploy software updates rapidly and consistently gives organizations a competitive edge in rapidly evolving markets.

Automated testing is an essential component of DevOps practices, enabling organizations to achieve efficient and reliable software releases. Automated tests, including unit tests, integration tests, and performance tests, are executed automatically as part of the CI/CD pipeline. By automating the testing process, organizations can detect bugs and issues early, ensuring the software's functionality, stability, and performance. This reduces the need for manual testing, saves time, and improves the overall quality of the software.

By adopting DevOps practices, organizations can streamline their development and deployment processes, allowing for faster and more frequent software releases. Continuous integration, continuous delivery, and automated testing contribute to efficient and reliable software releases, empowering organizations to meet customer demands, respond to market changes, and stay ahead of the competition.

Enhanced Collaboration and Communication (200-250 words)

DevOps practices promote improved collaboration and communication among cross-functional teams, breaking down silos and fostering a culture of shared responsibilities. By promoting collaboration and knowledge sharing, DevOps enables teams to work together more effectively, resulting in improved efficiency and better outcomes.

One of the key benefits of DevOps is the breaking down of silos that traditionally exist between development, operations, and other teams involved in the software development lifecycle. DevOps encourages these teams to work together, share their expertise, and collaborate on decision-making processes. This collaborative approach helps to eliminate bottlenecks and delays caused by fragmented workflows, resulting in faster and more efficient development cycles.

By fostering shared responsibilities, DevOps encourages teams to take ownership of the entire software development and deployment process. Rather than operating in isolated silos, individuals across different functions collaborate and contribute to the success of the project. This shared responsibility mindset promotes a sense of accountability and empowers team members to make informed decisions that benefit the overall project.

Knowledge sharing is a fundamental aspect of DevOps culture. It encourages team members to openly share their knowledge, skills, and experiences with one another. This knowledge sharing helps to spread best practices, learn from past experiences, and avoid repeating mistakes. It also promotes continuous learning and professional development within the team.

Feedback loops play a vital role in DevOps collaboration and communication. By establishing feedback mechanisms, teams can collect insights, identify areas for improvement, and address any issues or bottlenecks promptly. Feedback loops enable teams to iterate and refine their processes continuously, leading to continuous improvement and higher quality outcomes.

Scalability and Flexibility

DevOps practices facilitate scalability and flexibility in meeting changing business demands. By adopting DevOps principles, organizations can leverage technologies such as infrastructure as code (IaC) and cloud computing to achieve efficient resource allocation and scale their systems as needed.

Infrastructure as code (IaC) is a fundamental concept in DevOps that allows infrastructure provisioning and management through code rather than manual processes. With IaC, organizations can define and manage their infrastructure using configuration files, scripts, or declarative code. This approach provides several benefits for scalability and flexibility. It allows for the rapid provisioning of infrastructure resources, enabling teams to scale up or down their infrastructure based on demand. Additionally, IaC ensures consistency and reproducibility, as the infrastructure configuration is version-controlled and can be easily replicated across different environments.

Cloud computing plays a pivotal role in the scalability and flexibility enabled by DevOps. Cloud platforms offer on-demand access to a vast array of computing resources, including virtual machines, storage, and networking. By leveraging cloud services, organizations can scale their infrastructure resources dynamically, adjusting capacity based on real-time demands. This elasticity allows businesses to handle spikes in traffic, accommodate growth, and optimize resource utilization.

Furthermore, cloud platforms provide additional services and tools that support scalability and flexibility. For example, auto-scaling features automatically adjust resources based on predefined rules or metrics, ensuring optimal performance and cost-efficiency. Load balancers distribute traffic across multiple instances, preventing bottlenecks and enhancing scalability. Database scaling options enable organizations to handle increasing data volumes without compromising performance.

In combination, infrastructure as code (IaC) and cloud computing provide organizations with the ability to scale their infrastructure resources quickly and efficiently. DevOps practices leverage these technologies to ensure that businesses can adapt to changing demands, handle increased workloads, and optimize resource allocation, ultimately enabling them to deliver products and services more effectively and meet customer expectations.

Improved Stability and Reliability

DevOps practices contribute to improved stability and reliability of software systems. By implementing proactive monitoring, automated error detection, and efficient incident response, organizations can ensure high system availability and deliver a seamless and dependable experience to their users.

Proactive monitoring is a critical aspect of maintaining system stability. DevOps teams implement monitoring tools and practices to gather real-time data on system performance, resource utilization, and user behavior. This enables them to identify potential issues or bottlenecks before they escalate, allowing for prompt action and proactive optimization. Through continuous monitoring, organizations can ensure that their systems are running optimally, anticipate potential problems, and make informed decisions to prevent service disruptions.

Automated error detection is another essential component of maintaining system stability. DevOps practices encourage the implementation of automated testing and quality assurance processes, including unit tests, integration tests, and performance tests. By automating the detection of errors and inconsistencies, organizations can identify issues early in the development cycle and address them proactively. This reduces the likelihood of critical issues reaching production environments, minimizing downtime and enhancing system reliability.

Efficient incident response is essential for ensuring high system availability. DevOps teams establish incident response procedures and workflows to handle potential disruptions effectively. By having well-defined incident management processes, organizations can respond swiftly to incidents, minimize downtime, and restore services promptly. DevOps practices also emphasize post-incident analysis and learning, enabling teams to identify root causes, implement preventive measures, and continuously improve system stability and reliability.

By integrating proactive monitoring, automated error detection, and efficient incident response into their DevOps practices, organizations can enhance the stability and reliability of their software systems. This leads to improved system availability, reduced downtime, and ultimately, a better user experience. The focus on continuous improvement and proactive measures ensures that businesses can deliver reliable and dependable services to their customers, building trust and loyalty in the process.

Cost Optimization

DevOps practices can lead to cost optimization by minimizing wasteful processes and improving resource utilization. By leveraging cloud-based infrastructure and automated provisioning, organizations can reduce infrastructure costs and optimize their spending.

DevOps practices eliminate wasteful processes by streamlining workflows and automating repetitive tasks. Continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) pipelines remove manual handoffs and reduce the risk of errors and delays. By automating tasks such as code builds, testing, and deployments, organizations can save time and resources, resulting in cost savings.

Cloud-based infrastructure is a key enabler of cost optimization in DevOps. Cloud platforms offer flexible and scalable infrastructure resources on a pay-as-you-go basis. This eliminates the need for upfront investments in physical hardware and allows organizations to scale resources up or down based on demand. By leveraging cloud services, businesses can avoid the costs associated with managing and maintaining on-premises infrastructure, leading to significant cost savings.

Automated provisioning, facilitated by infrastructure as code (IaC), further contributes to cost optimization. With IaC, organizations can define and provision infrastructure resources programmatically, reducing the time and effort required for manual setup. This automation ensures consistent and reproducible infrastructure deployments while minimizing the risk of errors. By automating the provisioning process, organizations can optimize resource allocation, avoid overprovisioning, and reduce unnecessary costs.

By adopting DevOps practices, organizations can optimize costs by eliminating wasteful processes, leveraging cloud-based infrastructure, and automating provisioning. These practices not only improve resource utilization but also reduce infrastructure costs, leading to overall cost savings for the organization. By focusing on cost optimization alongside development and operational efficiency, DevOps enables businesses to achieve a balance between maximizing value and minimizing expenses.

Security and Compliance

DevOps practices address security concerns and compliance requirements by integrating security measures throughout the development lifecycle and implementing security-focused testing and monitoring.

DevOps promotes a proactive and holistic approach to security. Security considerations are embedded into every stage of the development process, from design and coding to testing and deployment. By implementing secure coding practices, conducting regular security assessments, and performing vulnerability scans, organizations can identify and mitigate potential security risks early on. This helps in reducing the chances of security breaches and ensuring the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of data.

Continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) pipelines in DevOps enable the automated execution of security-focused tests. This includes static code analysis, vulnerability scanning, and penetration testing. These tests help identify security vulnerabilities and weaknesses in the application code and infrastructure configuration. By addressing these issues in a timely manner, organizations can proactively improve the security posture of their systems.

Monitoring and incident response are also essential components of a secure DevOps practice. By implementing robust monitoring and logging mechanisms, organizations can detect and respond to security incidents promptly. Real-time monitoring helps identify unauthorized access attempts, unusual behavior patterns, or potential breaches, allowing organizations to take immediate action to mitigate risks and prevent further damage.

In addition, DevOps teams ensure compliance with industry-specific regulations and standards. By aligning development and operations processes with compliance requirements, organizations can demonstrate adherence to security and privacy guidelines. This includes implementing access controls, encryption measures, and audit trails to protect sensitive data and meet regulatory obligations.

By adopting DevOps practices, organizations can address security concerns and compliance requirements effectively. By integrating security measures throughout the development lifecycle, implementing security-focused testing and monitoring, and ensuring compliance with industry standards, DevOps teams can build secure and compliant software systems. This approach enhances the organization's ability to protect sensitive data, maintain customer trust, and meet regulatory obligations.

Real-World Examples and Case Studies

Real-world examples and case studies showcase the successful implementations of DevOps in various industries. These examples demonstrate the tangible benefits and outcomes achieved by organizations that have embraced DevOps practices.

One notable example is Netflix, a leading provider of streaming services. By adopting a DevOps culture, Netflix has transformed the way video streaming services operate. They have achieved rapid deployment, continuous integration, and continuous delivery. Through automation and infrastructure as code, Netflix can deliver new features and updates to millions of subscribers worldwide seamlessly. This has led to improved customer satisfaction, increased availability, and a highly scalable platform.

Another example is Etsy, a popular e-commerce marketplace. Etsy implemented DevOps practices to enhance collaboration and accelerate software delivery. By adopting continuous integration and deployment, they reduced the time from code commit to production deployment from weeks to hours. This resulted in faster feature releases, shorter feedback loops, and increased customer engagement. Etsy's DevOps implementation also led to improved stability, with a significant reduction in production incidents.

Amazon, a leading global e-commerce platform, has leveraged DevOps to achieve unparalleled scalability and reliability. Their use of infrastructure as code and automated deployment pipelines allows them to handle massive traffic loads during peak shopping seasons. By embracing DevOps, Amazon can rapidly innovate, experiment with new features, and quickly respond to customer demands. This has solidified their position as a trusted and customer-centric online marketplace.

Capital One, a prominent financial services company, embraced DevOps to improve software delivery and enhance customer experience. By implementing continuous integration and delivery, they reduced their time to market for new features and products. This resulted in faster innovation cycles, improved customer satisfaction, and increased competitiveness in the financial industry.

These real-world examples highlight the tangible benefits achieved through successful DevOps implementations. Organizations have experienced faster time to market, improved software quality, enhanced collaboration between teams, and increased operational efficiency. The flexibility, scalability, and reliability enabled by DevOps practices have proven instrumental in driving business success across various industries.

Getting Started with DevOps

Getting started with DevOps requires careful planning and a strategic approach. Here are some practical tips to help businesses embark on their DevOps journey:

  1. Assess your current state: Evaluate your existing development and operations processes, identify pain points, and determine areas for improvement. This assessment will provide a baseline for your DevOps transformation.
  2. Define your goals: Clearly define the objectives you want to achieve with DevOps. Whether it's faster software delivery, improved collaboration, or enhanced customer satisfaction, having well-defined goals will guide your implementation.
  3. Foster a culture of collaboration: DevOps is not just about tools and processes; it's a cultural shift. Encourage collaboration, communication, and shared responsibilities between development and operations teams. Break down silos and promote cross-functional teamwork.
  4. Invest in training and upskilling: Provide training and resources to empower your teams with the skills and knowledge necessary for DevOps. This includes learning automation tools, version control systems, and continuous integration/delivery practices.
  5. Embrace automation: Automate repetitive tasks, such as builds, testing, and deployments, to eliminate manual errors and improve efficiency. Implement infrastructure as code (IaC) to enable automated provisioning and configuration management.
  6. Select the right tools: Choose tools that align with your DevOps goals and support your technology stack. This may include version control systems (e.g., Git), continuous integration tools (e.g., Jenkins), and configuration management tools (e.g., Ansible).
  7. Start with small, incremental changes: DevOps transformation is a journey, not a one-time event. Begin by implementing DevOps practices in a specific project or team, and gradually expand across the organization. Learn from each iteration and continuously improve.

By following these tips, businesses can lay a solid foundation for their DevOps journey. Remember, DevOps is not a one-size-fits-all approach, so tailor your implementation to suit your organization's unique needs and goals. With the right mindset, commitment, and the support of your teams, you can unlock the numerous benefits of DevOps and drive business success.

Conclusion

In conclusion, DevOps practices have become essential for businesses looking to achieve faster, more efficient software delivery and improved overall performance. By adopting DevOps methodologies, businesses can unlock a range of benefits, and partnering with Digital Grind can help you navigate this transformation with ease.

At Digital Grind, we have a team of experienced professionals who specialize in DevOps implementation. Our expertise and industry knowledge allow us to guide businesses through the process of adopting DevOps practices, ensuring a seamless transition and optimal results.

By working with Digital Grind, you can leverage our deep understanding of DevOps principles and tools to streamline your development and deployment processes. We can help you implement continuous integration and continuous delivery, automate testing and monitoring, and establish efficient collaboration and communication channels across your cross-functional teams.

Additionally, our team is well-versed in infrastructure as code (IaC) and cloud computing, enabling us to assist you in scaling your resources effectively and optimizing costs. With our security-focused approach, we prioritize integrating security measures throughout the development lifecycle, ensuring your systems are robust, compliant, and protected against potential threats.

Partnering with Digital Grind means gaining a trusted advisor who will tailor DevOps practices to your unique business requirements. We offer comprehensive support, training, and ongoing guidance to help you embark on your DevOps journey with confidence. Let us help you unlock the full potential of DevOps and propel your business to new heights of success. Contact us today to learn more about how we can assist you in adopting DevOps practices and achieving your software development goals.

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Digital transformation has become one of the most talked about topics in the last few years. But what does it really mean?

Digital transformation has become one of the most talked about topics in the last few years. But what does it really mean? What are the key areas where digital transformation is happening? How can you be sure that your business is ready for the changes ahead?

Unsurprisingly, the COVID-19 pandemic has forced many businesses to fast track their IT strategies which is evidenced by an increase in global spending. It was reported that IT spending is set to reach 4.1 trillion in 2021, up 8.4% in 2020.

It is something that every business needs to consider or you’ll get left behind and suffer the consequences. But should anyone really be spending so much on their IT? Let’s find out.

1. Why digital transformation is necessary

Digital transformation is the process of taking your traditional business and using digital technology to modernize it and make it more efficient. It’s a trend that’s happening in every industry, from media to healthcare. 

Many businesses no longer prefer the traditional business model and want to adopt technology that will help them sell more, move faster, and solve customer problems in an easier way. Some of them are using Big Data and AI to shape how they do their business and what tools they use.

Research found that 23% of surveyed companies had little to no dependence on digital technologies in some shape or form. The rest are either fully digital or use a hybrid approach. The numbers speak for themselves when it comes to digital transformation’s necessity. 

But how can businesses adapt and meet the expectations of their clients? Here’s what you need to think about. 

Digital technology entails many changes to how your business works. It will require a lot of resources, like manpower, software and hardware, as well as the different infrastructure needed to operate these tools. 

As many businesses use multiple IT systems, it will be crucial for them to have the right infrastructure to meet the changes and make the digital transformation work efficiently.

2. Data and analytics is everything

Companies that are facing digital transformation should aim to make data-driven decisions that improve their business performance. When it comes to data analytics, it can play a major role in taking your business to the next level.

As an example, Netflix digitizes its audiovisual data in order to make it accessible all over the world. In addition, it’s using Big Data to analyze everything that its subscribers watch, using those insights to inform its business strategy.

The same can be said about creating value in every part of your company. Analytics can help you identify how to improve customer service, better adapt your marketing campaigns, and create better customer experiences. 

The analytics side of business includes data from A/B testing, customer insights, and social listening. It’s evident that data is at the core of influencing business decisions today. 

In order to make data-driven decisions, it’s worth studying your customers’ behaviors across different channels. Track down where they are seeing the most friction or unhappiness around your digital marketing efforts and put processes in place to address it.

3. How businesses can prepare for digital transformation

One study found that almost 90% of respondents were expecting a digital disruption of some sort. However, less than half could actually say they were ready for this change.

Whether you like it or not, digital transformation is going to impact your business somehow. So how can you prepare for this? 

It’s appropriate to start thinking about transformation with collaborative brands, such as Spotify. Here’s why. Sure, Spotify is a music streaming platform, but it also helps you create podcasts, listen to music, watch videos and play games.

Brands, such as Netflix, pride themselves in what they stand for. The company has pulled off a successful digital transformation through collaborative marketing and digital tools.

Collaborative marketing is good business because everyone wins. The biggest win though is that Netflix gained insight into where its users were spending their money and why, so it created its own place.

That insight is priceless, and this is why cultural brands are being actively guarded and developed. Perhaps you remember the first cultural brand you started to work for or one that you realized you could use your creativity to promote? In each and every case, you are helping others realize their career goals. 

Companies know that collaborating with other cultural brands is a good investment. From that point on, the collaborations get bigger and better. 

4. How you can embrace technology to succeed in a transformed market

It’s important to embrace technology so that you can continue to succeed in your business. If you own a real estate brokerage, for example, you’ll need to use the Internet to market your business, to communicate with your clients, stay competitive, and to find new listings. 

The Zillow Group bookmarked certain areas of the Internet where they’re creating new opportunities for the real estate industry. Besides, such sites’ popularity continues to grow, and they can help up-and-coming real estate businesses jump start their digital strategies sooner than is normally possible.

Finding actionable opportunities

The new technology trends worth your attention include smarter searches, intelligent personal assistants, user-aided home automation, and new forms of cloud-based interactivity. Want to be a part of this movement? Then start doing on-page SEO to make sure that people are finding your business when they need it. 

Big-box stores, for example, have started increasing the use of self-checkouts, zero-contact security, screenless entrances, and high-speed internet to serve patrons through the COVID-19 outbreak. In sum, the grocery industry has added high-tech ways to serve its customers in times of high demand.

Since such trends are expected to continue, many real estate transactions might take place online if market participants play their cards right. 

Intelligent personal assistants can do much more than help computers with repetitive tasks. They can take the user’s orders and turn them into reality. 

For example, smart refrigerators can be programmed to return milk late in the day so it doesn’t go to waste. Digital transformations are happening at a rapid pace, and you need to be sure that your business is ready to take advantage of the changes ahead.

Today, we live in a digital world where the Internet and social media have changed the way we live and work. Digital transformations are happening at a rapid pace, and you need to be sure that your business is ready to take advantage of the changes ahead. 

Following these steps will help you see the benefits of these digital transformations. And the most important responsibility is to be ready to make these changes for your business. 

Other things to consider

Digital transformation cannot be achieved in a vacuum. It also requires the constant changing of business models and having a strong team in place to help you run the entirety of the race. Here are a few things to consider for if and when you decide to embark on your digital transformation journey.

  • Diversify. Diversification helps you preserve capital, protect your company from swings in the market, and minimize your risk. Diversity gives you an opportunity to find new routes to grow your business and protect your investment. Leave old routes for dead!

Be prepared. In times of crisis, consumers rush to buy the products and services that retain their loyalty and high price. Make sure that what you sell is of high quality, has a perfect fit for your consumer, and solves a problem.

  • Incorporate technology. Technology is everywhere. Digital transformation is bringing the latest apps, platforms, technology, and systems into your business, making it easy for your workforce to work and making your business successful. If you have a modern and comfortable work environment where everyone can access information and communication technologies easily, you are ready for digital transformation.
  • Network and engage your team. The LinkedIn and Facebook groups are top-of-mind when companies plan for new opportunities and reach out to professionals that they are interested in. Facebook groups are super-easy to create, join, and manage.

Digital transformation is an inevitable part of any business or organisation’s operational strategy in the 21st century. It’s been established that this is a necessary endeavour that requires preparation and embracing of technology as you focus on the four aspects.

Digital Grind knows all about your digital transformation journey and is well endowed with the necessary expertise that can take you through this journey. Speak to us to learn about some of the digital solutions your organisation can put in your arsenal.

Often, a big decision when starting a new software project is whether or not to outsource development or simply do it in-house. The most common reason for this concern...

Often, a big decision when starting a new software project is whether or not to outsource development or simply do it in-house. The most common reason for this concern to pop up is that companies have heard about bad experiences from friends or colleagues, or they’ve experienced it themselves.

After all, working with third parties can come with its challenges. But as with everything in life, proper planning prevents poor performance - and this applies to outsourcing tasks as much as it does to anything else. 

How does this dilemma come about?

Upgrading software is a critical task for any modern business and can improve a company’s productivity by as much as 50%. Apart from this, new systems are more adaptable and have better security, a key factor in today’s data landscape.

According to Norton, one of the most used antivirus softwares in the world, new software and upgrades can help get rid of old flaws. Hackers and cybercriminals are constantly getting better and you should too, to make sure your company’s data and systems are safe and efficient.

In the same breath, companies don’t always have the resources to allocate time and internal spend to technical projects and need support, to a greater or lesser degree.

5 Questions To Guide You

Every situation and every upgrade is different. It is vital for you to do a thorough analysis of your project, plan out your goals and timeline before deciding who’s going to be responsible for the task of upgrading - and to what extent they’re involved. Key decision-makers should ask themselves:

What is the scope of the upgrade or new development?

The most important question to find an answer to when upgrading your software is why you are doing it. The key objectives you use as a mark, serve as vital information for the development team, and can help you figure out priority and critical areas for development. This will impact the level of resources you need to continue and give you a basis for understanding when and what you can get help with.

Do you have the skillset, internally - and is it your core competency?

Sit down with your team and find out if they have the ability to develop the best possible software. 

Building software is a complex process and the benefit of having an outside company is they can have access and knowledge on the latest technology that is being used. (Maxxor Blog) However, many companies don’t have in-house development teams because of the cost or demand for that kind of work on a monthly basis. 

On the other hand, some companies do software development for other brands, as their core service offering and this presents an ethical and logistical dilemma. When a skill is your company’s core competency, outsourcing this skill makes your business vulnerable. In these cases, it’s best to enlist temporary or supporting development, rather than putting an entirely separate team on the project. 

Outsourced Software Development

Do you have capacity?

Does your team have the ability and capacity to do this work while continuing to service your company on a daily basis? Very few businesses can afford a software team solely for building new products. This means that they are constantly dividing their time between your upgrades and their daily tasks. 

Your team may have the skills and the experience to get this job done but do they have the capacity with everything else going on? If yes, then you could think about doing it in-house as a priority - even if the cost is higher than that of partnering with other developers. If no, then it may be more effective to look at outsourcing the work to some extent.

Is your internal infrastructure set up for partnerships?

Agility in the software world is key and can help create environments where partnering with service providers is easier. Without the right communications and data-sharing infrastructure, it will be a complex task to plug in new teams and can create a myriad of challenges when working with freelancers or other organizations.

If your internal infrastructure is not geared up for remote and collaborative working, you’re going to have a problem. In these instances, you need to factor in the costs of creating this environment, although the benefits can be two-fold for your business. If you can’t do this, starting in-house may be a more viable option. 

What is your budget?

Budget constraints play a major role when going into a new project. And while the face value of one option may be cheaper, you need to take into account the cost of mistakes, setbacks, and not reaching the goals you want to achieve. Besides that, the training and infrastructure costs internally can add up fast and need to be considered. 

It may seem cheaper to hire more staff but will you have work for them after this project is done? Further to that S&C says “Businesses cut down their development costs up to 50-60% when they turn to an outsourcing company”. 

Typically, there is a lesser risk and cost associated with outsourcing, as you are not bound to permanently employ developers and not responsible for the overheads associated with third parties, however, in cases where they are too far removed from your team, you are likely to incur quality control and time costs. 

Who can you outsource to?

There are many companies that offer software development services, but quality and competency are two important considerations. At Digital Grind, we’ve got an established team of digital experts who understand the software and user experience design landscape. 

For example, we recently worked on a project with Moro Hub where we built a platform with an A-grade standard of accessibility. In that instance, the infrastructure existed for us to work together as a team and the result was an exciting new platform that could help Moro grow their brand awareness and continue to evolve. Their feedback? "Digital Grind developed our company's website, and they have done an excellent job. They developed a website that was more than our expectation and it is AAA accessible. They were very cooperative and accommodating; their flexibility in amending changes to meet our different stakeholder's requests was exceptional."

So, there are definitely instances where partnering or outsourcing your development can be beneficial to you and your organization. However, considering the checklist above, you will need the right processes and environment to make this achievable and should be aware of your core competencies - and the impact that outsourcing can have on your brand and clients. 

When it’s not your game, it’s best to handoff to an all-star team. Speak to us 


To the untrained ear, the phrase “martech” sounds like another buzzword, and maybe in some ways, it is. It seems like everybody is adding the “tech” to words that alre...

To the untrained ear, the phrase “martech” sounds like another buzzword, and maybe in some ways, it is. It seems like everybody is adding the “tech” to words that already exist these days and making it a thing. However, there is real merit to understanding the intricacies behind the growing movement towards using technology in marketing and the applications and mechanisms that make this possible. 

As brand owners, playing in the marketing space, there are universal challenges that we have to overcome and tech provides us with a ton of ways to get there. 

The data conundrum

One of the biggest problems we face in the digital landscape today is making sense of enormous amounts of data available to us. In fact, according to TechJury, “1.7MB of data was created every second by every person during 2020” and these numbers only seem to be growing. With such a substantial base of information to sift through, it can seem impossible to draw truly valuable insights and manual detection of brand mentions can only get us so far. There just aren’t enough hours in a day or people on Earth to do the job of monitoring software, which is so key to improving performance in our industry. 

Does this mean that human power is now redundant? Of course not. But it is a good example of how embracing martech makes our everyday operations more efficient and helps create the right environment for smarter people-power. Without social listening and media monitoring, we create unimaginable amounts of work for employees, and by introducing data that needs to be manually vetted and constantly added to, we’re back at square one in terms of lacking resources for comprehending the digital spaces we operate in.

According to GlobalNewswire, the media monitoring software market was approximately USD 2,260 million in 2018 and is expected to generate around USD 7,236 million by 2027, at a CAGR of around 13.9% between 2019 and 2027”. What does this tell us? That data filtering is on the rise, and is quickly becoming part of our everyday operations in terms of monitoring, listening and reporting. 

As a result of this, new SaaS solutions are springing up around the globe, with major players in competition to get the monopoly. For brands and agencies, this shows an important skills gap to fill when it comes to understanding this software and developing the ability to draw meaningful insights and base campaigns on key findings. In order to future-proof the success of your digital marketing, you will need a firm grasp on the data landscape around your brand and the infrastructure to understand it. 


Martech skills development will grow massively in select nations

While the world is already adopting marketing technologies at a faster rate than pre-pandemic, we’re seeing a massive uptake of interest and skills development in tech-driven nations. For example, the first knowledge hub, related specifically to martech, popped up in the UAE in 2019. Now, only 3 years later, there’s a range of publications and supporting organizations coming to the fore, such as MartechNews and the Daily Martech Roundup, each with loyal followings. 


Spending and investment is on the rise

In the Gartner 2019 - 2020 survey (which conducts research from the responses of over 340 participants), it was reported that top-line marketing spend would decrease for the first time in over 5 years. So, this means that martech spend should decrease too, right? But the opposite has happened. The same survey findings showed that “martech spending rose to 29% of total budgets” - a phenomenal leap in light of the current scarcity of resources.

What does this mean for businesses, brands and entrepreneurs? It’s time to adopt or die. This level of investment and shift in spending is usually spurred on by greater ROI and predictive forecasting, which means the data is showing consistently high returns, either on resource savings or generation, that comes as a direct result of using martech more. 


New tools are emerging at a rapid rate

While some technological industries are forging partnerships within the ranks, martech seems to be a competitive and fast-paced environment. In fact, Martech Today reported that there are more than 8000 notable tools currently on the market for combining brand messaging and analytics with tech. 

These were mostly data analysis tools. To some, this may seem like an opportunity to join forces, but it appears that barring a few buyouts and acquisitions, we still haven’t quite solved the problem of adequately centralising data analytics and media interactions. Until this is achieved, and someone takes the monopoly, a rang of tools will continue to emerge.  


Preparing for the future

With growth in the martech sector becoming more evident and having an increasingly significant impact on marketing professionals, a few things are clear. The first of which is that brands must put the infrastructure in place to navigate a changing digital landscape or face some level of becoming obsolete. In short, there are a few critical steps towards preparing for the continued rise of martech:

  • Setting up infrastructure requires internal skills development and enlisting the help of expert service providers who already understand the space.
  • Marketing tools can automate daily tasks and take the grunt-work out of manually interpreting data. As this becomes the norm, it’s important for brands to be able to use and interact with these tools.
  • Businesses should designate marketing teams to help them continue to drive brand growth and capitalise on the growing level of opportunity available to them.
  • Outsmarting competitors will mean savvy, integrated marketing that’s based on data but does not forgo the human element. 
  • A bigger focus on allocating resources to marketing is a must in order to stay competitive and stay relevant to key audiences. 

At Digital Grind, we work tirelessly to understand the digital landscape and to keep building our technical infrastructure to meet the growing demands of the industry. Speak to us for more information or enlist our services on your next project and we can start to work together to ensure your business is fit for the future.