DevOps is a condensed version of two terms: development and operations. DevOps is a software engineering culture that aims at the interaction, partnership, continuous review, and integration between software developers and IT professionals. DevOps aims at delivering software to organizations by removing barriers between the development and delivery of the software product quickly and efficiently. In the public sector, programs run slowly and inefficiently due to the use of legacy systems. On the other hand, expectations of the public from technology, speed, and delivery are rising. However, with growing expectations, there arises a need for a better project management and software development approach. DevOps in the public sector helps overcome challenges faced due to traditional software development models.

Challenges to DevOps in the public sector

There are several challenges because of which the public sector is not embracing DevOps. Given below are some such significant obstacles in the use of DevOps in the public sector.

• Funding – Funding is one of the major challenges faced by DevOps users. Government funding in the public sector is always a point of concern. Moreover, the required resources are not available, which are essential when leveraging DevOps.
• Legacy systems – Governments work within their constrained resources and legacy systems, which need to be upgraded for implementing DevOps. This upgradation will take more money. Besides upgradation takes long time and can be tedious to get through and hence the public sector is hesitant to implement DevOps.
• Culture – DevOps is a software engineering culture. The problem with changing government environment is that it takes more time, patience, and tremendous restructuring. It also needs leaders to completely get involved in aligning steps and incremental changes. Additionally, leaders must encourage and interact with their employees about the changes. To change IT systems is usually an easy job. The difficulty lies in changing the attitudes of organizations and their philosophies. “It is harder for public sector organizations to attract and retain staff,” says Graeme Park.

Opportunities that come with DevOps

“Research from Splunk and the Ponemon Institute reinforces the view that DevOps is becoming more widespread in public sector”. DevOps in the public sector helps fulfill customer expectations, on-time, on-budget project delivery, and also enable digital transformation. Here are few steps that can make DevOps in the public sector a success:

• Recognize IT complexity – It is necessary to change the mindset of leaders present in an organization and understand the complexity offered by the traditional methods. Leaders must discover the potential benefits offered by DevOps and leverage it accordingly.
• Have clear objectives – Clear understanding of objectives with respect to organizational needs are fundamental. Demonstrate progress repeatedly to ensure your projects are running on-time and on-budget.
• Empower your teams with data – Effective DevOps means ensuring you are determining the right data. Additionally, it is crucial that data must be accessible to companies that need it to work efficiently.

Despite challenges, DevOps in the public sector if implemented strategically, can speed the efficiency and delivery of services to the public faster than ever before.