The market is moving to a platform approach to DevSecOps. What had previously been a process that let different engineering teams adopt their own tools for different stages of the software development lifecycle – what we call “DIY DevOps” – is being replaced by a method that leverages a single application.
Why is this happening? First, IT managers are coming to grips with the inefficiencies and cost of toolchain sprawl. Second, executives are relying on digital transformation to solve significant business-level problems: improving developer onboarding and productivity, building high-performing teams, securing the software supply chain, and creating a secure on-ramp to the public cloud. Finally, there’s the impact of the potential recession, which has accelerated the above trends.
We recently commissioned a Forrester Consulting “Total Economic Impact™ of GitLab’s Ultimate Plan” study to better understand how companies save on costs and achieve business and technology goals with GitLab. We focused on our Ultimate tier, which is the fastest growing part of the business. We believe the results align with the business requirements needed to endure economic headwinds and position companies for success: strong return on technology investment, cost savings through technical tool consolidation, a faster pace of application releases to acquire and retain customers, greater development and delivery efficiency, increased and simplified security, and a rapid payback period.
GitLab’s DevOps platform enables source code management, continuous integration/continuous delivery, advanced security capabilities, and more in a single application. The Forrester study found that combination led to:
- Three-year ROI of 427%
- 12x increase in the number of annual releases for revenue generation applications
- 87% improvement in development and delivery efficiency time
- Less than six-month payback period
Understanding DevOps pain points
To realize the benefits of a single DevOps platform, organizations have to assess their pain points. Here are some common development lifecycle obstacles that affect organizations of all sizes:
- Complex toolchains and processes
- Inefficient development environments
- Lack of security skills
- Rushed development cycles
- No single source of truth or single code repository
- Poor software testing practices
All of these pain points can impede an organization’s ability to manage through a recession and recovery.
The benefits of a DevOps platform
The Forrester study found that GitLab Ultimate provided a composite organization, based on interviewed customers, 10 key quantified benefits over a three-year period. While each benefit on its own could have a positive impact on a business’s ability to stay steady and even thrive during difficult economic times, together they are a powerhouse that can eliminate many pain points.
Here are five of those benefits of the GitLab Ultimate Plan:
Vulnerability management
As GitLab’s 2022 Global DevSecOps Survey found, security is top of mind for all DevOps organizations. Yet security at scale can be challenging, especially finding and hiring professionals with the right skills.
A benefit of GitLab Ultimate, according to the Forrester study, is greater efficiency in managing vulnerabilities. The DevOps platform integrates and automates vulnerability management within the development lifecycle. Issues can be identified, logged, triaged, tracked, and remediated – all in the same DevOps application. Developers can address vulnerabilities in real time, avoiding release delays or software defects and bugs. According to Forrester, the composite organization realized savings of “hours a week because developers have access to better context about the vulnerabilities. This in turn means less back and forth between development and QA/security on an issue.”
Less homegrown tool development/open source solution management
DevOps teams often spend a considerable amount of time creating tools they need from scratch or finding and managing open source options. GitLab reduces toolchain complexity (a.k.a. debt) by building into the platform the tools and features developers need, enabling them to manage their environment as a single application. GitLab Ultimate enabled the Forrester study’s composite organization to shift “from manually intensive tasks requiring the full attention of the developer, security, and operations teams to an environment where they now spend no more than a few hours per day per person on the same tasks.”
Efficient development
A highly efficient development process impacts the developer experience, which improves retention. GitLab Ultimate enabled the composite organization to develop code faster, deliver higher quality code, enable better collaboration, and improve the ability to monitor applications, according to the Forrester study. Other advantages include: more streamlined processes, better efficiency among developers and non-technical teammates, and improved visibility and collaboration across the SDLC.
Better code quality
Poor code quality directly affects a company’s ability to attract and retain customers. GitLab enabled the composite organization to have “a single application that streamlines processes to ensure code is tested, scanned, and verified before it is released,” according to the Forrester study. The result is high-quality code (with reduced defects and bugs) that meets security standards.
More releases, faster
Organizations want to be able to address customer needs for newer applications, updates, and enhanced feature sets in a timely fashion. With GitLab, the composite organization can “increase the velocity of updates and releases, allowing it to meet customers’ rising digital demands.”
DevOps brought about the following unquantified benefits for the composite organization, according to the Forrester study: more satisfied employees because they are more productive and collaborative; more satisfied customers because of a smoother project workflow, improved release quality, and a faster release frequency; and improved market innovation and competitiveness due to faster development lifecycle and time to market.
While DevOps platform benefits are applicable to any economic environment, they are even more so in this time of economic uncertainty. GitLab enables organizations to extract the most out of their DevOps environment and achieve faster, higher quality, and more secure development and release cycles.
Download the full Forrester Consulting “Total Economic Impact of GitLab’s Ultimate Plan” study for:
- Additional benefits of GitLab Ultimate Plan
- Testimonials from GitLab customers Forrester interviewed
- Assumptions and risks to calculate ROI
