How AI is transforming businesses
This article is published in collaboration with the AI Awards & Summit. Enter the awards by March 16, 2025 – click here to submit your entry. In this piece, Silicon Valley innovator Kevin Surace, known as the “Father of the Virtual Assistant,” explores the transformative power of AI and shares essential insights on its impact on businesses. In a world where AI is reshaping industries and redefining roles, my journey with AI has been guided by a commitment to solving real-world problems. From creating the first human-like virtual assistant, Portico, to developing Appvance’s AI-first platform for software quality, I’ve always believed in using AI to drive efficiency and innovation. Here, I’ll share some reflections on AI’s transformative impact, the challenges organisations face, and the future of technology in an increasingly AI-driven world. AI’s Impact on Business Processes and Decision-Making The advent of deep learning in 2012 marked a turning point. AI’s ability to perform complex computations enabled us to solve challenges we once thought impossible. Generative AI, the most publicised form of AI today, opened new possibilities, allowing anyone to interact with AI in natural language, making it accessible beyond traditional tech circles. In business, AI has revolutionised content creation and customer service. We can generate blog posts or complex imagery with a single prompt, driving the cost of content creation towards zero. This transformation extends to software development, where AI co-pilots can enhance productivity, making coding faster and more accurate. As I often say, AI is no longer a novelty; it’s a utility that boosts efficiency, speeds up processes, and redefines roles. Challenges in Implementing AI Technologies Despite AI’s potential, organisations face hurdles in adopting it. Privacy is paramount. When training models, companies must ensure proprietary data remains secure. Training is another challenge; without skilled AI trainers, many organisations struggle to make the most of AI tools. Cultural resistance also plays a role. Some employees may feel threatened by AI, viewing it as a replacement rather than a tool to enhance productivity. Overcoming these challenges requires a holistic approach. First, companies must secure and privatise their models to protect sensitive information. Training employees on AI usage is equally important to build comfort and proficiency with the technology. Lastly, leaders should emphasise AI as a means to enhance roles rather than replace them. A well-trained workforce empowered by AI is a recipe for sustained growth. Key Considerations for Long-Term Digital Transformation For organisations undergoing digital transformation, productivity gains should be the primary metric. Digital transformation isn’t just about adopting the latest tech—it’s about driving efficiency and cost-effectiveness. At Appvance, we harnessed AI to streamline software testing, eliminating repetitive tasks and allowing developers to focus on innovation. Our AIQ platform can generate and execute thousands of test cases automatically, providing full application coverage that was previously unachievable. This transformation requires organisations to set clear goals and identify areas where AI can deliver measurable results. Whether through improving customer service, enhancing employee satisfaction, or reducing operational costs, businesses should focus on AI as a tool for productivity and value creation. Ethical Considerations in AI Integration AI brings immense power, but it also raises ethical concerns. Privacy and security are crucial, particularly with technologies that handle sensitive data. Deepfakes and phishing scams are growing issues, with AI-generated messages nearly indistinguishable from human communication. To combat these threats, companies need robust cybersecurity measures. I’m working with Token Ring, a biometric ring that provides next-generation multi-factor authentication to secure applications against these risks. Bias in AI is another ethical issue. Models trained on historical data may reinforce stereotypes, creating unfair outcomes. For example, if an AI model consistently depicts CEOs as older white males, it limits representation for other demographics. To counteract this, companies need to audit their AI models for bias and ensure diverse training data to foster inclusivity. The Next Decade of AI: Exciting Developments and Industry Shifts Looking ahead, two trends stand out: the rise of AI agents and advances in humanoid robotics. AI agents, or autonomous digital assistants, will soon be capable of performing complex tasks on our behalf. Imagine telling an AI to schedule a meeting or negotiate a contract; these agents will revolutionise productivity by handling repetitive, administrative tasks. In robotics, reinforcement learning has enabled robots to perform intricate tasks without explicit programming. For instance, a robot can learn to make coffee by experimenting and “rewarding” successful attempts. This self-teaching capability opens up new possibilities for robots in everyday settings, from household chores to industrial applications. These developments are exciting because they bridge the digital and physical worlds. AI agents can handle digital tasks, while robots can assist in physical environments. Together, they will redefine what’s possible in industries from healthcare to manufacturing. Advice for Aspiring Innovators As someone who’s filed over 94 patents, I often reflect on my journey. My advice for young entrepreneurs is simple: focus on solving real problems. Innovation for its own sake is less impactful than finding solutions that meet a need or improve lives. Be resilient, learn from failures, and don’t be afraid to venture into diverse fields. Curiosity has driven my career, whether in AI, construction materials, or energy-efficient technologies. In today’s world, the pace of technological advancement is unprecedented. For those entering the field, remember that innovation is not just about having the best idea but about making it practical and valuable. Stay adaptable, focus on continuous learning, and surround yourself with people who challenge you. Conclusion AI is transforming every facet of business and life, from automating routine tasks to enabling unprecedented productivity gains. As AI continues to evolve, ethical considerations, privacy concerns, and workforce integration will remain crucial. For businesses and entrepreneurs, the key to leveraging AI lies in focusing on real-world applications, enhancing human capabilities, and maintaining a commitment to responsible innovation. By embracing AI thoughtfully, we can unlock new possibilities and build a future where technology serves humanity’s best interests. Get in touch For event sponsorship enquiries, please get in touch with calum.budge@31media.co.uk For media enquiries,
AI led Digital Transformation in Print Manufacturing
The manufacturing industry is undergoing a massive transformation, integrating technologies like artificial intelligence, automation, and digitalisation to optimise production and boost efficiency. In print manufacturing, companies adapt to these changes by viewing AI as a tool for growth rather than a threat. In this article, John Kilburg from K12 Printing reacts to digital transformation that is led by artificial intelligence. This article is published in line with the Digital Transformation and AI Awards and Summit. To exhibit at the event, please get in touch at +44 (0)203 931 5827. The Impact of Digital Transformation on Print Manufacturing This isn’t the first major shift in manufacturing. Like many other industries, print manufacturing experienced significant digital transformation with the introduction of computers and other digital technologies. Decades ago, manual processes dominated the industry, limiting efficiency and scope. The introduction of digital tools such as computer-aided design and automated printing presses revolutionised production. This shift allowed for faster workflows, improved precision, and greater customisation. This earlier wave of digital transformation was a cause of discomfort for many in the manufacturing industry due to concern about the new technology replacing jobs. Instead, it reshaped roles without replacing them. It created opportunities for workers to upskill and move into more specialised roles such as graphic designers or other important roles within the print manufacturing industry. Today, many print manufacturers see AI as a continuation of this evolution, offering new ways to enhance their business and empower their workforce. AI’s Role in Print Manufacturing While still early in print manufacturing, AI is poised to bring substantial benefits in certain areas. At K12 Print, AI is being explored cautiously, with a focus on enhancing efficiency and creativity rather than reducing jobs. Shortly, AI is likely to assist in design elements. This would enable designers to work faster and focus more on creativity and strategic decision-making. Another practical implementation is through machine maintenance, using predictive analytics to prevent breakdowns and optimise performance, minimising downtime. Rather than letting technology drive layoffs, companies should be committed to maintaining their workforce and creating opportunities for career advancement. This approach keeps jobs in the country and the community and strengthens the company’s foundation as a tight-knit group that values each employee’s growth. Enhancing Print Quality There are many practical uses of artificial intelligence in print manufacturing. First, AI can be used to analyse and optimise images that are received from the customer. Most customers are not knowledgeable about print files or colour builds. Artificial intelligence can sharpen images and adjust colour in real time. The result of these corrections is high-quality prints in a shorter amount of time which saves money. Also, AI may come into the design elements of print when customers bring forward ideas for us to create. Several nuances go into making their idea a reality and although there are currently real people building off those ideas. AI and Sustainability The manufacturing industry is constantly evolving when it comes to sustainability. Many of the printing tools have become more environmentally friendly over the years especially when it comes to ink and other critical elements in printing. But more changes on the horizon can make printing more sustainable. The use of AI systems can help reduce waste and save on energy consumption. This can help lessen the environmental impact of the printing industry. Additionally, artificial intelligence can use its vast database (learned knowledge) to suggest other areas where printing can transition to eco-friendly materials. A practical implementation of AI could also be in predictive maintenance—monitoring the machines in use and predicting breakdowns so they can be avoided. AI and Cost AI may be cost-prohibitive to smaller print manufacturing companies in the short term. However, as history teaches us, technology tends to become affordable very quickly once it is embraced by the masses. The more we learn to embrace AI rather than fear AI, the faster it will become a tool that propels us forward. Security Every data-driven industry must think about security. And print manufacturing is no different. Another practical implementation of AI in manufacturing is within the company’s security setup. AI can identify patterns in data traffic that can be indicative of a security breach and suggest, or even implement measures to counter the breach. It can also work to prevent security breaches by enforcing user authentication and even monitoring the printing of sensitive or confidential materials. Print Personalisation Although a vast majority of the print orders that come through the shop are custom orders there is still a major market for pre-made ready-to-order looks. AI systems can use available data about customers to customise content based on that data. This can be used in marketing campaigns to create high-response materials targeted to specific audiences. Packaging and direct mail will be big beneficiaries of this. AI Won’t Replace Jobs – It Will Create New Opportunities A common concern in the workplace is that AI will lead to job loss. However, this fear may be overstated. Much like the earlier digital transformation, AI presents an opportunity to elevate both workers and businesses. K12 Print is committed to investing in education and on-the-job training for employees, preparing them to adapt and thrive in a more technology-driven workplace. Upskilling the workforce will ensure that workers move into more rewarding roles. AI will likely take over repetitive tasks, but this shift will allow employees to focus on oversight roles. For print manufacturing, this means workers can explore new career paths in roles such as AI technicians, data analysts, and advanced machine operators. Digital transformation in manufacturing is inevitable, and AI will play a crucial role in shaping the future. Get in touch For event sponsorship enquiries, please get in touch with calum.budge@31media.co.uk For media enquiries, please get in touch with vaishnavi.nashte@31media.co.uk
Transforming Banking with DevOps
This article is published in collaboration with the Digital Transformation and AI Awards and Summit. These are two separate B2B events organised by 31 Media. If you wish to exhibit your tech solutions or to advertise your brand at the event, please get in touch at +44 (0)203 931 5827. Author: Arnab Mitra, programme manager at Banking Industry Architecture Network (BIAN) The banking industry is undergoing a significant digital transformation. The emergence of fintechs and industry disruptors is forcing traditional banks to innovate faster than ever before to remain competitive and address the needs of the digital-first customer. Delivering these solutions effectively and at speed often requires an overhaul of legacy technology and the emergence of new technological-driven processes. Enter DevOps, a combination of practices and tools that is driving the future of the financial services industry. We spoke with Arnab Mitra, programme manager at the Banking Industry Architecture Network (BIAN) about the role of DevOps in banking and the need for industry collaboration to further accelerate transformation. Q1: What challenges have traditionally hindered banks from adopting DevOps, and how has the industry’s perspective shifted to embrace this methodology? Traditionally, banks were slow to adopt DevOps due to regulatory constraints, concerns about data security, and a legacy mindset that is naturally more hesitant towards change and innovation. However, the pandemic accelerated the need for banks to offer digital services, which in turn hastened the adoption of DevOps. As the benefits of DevOps became clear, banks have realised that they needed to embrace this methodology to remain competitive and keep pace with nimbler fintechs, while offering new services that are enabled through best-of-breed technologies. In today’s rapidly evolving IT landscape, DevOps streamlines transformation and enables banks to deliver innovative digital services at speed and scale. With the global drive for transformation, banks recognised that if they don’t transform, they risk being left behind, and at a significant cost. For example, a 2023 IDC Financial Insights survey found global banks are on track to spend $57.1 billion on legacy payments technology in 2028. It’s therefore no surprise that over 80% of financial services firms have embraced DevOps practices, reflecting the widespread adoption and recognition of its benefits in the industry. Q2: What is BIAN’s approach to DevOps? How is this reflected in BIANs offerings? BIAN is built on collaboration across the industry and we use DevOps methodology within our member activities to encourage this. Working groups formed of members from different organisations within banks, technology vendors and consultancies come together to share thoughts, ideas and experiences to collaborate on innovative solutions, for example producing API specifications. Another example is our Coreless Banking initiative, which completed its third iteration last year. BIAN took a DevOps approach to this initiative, which was developed by a collaboration of leading banks and technology vendors, including HSBC, Zafin and IBM. The initiative, which aims to tackle the interoperability challenges banks face, resulted in an API-based services architecture that empowers banks to integrate best-of-breed technology seamlessly. Coreless Banking leverages the DevOps processes of the individual participating members to bring their components (solutions) into a published state, for other participants to use and integrate with. This allows for quick releases when any changes are required for any individual member. At the same time, using the BIAN standard for the API interface specifications means the integrated solution still works. Q3: Can you share any examples of how you’ve implemented DevOps principles on a more practical level? BIAN’s materials, including our Service Domains, are made available on the cloud, allowing members to access and use BIAN APIs for various applications within their organisations. Using BIAN’s framework, external parties can access our materials and create their own CI/CD pipeline, adapting it to their own needs. Members also have access to BIAN tooling, with functionality that allows users to match their APIs with BIAN APIs. In addition to this, we have an automated feedback loop and message modellers which enable rapid updates to BIAN models, once manually approved. Members can compare artefacts with the BIAN model content, helping to ensure APIs are compliant, within our framework. These automated processes guarantee consistent quality across all of our materials, eliminating individual preferences and ensuring regulatory compliance While we have been using DevOps in our approach for many years, we are now exploring how AI is enabling and evolving our DevOps operations. Q4: How is AI transforming DevOps practices and environments within the financial services industry? AI is a true game-changer within the industry. When applied to DevOps, the scope for automation within these environments is huge. BIAN is exploring many potential use cases for the technology. For instance, we’re looking at how we can use AI to generate sample data for Service Domain APIs to create a sandbox with quality test data that developers can use to mock up innovative solutions using these APIs. Additionally, we are piloting an AI-based API mapping app to automate the mapping process by 50-60%, significantly reducing human effort. We are focusing on training our AI-Engine with quality data, and feedback from our members supports the finetuning of this app. This means that members using our model will benefit from streamlined processes and enhanced efficiencies, while BIAN benefits from member feedback which continuously trains and improves our AI models, further supporting our collaborative environment. Q5: How important will DevOps be for the future of banking? Why is collaboration the key to transformation? As banks continue to focus on digital transformation, DevOps practices will be essential for delivering innovative products and services at speed. When development and operations teams work together closely, they can identify and address issues more efficiently, improve communication and ultimately deliver better results. By breaking down siloes – not only within organisations but across the financial services ecosystem – it creates a more cohesive and successful work environment. With the advent of new technologies, including AI, it’s now more important than ever for teams to share ideas about how this technology can be used safely and
Delivering DevOps through Platform Engineering
This article is published in collaboration with the Digital Transformation and AI Awards and Summit. These are two separate B2B events organised by 31 Media. If you wish to exhibit your tech solutions or to advertise your brand at the event, please get in touch at +44 (0)203 931 5827. Author: Fred Lherault, Field CTO, EMEA / Emerging Markets, Pure Storage Delivering on the promise of DevOps through Platform Engineering In software engineering, the Golden Path aims to provide the smoothest way forward via a self-service template for common tasks. It is enabled by platform engineers – who provide developers with the simplest possible internal developer platform and the tools they need to deliver innovation. Here we look at the emerging discipline of platform engineering, and the benefits it brings to application development via easier and faster access to services and resources, in particular using modern data management platforms built on Kubernetes containerised environments. Giving developers what they want When DevOps emerged in the late 2000s, it brought with it key principles of shared ownership, rapid feedback and workflow automation to help deliver on the vision of agile software development. It requires a high degree of autonomy for the developers and in exchange empowers them with the tools they need to be efficient. Automation is one of the key principles of DevOps since the quick pace of changes it drives is incompatible with “human in the loop” workflows. The mode of operations preferred by developers (and many technical specialist roles such as data scientists, AI researchers etc.) can often be boiled down to 3 main asks: Instant access to resources Instant results Full self-service Using the above as the “north star” when building services geared towards technical profiles is a great way to enable innovation and ensure fast adoption. While providing instant resources and results might not be always possible, getting as close as possible to instant will drive greater satisfaction. Platform engineering treats the developer as its primary customer Today, we see the coming of age of DevOps through the rise of platform engineering, a new function for a more mature era in application development, that provides a suite of self-service tools to empower developers. Platform engineering operates behind the veil to provide an easy-to-use, self-service catalogue of services and infrastructure components to support the day-to-day development experience. Best practice platform engineering aims to help application developers get on board and start building faster by providing everything that they need to experiment, develop, test and deploy. The platform made available to these developers often takes inspiration from the services popularised by the public cloud and its mode of operation. It is designed to provide instant access to not just the latest and greatest tools and software that underpin innovation, but also provide easy access to the data itself, protected by pre-determined guardrails and security protocols. Kubernetes and data management The ideal developer-focused platform also includes data management. It may build on top of Kubernetes as the means to orchestrate, deploy, run and scale cloud-native applications as well as to manage the data services required for those applications. Data management capabilities are key to platform engineering because they enable exploration and testing in realistic conditions, for example using an instant copy of production data instead of a somewhat unrealistic synthetic data set. Ideally, the data management capabilities will also be designed with self-service in mind, and deliver access to data in a highly available, reliable, elastic, multi-tenant and secure manner. Portworx from Pure Storage is an example of such a modern data platform. Fully integrated with Kubernetes, it allows the developer to easily get access to persistent data options (including data protection capabilities such as data replication, backup and archiving) but also to data sets themselves through instant data cloning, even enabling the use of self-service instant snapshot creation and restore so that developers may experiment with changes and roll back to previous states quickly and easily. Additionally, Portworx Data Services provides a catalogue of curated data services, including MongoDB, Elasticsearch, Cassandra, Kafka and PostgreSQL, simplifying deployment into just a few clicks or a single API call, so that developers can deploy or scale these data services easily with the optimal data storage configuration and protection. This foundation brings these easy-to-specify toolchains and data services to the developers so that they can easily use them as building blocks, even if they don’t have extensive knowledge of Kubernetes or how to deploy a given database engine in a secure and scalable manner. Platform engineering enables the Golden Path Platform engineering teams are busy working unseen in the background to bring the self-service Golden Path to application development. With Kubernetes as the orchestration framework, and containers and data services as key resources, the platform engineers can finally deliver fully on the vision of increased agility and greater productivity of DevOps. Get in touch For event sponsorship enquiries, please get in touch with calum.budge@31media.co.uk For media enquiries, please get in touch with vaishnavi.nashte@31media.co.uk
Enhancing Mobile SDK Security in the Age of Increasing Threats
This article is published in collaboration with the National DevOps Conference & Awards taking place in London on the 22nd and 23rd of October. Find more details here: National DevOps Conference & Awards 2024 Author: Chris Roeckl, Chief Product Officer at Appdome The mobile app economy relies on transaction systems to ensure safe and valid transactions. As mobile becomes the de-facto way that consumers interact with the brands they use in their daily lives and work, regulatory scrutiny is increasing to ensure the payment or in-app purchase transaction is compliant with guidelines, stopping fraudulent or otherwise risky transactions. Software development kits, or SDKs, are at the heart of these transactions, and embedded into the apps we use every day. With the popularity of mobile exploding, mobile is becoming (sadly) the de facto platform of choice for bad actors to increasingly try to compromise these critical technology components. Because of this, mobile SDKs face numerous security challenges. One significant issue is reverse engineering, where attackers decompile the SDK to uncover its code and logic, potentially stealing intellectual property. To combat this, obfuscation is used, with increasingly the best practice being to encrypt strings and preferences within the SDK, without affecting useability and performance. Another prevalent problem is the risk of data interception. Sensitive data stored within the app or transmitted to servers can be intercepted by malicious actors. It’s more important than ever that SDKs mitigate this risk by encrypting data both at rest and in transit, ensuring that sensitive information remains protected from unauthorised access. Standards groups and transaction processors, like Visa and EMVco, have now mandated that mobile devices that have been rooted or jailbroken pose transaction risks, and therefore any such compromised device is not allowed to process a transaction. Why, jailbroken or rooted devices can bypass standard security mechanisms, making it easier for attackers to exploit vulnerabilities? There are more, but I think you get the idea of the threats. The other confounding variable is how to stop non-compliant transactions in real-time. Securing Mobile SDKs: Real-Time Threat Detection and Compliance for a Safer Mobile App Economy To stop non-compliant transactions in real-time requires real-time monitoring and reporting of security events and threats as they occur within the SDK during the flow of the transaction itself. With this developers and security teams have immediate visibility into security incidents, enabling real-time validation or denial of transactions as required by transactions processors and regulatory bodies. This approach destroys the old-world model of traditional fraud and security systems that cannot detect threats in real-time, meaning non-compliance due to delays in identifying and responding to security incidents. With this data in hand, mobile SDK makers can easily meet compliance objectives. More importantly, mobile SDK makers can create, customise, and use simple or complex threat streams to consume fraud, attack, threat, and risk data in the mobile SDK in real-time. The result is better decision-making and fraud prevention, without compromising service quality or the consumer’s mobile app experience. Real-time systems also can go beyond the minimum requirement and look for additional signals of activity that may be indicative of fraud behaviour or what may lead to a non-compliant transaction. Some solutions, for example, can look for hundreds of attacks during the follow, providing incredibly valuable insights for SDK markets at banks, fintechs, and other transaction-minded firms. However financial transactions are not the only segment that can benefit from SDK protection and real-time data about threats and attacks. Think authentication and identity verification, advertising, analytics, push services, and more. All this sounds like a lot of work for developers – build the protections to obfuscate and encrypt the IP, build real-time protections for jailbreak/root and potentially dozens of others and keep those protections up to date along the way, and build and event reporting with listeners in the SDK and the back-end infrastructure. Yup, for sure, it’s a ton of work. Thankfully automated systems have emerged to translate all this work down to the click of a button for dev and cyber engineering teams, be it an SDK or a mobile app. Such systems can keep your SDKs secure, and compliant, and provide real-time data for ensuring a valid transaction, to prevent ad SDK fraud, facial identity bypass, and many, many other use cases as well. As mobile continues to dominate as the primary platform for consumer interactions, ensuring the security and compliance of embedded SDKs has never been more critical. The increasing threat landscape, combined with stringent regulatory requirements, necessitates robust security measures that can detect and prevent fraudulent activities in real-time. Automated solutions now offer comprehensive protections, from obfuscation and encryption to real-time threat monitoring, addressing the myriad of security challenges faced by mobile SDKs. By leveraging advanced automated systems, developers and security teams can significantly reduce the complexity and effort required to implement these protections. This enables them to focus on delivering high-quality, secure, and compliant applications, ensuring a safe and seamless experience for users. As the mobile app economy evolves, staying ahead of threats and regulatory demands will be paramount, and embracing innovative security solutions will be key to safeguarding the integrity and success of mobile applications in this dynamic landscape. Upcoming events and contact information Register for The National DevOps Conference and Awards taking place on the 22nd and 23rd of October 2024 in London. For sponsorship enquiries, please contact calum.budge@31media.co.uk For media enquiries, please contact vaishnavi.nashte@31media.co.uk
Digital Transformation Awards 2025: Accepting Entries till 14th May
Organised and hosted by 31 Media, the Digital Transformation Awards is an independent awards program that recognises and celebrates businesses, teams and individuals that are revolutionising the digital landscape as we know it with their digital transformation projects. After a successful gala night in London this year, the awards programme is officially open for entries for the 2025 edition. The entries will be open until 14th of May 2025 and the gala night is scheduled to take place in June 2025. Please find more details here: Digital Transformation Awards 2025 About the Digital Transformation Awards CELEBRATING EXCELLENCE The Digital Transformation Awards stand as an independent program that confidently recognises and celebrates the outstanding achievements of businesses, teams, and individuals who have excelled in delivering digital technologies to enhance or modify business processes, customer experience, or cultural change. A HOLISTIC PROGRAMME The Digital Transformation Awards welcome participants from all businesses, individuals, teams, and groups, irrespective of their location, size, or discipline. The sole requirement is that the digital transformation project must have occurred or been completed within 12 months prior to entering. IMPARTIALITY & TRANSPARENCY The Digital Transformation Awards are judged with absolute impartiality and complete transparency to ensure a level playing field for all. To achieve this, each entry submission is meticulously stripped of any reference to a product, service, company name, individual, or otherwise. This process empowers the judging panel to assess each entry without influence, solely on the merit of the project at hand. PROJECT RECOGNITION The time, energy, and commitment invested in each project are significant. It is essential to receive internal and external recognition for these efforts. Participating in the Digital Transformation Awards ensures that each project, team, or individual receives the necessary acknowledgment, leading to increased visibility for the entire business. NETWORKING & BUILDING RELATIONS Attending the gala dinner and participating in the winner’s ceremony is a delightful and rewarding experience. It provides the opportunity to mingle with numerous professionals who share similar aspirations, fostering connections and expanding your professional network. WINNING & CELEBRATION Making it to the finals of the Digital Transformation Awards is a remarkable accomplishment. Winning one of the coveted trophies is an extraordinary achievement that should be celebrated. To be judged by a panel of your peers, all of whom agree that your submission is head and shoulders above all others, creates enormous pride and a wonderful sense of achievement. Transmitting the win internally reinforces the success and commitment of the business to Digital Transformation, and further marketing yourselves as an award-winning company truly represents the ultimate celebration and pinnacle of success. For more information on the entry process and guidelines, visit Digital Transformation Awards Entry Process. Upcoming events and contact information Register for The National DevOps Conference and Awards taking place on the 22nd and 23rd of October 2024 in London. For sponsorship enquiries, please contact calum.budge@31media.co.uk Foe media enquiries, please contact vaishnavi.nashte@31media.co.uk
Accelerate software delivery with monitoring and observability
#NDCA2024 Speaker Edition In collaboration with The National DevOps Conference and Awards, we interviewed #NDCA speaker, Marvi Cotone. The conference & Awards takes place in London on the 22nd and 23rd of October 2024. To exhibit your products at the event, please get in touch here. Author: Marvi Cotone, Deputy Director of Digital Delivery & Architecture at Homes England. She is also a keynote speaker at the National DevOps Conference and Awards Accelerating software delivery is not just about moving faster – it’s about moving smarter. To succeed in this fast-paced digital landscape, organisations must balance speed with quality, ensuring that the software they deliver is both reliable and valuable to users. To achieve this, monitoring and observability should be viewed not just as technical necessities, but as strategic advantages. Monitoring vs. observability and their strategic importance In the world of DevOps, monitoring and observability are often mentioned together, and sometimes even used interchangeably. However, while both aim to help organisations understand and manage complex IT systems, they take different approaches and provide unique insights. At its core, monitoring is about collecting data. According to Google’s DevOps Research and Assessment (DORA), monitoring involves using tools to track predefined metrics and logs to understand a system’s state. It’s a long-established practice, dating back to the early days of computing (Remember the old friend Norton Disk Doctor?). However, monitoring is catching known issues but often lacking the depth needed to uncover new problems or provide actionable insights. This is where observability comes into play. Observability goes beyond monitoring by allowing teams to diagnose and debug systems through the analysis of data. It offers a proactive approach, helping teams identify new issues and their root causes more quickly. In essence, monitoring tells you when something is wrong, while observability helps you understand why it’s happening. As mentioned previously, for organisations aiming to deliver high-quality software at speed, monitoring and observability are not just technical practices—they are strategic tools. Together, they enable teams to continuously deliver value to users by maintaining a balance between speed and quality. Monitoring provides a real-time view of system performance and alerts teams when predefined thresholds are breached. However, simply collecting metrics isn’t enough; these metrics must be effectively analysed and interpreted to provide meaningful insights. Observability complements monitoring by offering deeper insights into system behaviour. It helps teams understand not just what went wrong, but why it went wrong, enabling faster resolution of issues and better system transparency. When integrated into the development process, monitoring and observability streamline operations, enhance system performance, and improve the efficiency of software delivery cycles. Implementing effective monitoring and observability frameworks The key factor when implementing effective monitoring and observability frameworks is adopting a mindset that promotes flexibility. It’s essential to adopt tools that support the team’s goals without imposing unnecessary burdens or forcing the adoption of new technologies that don’t align with existing processes. Here are some key considerations for successful implementation: Follow best practices but stay flexible: While it’s important to adhere to industry best practices, teams should also be open to experimenting with different approaches. This flexibility allows them to continuously improve their processes and find the tools that work best for their specific needs. Focus on people, not just technology: The success of any monitoring and observability framework extends beyond tools and processes. It requires a focus on the people who manage and use these systems. Teams should approach implementation iteratively, focusing on the vision they want to achieve rather than getting bogged down in the technical details. Incorporate user experience data: To truly succeed, observability frameworks should also incorporate user experience data—both synthetic and real-user monitoring. This allows teams to identify issues before users do, leading to better-designed user experiences and continuous improvement of digital offerings. Enhancing visibility and communication One of the most significant benefits of monitoring and observability is the increased visibility they provide into systems. This visibility is crucial for making informed decisions that align software development with business goals. By understanding the impact that digital systems have on the business, organisations can make better decisions about where to focus their efforts and continuously improve their digital offerings. Moreover, monitoring and observability foster better communication within teams. They provide a shared view of system performance, making it easier for teams to collaborate and resolve issues quickly. In conclusion, implementing monitoring and observability is not just about ensuring stability—it’s about empowering teams to deliver better software, faster, and with greater confidence. When implemented thoughtfully, they become key enablers of long-term success. Hear Marvi Cotone speak at the National DevOps Conference 2024 Join us for an in-depth presentation on monitoring Vs observability at The National DevOps Conference and Awards, happening in London on October 22nd and 23rd, 2024. This premier event will feature expert insights into how AI is transforming DevOps practices and the broader tech industry. View the Full Agenda: The National DevOps Conference and Awards Agenda Exclusive Offer: Gain free entry to the conference by submitting your project to the DevOps Awards before the September 16th deadline. Don’t miss this opportunity to showcase your innovation and network with industry leaders. For exhibit at the conference, please contact calum.budge@31media.co.uk Foe media enquiries, please contact vaishnavi.nashte@31media.co.uk
How AI is revolutionising DevOps
In theme with The National DevOps Conference and Awards, we collaborated with Matt Healy, Director of Intelligent Automation Strategy at Pegasystems. In this article he explores how Artificial Intelligence is revolutionising DevOps. The National DevOps Conference & Awards takes place in London on the 22nd and 23rd of October 2024. To exhibit your products at the event, please get in touch here. Is AI the end of never ending DevOps transformations? For almost a decade, I was a release manager for large scale development teams –supporting 1000’s of developers across 100’s of teams working on 10’s of products and initiatives. For that whole decade, my focuses were two-fold, managing the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) and improving the SDLC. Managing and improving the SDLC The management part consisted of making sure that we were getting secure, high quality, releases out the door on time. In order to support developers, teams, and the overall programme with better and better tools, practices, and processes, the SDLC had to be improved, so the second part of the role. It was in the ‘improving the SDLC’ aspect which highlighted how DevOps could transform and create a place where big initiatives were planned early and often, enabling teams with full backlogs. User stories could be quickly elaborated on, to ensure that teams cover all considerations, acceptance criteria, standards, and unhappy paths as they plan without taking weeks. As well as ensuring that developers had the tools and knowledge they needed at their fingertips to surface best practices, how-to’s and suggestions for both new and experienced developers. Further, it is key to make sure that there was healthy automated test coverage, in which developers had the test frameworks and starting points they needed to quickly generate automated tests at every level. Merges and deployments also need to be fully automated. This would enable change to be pushed from a developer’s system through to a pre-production or even production environment with confidence in automated controls around quality, security, and performance. Finally, an aggregated and actionable feedback loop is important across sources like usage analysis, user interviews, and market data, so teams could have insights into how they could improve features and drive adoption. AI in DevOps: Automating repetitive tasks for efficiency While we made significant progress against all of these goals, it never felt like we were ‘done’, and we probably never will be. But artificial intelligence (AI) will bring us closer to the DevOps promise land at every stage across the SDLC. The opportunity for AI to help large scale development teams is clear. AI will offload repetitive manual development tasks, which has already been seen with development efficiency gains in copilot capabilities with AI being able to take a first pass at workflows, integration mapping, user experience components, and more – and this is expected to become even more omnipresent. For developers, AI will put knowledge at their fingertips. There has already been a rise of AI-driven search, and even now personalised AI tutors who can help developers of all levels get up to productivity fast. Looking at operations more generally, AI will be able to synthesise product optimisation opportunities through analysing historical process mining data to uncover and prioritise the biggest inefficiencies and opportunities for product teams to go after. Planning with AI: Transforming large-scale initiatives Working on large-scale initiatives, which involved dozens of teams, and required buy-in from multiple leaders, it felt impossible to get ahead in the planning stage and for this to be optimised. With weeks of meetings, workshops, documents, spreadsheets, roadmaps, architecture diagrams, all to get to a list of user stories which teams could actually start developing, but AI has even started to transform how we plan. With generative AI, IT teams now have a discovery and planning assistant, which can aid them in evolving legacy assets into future-ready workflows. AI can help across planning stages looking at: Level setting: analysing historical analyses and legacy assets like workflow diagrams and user manuals to understand the current state. Research: combing through industry expertise to understand the best practices and possible approaches. Alignment: capturing all business goals and considerations from across stakeholders and synthesising them into a coherent, all-encompassing vision. Essentially, generative AI can be the spark to get started. Setting a foundational design for new initiatives which lets teams hit the ground running and collaborate on, fast. Over the past 12 months, great progress has been made with tangible value in some of the toughest-to-manage areas across the SDLC, so we are on the way to the AI promise land – this is just the beginning. Explore AI and automation at the National DevOps Conference in London Join us for an in-depth discussion on the scope and future of AI and automation at The National DevOps Conference and Awards, happening in London on October 22nd and 23rd, 2024. This premier event will feature expert insights into how AI is transforming DevOps practices and the broader tech industry. View the Full Agenda: The National DevOps Conference and Awards Agenda Exclusive Offer: Gain free entry to the conference by submitting your project to the DevOps Awards before the September 16th deadline. Don’t miss this opportunity to showcase your innovation and network with industry leaders. For exhibit at the conference, please contact calum.budge@31media.co.uk Foe media enquiries, please contact vaishnavi.nashte@31media.co.uk
Embracing CI/CD for Improved Software Deployment and Developer Health
This article is published in collaboration with The National DevOps Conference and Awards.To be a speaker at the conference or to exhibit your solutions to our delegates, please get in touch here. As part of the #LeadersInTech series, we collaborated with Rob Reid, Technical Evangelist at Cockroach Labs on how developers can embrace CI/CD for improves software deployment and developer health. I’ve never been woken up at 2 a.m. by a company that uses CI/CD. Put another way, for software developers, the use of Continuous Integration (CI) and Continuous Deployment (CD), or CI/CD, for software development, testing and deployment is a game changer for maintaining code quality, smooth processes, and ensuring reliable releases. It transforms the development lifecycle, allowing teams to focus more on innovation rather than firefighting issues. And for preventing those 2 a.m. fire drills. Continuous Integration involves the integration of code changes into a shared repository multiple times a day. Automated tests are run to detect errors early, ensuring that the codebase remains stable. This continuous integration supports a proactive approach to problem-solving, substantially decreasing the likelihood of disruptive, last-minute discoveries. Continuous Deployment, on the other hand, focuses on automating the release of validated code to production environments, streamlining the entire deployment process. This tightly integrated testing and deployment process ensures high compatibility and operational reliability, which are critical for our users’ success. This approach also ensures that every version of the application works harmoniously with CockroachDB before reaching production. Benefits of CI/CD The primary benefit of CI/CD is maintaining a clean main branch of code, ready for release at any moment. This practice instills confidence in developers, knowing that their code is always in a releasable state. Additionally, CI/CD ensures reproducibility, allowing the deployment process to be consistent across different environments. The importance of automated testing in CI/CD cannot be overstated. Automated regression tests catch bugs early, enabling developers to make bold changes without fear of breaking the codebase. This leads to a more dynamic and innovative development environment. Best Practices for CI/CD: Treat Infrastructure as Disposable: Adopt the mindset of treating infrastructure like “cattle, not pets.” For example, use automated scripts for provisioning that quickly replace faulty instances without manual intervention, enhancing scalability and reliability. Automate Everything: From testing to deployment, automate as many processes as possible. This reduces the risk of human error and ensures consistency across deployments. Comprehensive Testing: Ensure that tests are integral to the process. Proper test coverage provides confidence in the codebase, allowing for more significant changes and refactoring. Feature Flags: Use feature flags to safely release new features. This allows for “dark releases”, where features are deployed but not activated until needed, providing a quick rollback mechanism if issues arise. Eliminate Bureaucracy: Avoid unnecessary release reviews and approval processes. Focus on building a robust CI/CD pipeline that allows for high-velocity development and deployment. The impact of CI/CD on developer health The adoption of CI/CD not only improves technical operations but also has a profound impact on developer well-being: no more fear that you will bring your company’s IT to a grinding halt because of a “fix” or addition that broke the codebase! Automated processes and the ability to trust the tools rather than relying solely on personal interventions leads to a more balanced work-life experience and better overall results. I have also found that when the CI/CD mindset gets set from the top, at the executive level, there is a healthier work balance for the developer. Counter to this are companies that reward the “hero culture” of software releases which start at 2 a.m.. A culture of being rewarded for fixing production issues rather than preventing them not only increases stress but also slows down development as manual interventions become the norm. CI/CD processes are not just technical practices; they represent a shift towards a healthier and more efficient development culture. By automating processes, ensuring comprehensive testing, and eliminating bureaucratic hurdles, companies can create a more dynamic and innovative environment. For organisations still on the fence about adopting CI/CD, it’s crucial to understand that the initial investment in building a robust CI/CD pipeline pays off significantly in the long run. The result is not only a more reliable and scalable codebase but also a happier, healthier team ready to tackle the challenges of modern software development. Learn more about CI/CD practices at the National DevOps Conference 2024 Join us for an in-depth presentation on CI/CD practices at The National DevOps Conference and Awards, happening in London on October 22nd and 23rd, 2024. This premier event will feature expert insights into how AI is transforming DevOps practices and the broader tech industry. View the Full Agenda: The National DevOps Conference and Awards Agenda Exclusive Offer: Gain free entry to the conference by submitting your project to the DevOps Awards before the September 16th deadline. Don’t miss this opportunity to showcase your innovation and network with industry leaders. For exhibit at the conference, please contact calum.budge@31media.co.uk Foe media enquiries, please contact vaishnavi.nashte@31media.co.uk
Advanced Cloud Strategies for Privacy and Security
#NDCA2024 Speaker Edition With less than 2 months until The National DevOps Conference and Awards, we interviewed #NDCA speaker, Harbinder Singh. The conference & Awards takes place in London on the 22nd and 23rd of October 2024. To exhibit your products at the event, please get in touch here. Author: Harbinder Singh, Head of Cloud and Security and a speaker at the National DevOps Conference and Awards In today’s digital age, where cloud computing drives business innovation, protecting sensitive data has never been more critical. While the cloud offers unparalleled scalability and flexibility, it also presents significant privacy and security challenges. Organisations must balance the openness and accessibility of cloud environments with stringent privacy controls to safeguard their most valuable assets. My upcoming conference presentation will explore strategies to achieve this balance, focusing on tools and practices like IAM policies, Alerts and AWS capabilities to make it difficult for malicious actors. Enforcing Security with IAM Policies and HTTPS A fundamental aspect of securing your cloud environment is the implementation of robust Identity and Access Management (IAM) policies. These policies allow you to control who can access your resources and under what conditions. A critical strategy is enforcing HTTPS for all communications with your cloud services, ensuring that data in transit is encrypted and protected from eavesdropping or man-in-the-middle attacks. For example, you can create an IAM policy to deny non-HTTPS requests to S3 buckets, ensuring all data exchanges are secure. This policy can be extended to other AWS services, providing comprehensive encryption across your cloud infrastructure. Securing Communication with VPC Endpoints, Cloud Map and Service Discovery Maintaining privacy within your cloud environment requires securing the flow of data. Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) endpoints and endpoint services enable private communication between resources within a VPC and AWS services without exposing data to the public internet. VPC endpoints allow you to create a private connection between your VPC and services like S3 or DynamoDB, ensuring that data remains within your VPC’s secure boundaries. VPC endpoint services, on the other hand, allow you to create private endpoints for custom applications, securely sharing services within your infrastructure or with partners. In dynamic cloud environments, where resources frequently scale and move, keeping track of service locations can be challenging. AWS Cloud Map provides service discovery by dynamically managing the location of cloud resources and ensuring secure communication between services. By integrating AWS Cloud Map with IAM policies and VPC endpoints, you can ensure that service discovery within your cloud environment is both secure and private. This integration is particularly useful in micro-services architectures, where services need to discover and interact with each other efficiently without exposure to public networks. Continuous monitoring for security Continuous monitoring and timely alerting are essential for maintaining the security and privacy of your cloud environment. AWS CloudWatch provides robust tools to monitor the health and security of your resources, offering insights into metrics such as traffic patterns, access logs, and error rates. CloudWatch Alarms can notify you of unusual activity, such as traffic spikes or unauthorised access attempts. CloudTrail adds another layer of security by recording all API calls made within your AWS account, providing a detailed audit trail. This helps you track user activity, detect suspicious behaviour, and ensure compliance with internal and external regulations. Security threats are constantly evolving, making continuous monitoring and response crucial. Tools like alert logic provide managed detection and response services that offer real-time visibility into security threats across your cloud environment. Combining machine learning with human expertise, Alert Logic helps detect and respond to incidents before they can cause significant damage, ensuring that your private data remains secure. Vulnerability assessment for cloud environment Regularly conduct penetration tests of the application. Tools like Github code Scanning, Dependabot, OWASP Zap, AWS Inspector are some automated security assessment tools and services that scans your code, cloud infrastructure for vulnerabilities, most important can be integrated in your CI/CD. These tools help identify potential security issues, such as misconfigured security groups or unpatched software vulnerabilities, and provide detailed reports so you can address them proactively. Regular use of AWS Inspector helps ensure that your cloud environment remains secure against evolving threats. Strengthening perimeter protection with IDP, WAF, security groups, and NACLs Perimeter protection is a critical aspect of cloud security, defending your environment from external threats. Identify provider, Web Application Firewall (WAF), Security Groups, and Network Access Control Lists (NACLs) form the backbone of this protection. Identity Providers (IdPs) enable secure authentication and authorisation by integrating with services to enforce who can access your cloud resources. By using identity federation, you can allow users from different domains or external identity providers (like Okta, Google, or Active Directory) to access your AWS environment without needing to create separate IAM users. This enhances security by centralising access management and ensuring that only authenticated and authorised users can access sensitive resources. WAF protects web applications from common threats such as SQL injection and cross-site scripting by filtering and monitoring incoming traffic, ensuring only legitimate traffic reaches your applications. Security Groups act as virtual firewalls for your EC2 instances, controlling inbound and outbound traffic based on defined rules, allowing only authorised traffic to access your resources. NACLs provide an additional layer of security by controlling traffic at the subnet level, offering stateless filtering to allow or deny traffic based on specific rules. These tools work together to form a robust perimeter defence, minimising the risk of unauthorised access and safeguarding your data. Optimising data retention to manage privacy risks Managing the volume of data stored in the cloud is crucial for reducing privacy risks. Over time, data accumulation can increase storage costs and make securing all information effectively more challenging. Implementing data retention policies helps mitigate this risk by automatically archiving or deleting data that is no longer needed. There are lifecycle management policies for services like S3, allowing you to define rules for transitioning data to lower-cost storage or for permanent deletion after a certain period. This not
