DevOps Forecast for 2023

Once again, we’re prognosticating about what lies ahead, and this time we’re sharing our DevOps forecast for 2023. As we continue to expand our own CI/CD pipeline and use of IaC, we learn more about the challenges. We see a few bumps in the road but also some exciting new trends that will evolve over the next few months.

History of DevOps

In 2009, Patrick Debois combined “development” and “operations” into “DevOps” to describe a specialized agile approach to software development. Some folks say that DevOps isn’t a process, technology, or standard, but a culture. The infamous (and Webapper recommended) DevOps Handbook defines it as “architectural practices, technical practices, and cultural norms that allow us to increase our ability to deliver applications and services quickly and safely.”
What began in online forums and local meetups with folks like Debois is now a cornerstone of modern application development. As organizations demand change — new features, services, and revenue streams — as fast as possible, development teams need to also maintain a stable environment. With DevOps, organizations can experiment and innovate to deliver value to users faster than ever.

Here’s what we see in the near future…

DevSecOps Security Integration

DevOps enables developing new technology quickly, but that means security teams must also keep up with changing security needs. DevOps security — AKA DevSecOps — is safeguarding the entire DevOps environment with effective processes, technology, and policies. DevSecOps requires teams to collaborate on security during every stage of DevOps: design, build, test, release, maintenance, and support.

Security Automation

DevOps relies heavily on tools to automate the end-to-end software development and deployment process. Using tools that automate key aspects of DevOps security helps streamline cumbersome processes, reducing the amount of time and resources devoted to manual tasks while also minimizing the risk of costly mistakes. Automation is critical to managing, changing, and adapting processes, infrastructure, applications, and services. More automation will help accelerate velocity to Dev and Ops processes.

API Security

The rise of APIs opens more doors for cybercriminals. APIs become targets because hackers find ways to access sensitive data, such as PII (personally idenifiable customer information) or other valuable data. APIs often serve as a roadmap to internal databases. Insecure development practices enable vulnerabilities. In fast-moving development cycles, APIs can make their way to production before a proper security review. Security operations and DevOps will increase collaboration using improved automation tools and processes.

More Containerization

Developers will increasingly simplify their development cyclea using containerization. Docker, Podman and Kubernetes can all contribute to building and deploying applications quickly in the cloud (you may have a preference for which one(s) to use). With containers, DevOps teams can break applications into microservices. Containers also enable standardizing how applications are packaged, delivered, and deployed, allowing rapid deployments, increasing velocity, and improving agility.

Infrastructure as Code

Inconsistent environment configurations can cause deployment issues. Infrastructure administration often involves error prone manual processes that are hard to track. Effective DevOps organizations use version control, monitoring, testing, and virtualization. IaC makes all these tasks more efficient. Its paves the road for easier & better infrastructure provisioning and maintenance. IaC will continue to evolve, accelerate, and drive performance.

Artificial Intelligence

AI and machine learning will contribute to improved DevOps. Increasing complexity and the explosive growth of data require a new approach to monitoring. AI can dramatically impact decision-making by recognizing patterns that can increase productivity and mitigate problems. AI could be used to analyze log files to identify issues before they even occur.