May 11, 2015
Underwritten by:
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Introduction
Federal agencies are not migrating to the cloud as
quickly as anticipated – in fact, GAO tells us
agencies have increased their cloud investments by
just one percent in the last two years. Still, most
Feds agree that moving to the cloud is critical to
meeting growing demands. So, what‟s the hold up?
Beyond budget and security, agency cloud concerns
include manageability and lack of control. How do
we mitigate these management challenges?
Bringing development and operations closer
together – DevOps* – could be part of the solution.
To find out more, MeriTalk surveyed 152 Federal IT
managers. The resulting report examines cultural
and structural barriers to cloud adoption, and the
role that DevOps may play in overcoming these
obstacles.
*DevOps is a software development and
IT management method that brings
software engineering, quality assurance,
and IT operations together as an
integrated team to collaboratively
manage the full application lifecycle
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Executive Summary
• The Need for Speed:
• Just 13% of Feds say they can deploy new systems as fast as required
• And, 66% believe their agency needs to move IT services to the cloud faster to meet
mission and constituent needs
• Unfit for the Track:
• Feds say more than just security and budget hold back cloud adoption – top
concerns include infrastructure complexity (42%), fear of change (40%), and
inflexible practices (40%)
• Feds are also constrained by organizational silos – only one in 10 Fed IT managers
say developers and administrators are highly collaborative
• Feds See DevOps Potential:
• 68% of Feds believe DevOps will help improve collaboration between development,
security, and operations teams; 63% anticipate it will speed application delivery and
migration
• To implement DevOps, Feds would need to train personnel (55%), launch a new
vision for the future (41%), and incentivize a cultural change (40%)
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The Need for Speed
Take Away: Mission IT Collision
Just 13% say they can develop and deploy new systems as fast as the
mission requires – citing delays from operational, policy, and security requirements
81% believe their agency could accelerate
application software through the development
lifecycle
• Federal application deployment can’t keep up with mission requirements
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66% believe their agency
needs to move IT services to
the cloud faster to meet
mission and constituent needs
Cloud Considerations
Take Away: Move in the Fast Lane
• Feds say cloud can help
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Stuck at Go
Take Away: Innovation Opportunity
• But, despite high hopes for cloud, GAO tells us agencies have increased cloud spending by just one percent in the past two years*
*http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-14-753 **Respondents asked to select all that apply
Feds say increasing their cloud adoption pace will improve IT‟s ability to:**
Refresh existing applications
and deploy new ones
Provide high availability,
reliable performance, and
secure operations
Innovate 70%
69%
62%
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Drag Factor
Take Away: Management Must Take the Wheel
Outside of budget and security, Feds say top challenges are:*
*Respondents asked to select all that apply
42%
40% 35%
40% Infrastructure
complexity
Inflexible
practices
Fear of
change
Lack of clear
strategy
• In addition to security and budget concerns, structural and cultural issues slow cloud adoption
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Switching Gears
Take Away: Crashing into the Status Quo
*Respondents asked to select all that apply
What’s worked:
“A new branch dedicated to
IT infrastructure”
“[Merging] several locations
with specific functions into
a „flat‟ agency that can
perform all operations
anywhere”
“Streamlining business and
policy processes from a
paper system to electronic
rule-based computing”
“Changing performance
metrics”
What changes has your agency made
since the introduction of cloud?*
44% Process or policy changes (new workflow,
standards, performance metrics, etc.)
30% Cultural changes (new vision for the
future, new values or traditions, change in
incentives, etc.)
28% Organizational changes
(high-level structural change like
a new department or a change in
hierarchy)
• Less than half of Federal agencies (44%) have made process or policy changes since the introduction of cloud; just over one quarter (28%) have updated their org chart
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High Maintenance
Take Away: Cloud Cruise Control Opportunity
*Respondents asked to select all that apply
70% believe they could move to
the cloud faster if their agency had
a more automated infrastructure
• Nearly three quarters of Federal IT managers say improved automation will drive cloud adoption
58% testing and verification
47% app release management
44% infrastructure updates
40% environment provisioning
What is manual today?*
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Engine Rebuild
Take Away: Missing Critical Parts
*Respondents asked to select all that apply
Real-time
collaboration
tools
Which of the following tools do you believe your IT
department needs to successfully transition to cloud?*
34% 32% 32%
30% 29% 28%
Authorization
and control
tools
Integrated
monitoring and
logging tools
System lifecycle
and version
management
tools
Auditing
tools
Automated
infrastructure
provisioning
tools
• Additionally, just 12% of Feds say their IT department has all of the tools it needs to transition to the cloud
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Team Dynamics
Take Away: Pit Crews are Not in Sync
Today, just one in 10 Fed IT
managers would describe the
collaboration between
software/applications developers
and systems administrators as
“highly collaborative”
• “Lack of communication”
• “Each department operates in a vacuum”
• “Different departments have different
policies and programs”
• “Lack of understanding perspectives”
• “Lack of vision”
Why so few?
• Four out of five IT managers (78%) believe their IT department needs to improve collaboration to enable a more streamlined move to the cloud
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Start Your Engines
Take Away: DevOps is a Jump Start
DevOps is a software development and IT
management method that brings software
engineering, quality assurance, and IT operations
together as an integrated team to collaboratively
manage the full application lifecycle
Based on this definition, do you believe this model
can help your agency succeed in the cloud?
57% say yes
(9% say no; 34% are unsure)
• DevOps may offer a viable path to accelerating Federal cloud adoption
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Game Changer
• How do you believe DevOps can help your agency succeed in the cloud?
Take Away: The Fans are on Board
“A repeatable systematic approach
to software development vs. the ad
hoc current environment”
“Bringing the groups
together into one true
team will help speed up
the release cycle and
troubleshooting”
“Collaboration of various
expertise with those familiar
with the applications and
those with the environments
to make a viable move”
“DevOps appears to be the ultimate
in communication and collaboration;
something we could use”
“Increase deployment
speed and
standardization”
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Moving to the Fast Lane?
Take Away: At the Drawing Board
*Either somewhat or very familiar; n = 112
This concept may be the cloud
catalyst Feds are looking for, but
just one in five Fed IT managers
(22%) are very familiar with it
22%
• While DevOps is a growing focus in the private sector, just one-in-five Fed IT managers (22%) are very familiar with it today
16%
13%
5%
16%
11%
5%
15%
19%
Researching/ considering
Making plans for
Implementing within 2-3 years
Implementing within the year
Piloting
Fully Deployed
Not considering
Unsure
Of those familiar: Where does your agency
stand with DevOps?*
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Inside Track
Take Away: Accelerate Lap Speed
• Feds see DevOps potential as path to the inside lane; 60% of respondents say they can see DevOps in their agency’s future
Security (59%)
tied with
Standardization (59%)
Application and
environment
manageability (60%)
Performance and
reliability (61%)
Speed and
repeatability of
application testing
(62%)
Speed of application
delivery and
migration (63%)
Collaboration between
development, security,
and operations teams
(68%)
Feds believe DevOps offers a viable path to improve:*
Innovation, flexibility, and agility (56%)
*Respondents asked to select all that apply
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The Checkered Flag
Take Away: Change Lanes to Accelerate
Invest in new tools
Work with a
DevOps specialist
Promote new values
or traditions
Incentivize a change in
culture/mindset
Establish a new vision
for the future
Train current personnel
What would your agency need to do to implement a
structure like DevOps?*
55%
41%
40%
39%
31%
28%
*Respondents asked to select all that apply and base their response off the definition of DevOps provided in the survey (slide two)
• To get to the finish line, agencies must train personnel and develop a vision for the future
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Clarify the Goal:
Consider what the cloud means for your agency; how it should inspire structure, culture, and policy changes; and what your vision for the future should include.
Focus on Communication:
IT managers see greater collaboration and eliminating silos as critical to advancing cloud adoption. Bring stakeholders to the table and prioritize action.
Consider DevOps:
Feds believe DevOps may move cloud into the fast lane. It brings increased IT automation and better collaboration to streamline software delivery and cloud migration. To prepare, educate key stakeholders on the approach and potential benefits – and make sure they know they are coming along for the ride.
Recommendations
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Additional Thoughts
Cloud‟s true potential is in enabling more adaptive, scalable, cost-effective
and secure systems. However, as Federal agencies move mission
systems to the cloud, they have also discovered that more integrated
approaches are required to rapidly capitalize on these flexible and
powerful environments.
Building off the value that highly aligned cross-functional teams deliver
within Agile software development, DevOps extends this model across the
entire application lifecycle. DevOps encompasses new philosophies,
processes, tools and organizational models to foster a highly collaborative
culture focused on continuous innovation and dynamic operations.
Given the need to move to cloud more rapidly, many believe DevOps can
provide a model for enabling these necessary changes. This survey
outlines the steps agencies are taking and can take, and their potential to
drive new levels of innovation.
- Dominic Delmolino and Tim Hoechst, Accenture Federal Services
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Methodology and Demographics
• MeriTalk, on behalf of Accenture Federal Services, conducted an online survey of 152 Federal IT managers in February and March 2015. The report has a margin of error of ±7.92% at a 95% confidence level
Agency type:
55% Civilian Agency
45% DoD or Intel
Job title:
4% CIO/CTO
4% Deputy CIO/CTO
24% IT Director/Supervisor
18% IT Systems Engineer
13% Software/Applications Development
Manager
17% IT Operations Manager
20% Other IT Manager
100% of respondents are familiar
with their agency’s adoption of
cloud computing
Thank You
For More Information, Contact:
Tim Hoechst, CTO, Accenture Federal Services
For Press Inquiries, Contact:
Amy Pasquarello
703-883-9000 ext. 146