The current trend of the IT industry is based on the principle of automation. This isn’t just hype because the marvelous effects of automating various tasks are widely known by now. Planning out the budget effectively and reducing maintenance costs are some of the deemed automation outcomes.
When we are talking about automation, we simply cannot overlook the role of software development because it is the software that makes the automation possible. If we look back on the nascent era of software development, we will observe the chronological role of development, testing, and operations for successful software development and functioning.
This is precisely where NoOps comes into the picture. The target of NoOps is to minimize or somewhat nullify the efforts of the development team through overall automation.
An Insight into NoOps
Let us decode the term NoOps. It refers to nothing but No Operations. That means the automated software will now perform all the work that your operations team would have done. So, you do not have to spend money on hiring an operation team. Those individuals can do other jobs with better efficiency. The target of NoOps is to produce something that will need zero operational individuals and will be completely automated.
Let us take the example of a software application. Every application requires a dedicated management team behind it to manage the app successfully. NoOps will aim to resolve all the work that the app management team used to do without any human intervention. But there is another side to this concept. If I need to eliminate the need for human management, I need to devise an app that can support this upgrade. So, this becomes an indirect or implied goal of NoOps but equally important as the former.
The new generation automation is highly dependent on cloud computing. These days the majority of the maintenance tasks are under the supervision of third-party service providers. If appropriate NoOps can be employed, there would be no need for a human team to monitor any cloud environment or server.
Also Read: Hybrid vs Multi-Cloud: Which one does your Business Need?
NoOps is Not About IT Outsourcing
Many people often confuse NoOps with IT outsourcing or shifting the IT operations to SaaS. While in reality, it isn’t so. Though superficially, NoOps may seem to make IT operations completely serverless or automated, it is not the complete truth. NoOps aims to automate those tasks in the IT role that are repetitive and needs no human intervention. It is not a substitute for human creativity and development.
There are multiple challenges associated with NoOps operation, namely the amalgamation of numerous platforms like AI and machine learning. NoOps has not made an entry to the high-level tasks asked in the IT sector, which is till now very much dependent on human developers and operators. However, it is closely associated with next-generation cloud computing.
NoOPs is an excellent solution not only just for the IT department but also for the business as a whole. It is because no-hands required for operations can lead to faster delivery, frictionless development, and quick turnaround times, particularly for a new department or business sector.
NoOps: Great but Still Evolving
NoOps is still in the process of being one of the top-notch working models. The benefits of NoOps can be many, but it also has some disadvantages.
- NoOps facilitate automation, which has the primary role in lowering maintenance costs. However, automation can be a threat to the stability and resiliency of many organizations. Especially for start-ups, where the work is yet not in the complete flow, automation cannot replace human intervention. These problems restrict the use of NoOps only to organizations where things are already in place for automation.
- Even without the use of NoOps, AWS and GCP can handle the task of microservice maintenance and cloud computing quite efficiently. In places where the former are already in operation, there is practically no immediate necessity to introduce NoOps.
- Automated analytics often fail to provide the accuracy and the same level of professional insight as a fully functional IT cell would do. For an effective IT operation, a massive load of data needs to undergo analytical screening, which is often subject to human intelligence for a correct interpretation. Hence, there is a requirement of substantial upgrades and modifications in the legacy systems of the organizations. Failing to do so can result in rebuilding the strategy from scratch to adopt a successful NoOPs.
Also Read: DevOps vs. CloudOps: What's the Difference?
What is the World Saying About NoOps?
There are many schools of thought when it comes to a PAN automation platform for IT. Many experts often comment that it is never possible to run a world where no human being or their developing operations are not needed. That is the reason why NoOps is a controversial aspect of the IT sector. Many people believe that NoOps is closer to theory than it is to reality.
A closer statistical look portrays a different picture. The organizations which have employed both developers and NoOps are on the top of the success list. The chiefs of such organizations say that some areas in the workspace can be automated, which will let the employees indulge in thinking and innovation.
Many also believe that NoOps is an emerging IT trend system that goes beyond automation in an infrastructural environment where no manual operations are required. This can supersede the business expectations of meeting its business goal without compromising on the experience.
Final Verdict
The hype of automation seems to have taken over the whole IT sector. In such a scenario, anything that can yield an automation platform is tagged as a futuristic model. NoOps fits perfectly in this definition and can be appropriately called the future of the IT industry, though we must not forget the other side of the picture. To think is the job of humans, and it is still the most critical question whether anything artificial will ever be able to do that precisely.
