Industry executives and experts share their predictions for 2024. Read them in this 16th annual VMblog.com series exclusive.
Three Predictions for the Software Delivery Industry in 2024
By
Gopal Dommety, CEO, OpsMx
Competitive
pressures, rapidly evolving customer and user needs, and the advent of new
technologies are forcing enterprises to release software faster than ever
before. Companies that want to keep pace, and do so without sacrificing quality
or security, must carefully evolve their software delivery workflows. They must
also understand how the software supply chain landscape is evolving at a higher
level or they risk making the wrong decisions when it comes to selecting and
utilizing those new technologies. With this in mind, here are three predictions
for how the software delivery industry will be impacted in 2024.
1. Zero
trust comes to the software supply chain
So far,
security has been something of an add-on to software delivery. In 2024, look
for new security standards related to the software supply chain that will push
organizations to expand their DevSecOps efforts. This will need to include
automation of DevSecOps processes to empower security teams with stronger
enforcement mechanisms, improve collaboration among stakeholders, and ensure
organizations are able to prevent and respond to attacks at every step in the
software delivery lifecycle.
In 2024, as
various working groups develop new standards related to the software supply
chain, we expect them to receive a tremendous amount of attention.
2. Open
source is alive and well, but blended solutions will take off in 2024
Enterprises
are evolving their approach to open source software. In 2024, we expect to see
a dramatic rise in reliance on "blended solutions" as enterprises stop thinking
of open source and proprietary as a binary decision. We are seeing more and
more enterprises that are committed to open source projects also choosing
proprietary add-on solutions to fill perceived gaps, especially in critical
areas like security or complex scalability features that the community isn't
interested in pursuing, creating a hybrid solution that meets the enterprise's
specific needs. This will likely drive software vendors to evolve their product
strategy to offer extensions that previously were parts of their complete
product.
3. "New
Tool" fatigue and global economic uncertainty will impact how enterprises
approach software security
Most
enterprises already have more software tools than they think they need. The
complexity of their current environment combined with global economic
uncertainty that is constraining spending will push organizations in 2024 to
figure out how to get more from the tools they have rather than buying and
implementing new ones. Tools that are already in place and working will stay,
even if they are not loved (example: Jenkins). Instead, the focus will shift to
a more federated model to achieve a single, secure, compliant software delivery
process. This will be reflected in the continued rise of Internal Developer
Platforms (IDPs) that integrate many different tools and technologies to enable
developer self-service, reduce distractions, and ensure software security. This
is likely the only practical way to solve the developer productivity vs.
software compliance dilemma.
Bonus Prediction - Generative AI starts impacting software
development
Generative
AI (GenAI) seems on the verge of impacting every aspect of business and
society, and it will certainly have an important role to play in software
delivery. One of the first uses will be in security, where relying on manual
processes to analyze all the data generated by software systems to detect
vulnerabilities is now a recipe for failure. Analyzing all this data and
providing security teams with relevant, actionable information is an ideal use
case for GenAI. Expect solutions to begin appearing in 2024.
Conclusion
Trying
to rapidly evolve the software delivery workflow without sacrificing quality or
security is intimidating. However, by tracking these developments during the
coming year, enterprises will be in a better position to choose a path forward
that optimally balances competing requirements related to cost, efficiency,
security and compliance.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Gopal Dommety is the CEO of OpsMx, provider of an Intelligent Continuous Delivery Platform. Gopal
is a serial entrepreneur and technology visionary.