Using either DevOps or cloud is good for your organisation – but using both is better.

That is the verdict of a report from Freeform Dynamics and CA Technologies, which polled 929 IT professionals on how well their organisations were meeting their software delivery objectives.

Almost half (48%) said they focused primarily on traditional delivery of software and applications, with 20% using cloud and DevOps extensively. 17% said they were predominantly a cloud house, compared to 15% for DevOps.

Yet despite this seeming disparity, transformational initiatives were very popular among those polled. The overwhelming majority (96%) are looking at operational efficiency – getting IT to do the same things but faster and cheaper – while operational and digital transformation were cited by 88% and 85% of respondents respectively.

When combining cloud and DevOps, respondents saw on average an 81% improvement in overall software delivery performance, almost double the speed of delivery, and 80% better predictability of software performance.

Speed of delivery and cost control brought the most advantage to organisations who had committed to DevOps before adding cloud, the research noted. When the analysis was done but flipping over with those who had committed to cloud first, the figures were similar.

“Both cloud and DevOps are ways to reduce friction in the delivery process, and the KPIs where friction have the greatest effect are speed and cost control,” the report noted. “Another key factor through all of this is that cloud minimises the need for people to ask others to take action… so if a developer needs a new test machine or a specific software tool, say, they can get it without having to involve system administrators or the ops team.”

Ultimately, the report argues that if the IT team’s performance levels are mixed, or if the company is falling short in terms of broader service delivery, then a combination of cloud and DevOps may be the answer. “Cloud, whether public, private or hybrid, changes the game in terms of expectations and mindsets from a software delivery and operations perspective. Of course there are pitfalls and distractions that need to be avoided, but done right, cloud can remove a lot of the barriers and friction.”

You can find out more and download the full report here (registration required).

• By 2035 AI technologies have the potential to increase productivity 40% or more.
• AI will increase economic growth an average of 1.7% across 16 industries by 2035.
• Information and communication, manufacturing and financial services will be the top three industries that gain economic growth in 2035 from AI’s benefits.
• AI will have the most positive effect on education, accommodation and food services, and construction industry profitability in 2035.

Accenture Research and Frontier Economics have published How AI Boosts Industry Profits and Innovation. The report is downloadable here (28 pp., PDF, no opt-in).The research compares the economic growth rates of 16 industries, projecting the impact of Artifical Intelligence (AI) on global economic growth through 2035. Using Gross Value Added (GVA) as a close approximation of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the study found that the more integrated AI is into economic processes, the greater potential for economic growth. 

One of the report’s noteworthy findings is that AI has the potential to increase economic growth rates by a weighted average of 1.7% across all industries through 2035. Information and Communication (4.8%), Manufacturing (4.4%) and Financial Services (4.3%) are the three sectors that will see the highest annual GVA growth rates driven by AI in 2035. The bottom line is that AI has the potential to boost profitability an average of 38% by 2035 and lead to an economic boost of $14T across 16 industries in 12 economies by 2035.

Key takeaways from the study include the following:

AI will increase economic growth by an average of 1.7% across 16 industries by 2035 with Information and Communication, manufacturing and financial services leading all industries

Accenture Research found that the Information and Communication industry has the greatest potential for economic growth from AI. Integrating AI into legacy information and communications systems will deliver significant cost, time and process-related savings quickly. Accenture predicts the time, cost and labor savings will generate up to $4.7T in GVA value in 2035. High growth areas within this industry are cloud, network, and systems security including defining enterprise-wide cloud security strategies.

AI will most increase profitability in education, accommodation and food services, and construction industries in 2035

Personalised learning programs and automating mundane, routine tasks to free up colleges, universities, and trade school instructors to teach new learning frameworks will accelerate profitability in the education through 2035.  Accommodation and food services and construction are industries with manually-intensive, often isolated processes that will benefit from the increased insights and contextual intelligence from AI throughout the forecast period.

Manufacturing’s adoption of Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), smart factories and comparable initiatives are powerful catalysts driving AI adoption

Based on the proliferation of Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) devices and the networks and terabytes of data they generate, Accenture predicts AI will contribute an additional $3.76T GVA to manufacturing by 2035. Supply chain management, forecasting, inventory optimisation and production scheduling are all areas AI can make immediate contributions to this industry’s profits and long-term economic growth.

Financial services’ greatest gains from AI will come automating and reducing the errors in mundane, manually-intensive tasks including credit scoring and first-level customer inquiries

Accenture forecasts financial services will benefit $1.2T in additional GVA in 2035 from AI. Follow-on areas of automation in Financial Services include automating market research queries through intelligent bots, and scoring and reviewing mortgages.

By 2035 AI technologies could increase labour productivity 40% or more, doubling economic growth in 12 developed nations

Accenture finds that AI’s immediate impact on profitability is improving individual efficiency and productivity. The economies of the U.S. and Finland are projected to see the greatest economic gains from AI through 2035, with each attaining 2% higher GVA growth. The following graphic compares the 12 nations included in the first phase of the research.

Sources:

• Accenture Report: Artificial Intelligence Has Potential to Increase Corporate Profitability in 16 Industries by an Average of 38 Percent by 2035

• Accenture: How AI Boosts Industry Profits And Innovation 

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