What Is CI/CD And How It Can Help You

As with everything in the digital age, we are in a state of constant evolution. Software engineering is no different. With the emergence of CI/CD pipelines, DevOps, and even the cloud. Even more so with the adoption of various containers in the industry. We always find ourselves searching for answers to questions such as, “What is CMP” and “What is SDS”. Never-mind trying to find new, ingenious ways to implement and integrate these approaches. But have you stopped to actually think about what exactly CI/CD is, or the impact that it can have on your business? To be clear, CI means Continuous Integration. While CD means Continuous Delivery and Continuous Deployment. So technical teams of any organization are supposed to use the CI/CD pillar for them to have a successful DevOps. This article highlights 7 benefits of CI/CD, but there are more benefits than you can ever imagine. For example, CI involves combining the work of developers several times during working hours. This way, it’s possible to discover the results of combined efforts in just a single day. Also, the Continuous Delivery culture attempts to automate all workflows that can be automated in a DevOps strategy. And however much you code, the end product must be released for use by live end users. That’s Continuous Deployment. Here are 7 Ways How CI/CD Can Help You. 1. Get Real-Time Feedback: Quite frankly, there are few perfect developers. Since CI/CD deals with technology, it’s possible to have architectural issues, bugs, logical errors and poor customers’ response. So, most responses in a CI/CD environment has to do with above issues. For architectural issues for instance, you can know the type of devops tools you are using. If the tool doesn’t support plugins and integrations you need, you can easily move to another platform. Logical, and other types of errors can also be spotted instantly and corrected. Many CI/CD tools are robust to detect any misuse. In addition, the end product can be put in a production environment where testing occurs. With live users, one is guaranteed instant feedback. 2. Fix Flaws Instantly: Even though flaws will be identified immediately, major errors may take some time to correct. Analytics is a critical feature of a CI/CD environment. Because analytics helps to compare current data with the previous data. Obviously, if the data present tends to negative, the developers shall know that the new release has a flaw. Also, some systems have a branch sharing mechanism. To explain further, you can share bits of your project with the community. A supportive community will show you errors and how you can fix them. As a result, you can end up with an error-free code. 3. Have Great Products. Even in a productive environment, success isn’t guaranteed. But having great products is one way of boosting your chances of success. And CI/CD will help you do that. Successful projects depends on the people, the methods, and the product. CI/CD will help you compile efforts to form a great team. On methods, there are several CI/CD tools that have worked successfully for others. With the right people and methods, it is easy to make great digital products. Great products are able to beat the concept of time. They’ll be used over again. And you will only have to release more efficient updates. 4. Save Time: According to research, CI/CD can save you 20% of your time. And since this is just an average number, there are people who saved more than 20% of their time. Imagine coding a project by yourself. You can’t trace history, you waste a lot of time going back to the drawing board, and you even lose data. CI/CD has several integrations that minimize time-consuming tasks. If you aren’t comfortable with your productivity, you’re definitely wasting your time. CI/CD is about continuous production. And if you don’t save time, it may cost you more money to recover the lost time. 5. Collaborate In A Team: Evidently, collaboration has given people a chance to brainstorm. In addition, people can help each other, and it is possible to delegate tasks. While delegating, for instance, members can be assigned what they love working on. Large projects usually have various aspects that need different skills. So an ideal CI/CD strategy should provide a platform where people with different skill sets meet and work collaboratively. 6. Beat The Competition: Organizations that automate their workflows will automatically beat their competitors. First, CI/CD guarantees faster production and new releases to the market. There is generally a shorter production lifespan. With frequent releases, firms can sell more and gain a larger market share. Firms can bring up different talents using CI/CD tools. And even if your competitors are using this technology, you can identify failures of their projects, and come up with a unique product that beats theirs. 7. Have Consistent Results. The CI/CD strategy is continuous. You have to build, plan, deploy, test, and build again. The same way you can plough back profits into a business, you’ll bring back more work force, to make a better product best. Consistency is key. Because as time passes by, attackers could compromise the security of your product. But with new updates, you can release more secure versions to the market. In reality, you won’t achieve these results by repeating your everyday operations. You have to optimize the working environment. So, you can use rds best practices to scale your operations. Right now, automation is being given more preference in CI/CD. Keep up with DevOps trends to discover more on how CI/CD can help you.

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