Salesforce DevOps has previously been seen as ‘for developers’ and not aligned with the admin skill-set. But according to respondents in the State of Salesforce DevOps Report 2024, things have changed.
In this post, we’ll look at the origins of the admin-dev divide, the current state-of-play for getting admins involved in DevOps, and the impact democratized DevOps has on Salesforce ROI.
Why DevOps for Salesforce is Unique
In traditional DevOps setups, the aim is to bridge the gap between developers and operations teams to streamline the software development lifecycle. But when it comes to Salesforce teams, the roles and responsibilities don’t align perfectly with the typical DevOps model.
Usually, Salesforce teams comprise developers who create and customize applications and admins who manage configurations and user access. Unlike conventional DevOps where developers and operations work together closely, in Salesforce teams, admins often take on multiple roles, including those of release managers and monitoring specialists.
So, applying DevOps to Salesforce involves bringing together these different players – developers and admins – to collaborate effectively. Developers focus on building and customizing applications while admins oversee deployment, monitoring, and maintenance. This blend of roles ensures a smoother transition from development to production within the Salesforce ecosystem.
Salesforce Teams Are Unifying DevOps
When DevOps first began gaining popularity in the Salesforce ecosystem, most of the tools on the market were code-heavy, meaning they were typically taken up by developers but not admins. This prompted teams to split their release processes: developers got up and running with DevOps tooling while admins continued to use native, declarative options.
But teams are realizing that having a split release process doesn’t allow them to reach the real delivery potential of a DevOps pipeline, because silos and divisions are still present.
Thankfully, the tide has now turned due to the rise in declarative DevOps tooling for Salesforce – according to the State of Salesforce DevOps Report 2024, 73% of teams report that all metadata types are now built and deployed in the same way. Meanwhile, only 21% of respondents said that they have a split release process and an alarming 6% had no agreed release process at all.
The Impact of Democratizing DevOps
With admins and developers working on the same workflow with the same tool, DevOps can be considered democratized and accessible to all Salesforce professionals. But does democratizing DevOps actually make a difference?
There are huge cultural and delivery benefits to unifying your release process by boosting visibility and making it easier for teams to collaborate. In turn, better collaboration prompts smoother releases and tighter feedback loops.
However, getting the whole team set up on a declarative DevOps solution takes time, and industry-leading low-code solutions aren’t free. The transition needs to deliver actual value to the business, to make it a worthwhile investment.
So, can it actually impact your bottom line?
The data highlights a significant return on investment in democratizing DevOps. An impressive 60% of teams with a democratized release process report monthly Salesforce ROI of more than $20,000 – which is twice as much as teams with a split release process and almost ten times as much as teams with no agreed release process.
Dive Into the Data
Empowering everyone to be involved in DevOps processes is a critical step to solve collaboration challenges and reach the highest levels of Salesforce ROI.
To find out more about which teams are leading the way with democratized DevOps, how other teams are performing, as well as the other key trends Salesforce teams can expect in 2024, read the full report.
For actionable advice and strategies to boost collaboration and close the admin-dev divide, join Rob Cowell for a live webinar on April 25th.