From an information technology (IT) standpoint, it seems that businesses have become reliant on DevOps for the development of cutting-edge software solutions. With different applications finding usage in the DevOps space, the buzzword which is believed to be trending is called XOps, which stands for cross-functional operations. From what it’s understood, XOps is a combination of terms such as BizDevOps, DevOps, DevSecOps, MLOps, and AIOps. “I believe XOps, or extended operations, is an evolution of traditional DevOps. While DevOps focuses on collaboration between development and IT operations, XOps can extend this collaboration to include other areas such as DataOps, SecOps, AIOps, and MLOps. It can create a comprehensive approach to software development and IT management, fostering collaboration, automation, and continuous integration/delivery across domains,” Himanshu Vyas, founding team, Vyaparify, a business software company, told FE TransformX.
Going by market reports, XOps allows software developers to automate their day-to-day operations, along with handling other workflows. It’s believed that XOps enables users to supervise, manage, and sustain IT infrastructure-based related mechanisms. The core feature concerning XOps is understood to be attending to the distinctive requirements of parties involved in data analytics. Market research suggests that advantages associated with XOps include enhanced dependability, as it ensures infrastructures are always up to speed through timely execution of operations, high productivity, through providing the appropriate set of applications for users, modularity, which enables the addition of more applications, removal of complexities, through enabling a particular point of control for operations, and economical costs, which enables reduction of operational costs. Another benefit of implementing XOps is its software development kits (SDKs), which permit merging with computer programs such as Python, Java, and Node.js, along with those belonging to the XOps landscape such as Amazon Web Services (WBS), MySQL, Apache Hadoop, among others. A list published by Gartner, a technological research and consulting firm, held XOps as an emerging trend for digital transformation applications related to data analytics and artificial intelligence (AI).
“I think XOps, encompassing principles such as DevOps and platform engineering, offers collaboration, efficiency, and faster delivery cycles. The rise of platform engineering aims to promote an approach to managing complex systems, fostering scalability and adaptability. Additionally, XOps’ advantages such as reduced time-to-market, improved cross-functional communication, and heightened automation, result in increased productivity and product quality. By integrating various operations’ disciplines, XOps can optimise development processes and ensure operations, ultimately driving innovation and customer satisfaction,” Dinesh Mohan, head of delivery and operations, digital practice, Expleo, a digital transformation company, highlighted.
According to the International Market Analysis Research and Consulting Group (IMARC Group), a market research firm, the international DevOps sector clocked $10.9 billion in 2023. Adding to that, the firm mentioned that the sector should reach $63.4 billion by 2032, at a 21% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) for 2024-32. Through a blog post, Carlos Mendez, COO, Palo Alto, a cybersecurity company, spoke on how XOps is an important step in ensuring AI’s productionalisation, which comes down to machine learning (ML) helping companies add AI to their developmental stages. Data provided by Capgemini, an IT services company, has emphasised how XOps can be a benefactor for life science-oriented technological innovations, which are quantum technologies’ utilisation for modelling molecules, graph technologies for drug discovery, and integration between deep learning and graph databases for drug discovery. Moreover, future predictions indicate that for XOps to be extensive in use cases, partnerships are required between operation teams, data scientists, and engineers.
Market experts believe that the growth of smart technology services, with regard to XOps, will be transformative for data science and AI. “In the future, XOps is expected to continue evolving as organisations recognise the value of cross-functional collaboration and automation in optimising software and data-related operations. This evolution should involve further integration with emerging technologies such as AI, machine learning, and advanced analytics to meet evolving industry demands,” Yashraj Vakil, CEO, CaptainBiz, a business management software solutions platform, concluded.
