ITOps, DevOps, and NoOps: Concept and Basics Explained

Modern technology has made everyone’s lives easier. Thanks to it, we can now accomplish things at the click of a button. Keeping these statements in mind, it is not surprising to expect the use of the same or even better state of the art technology and innovations for the companies that create them in the first place.

There is no denying that every company depends on technology to run smoothly today. The leading player in this area is the Information Technology Department. The IT department is responsible for making these IT companies near me or enterprises as problem-free, adaptable, and quick.

Starting from software and hardware development to making sure every nut and bolt runs correctly, the IT dept takes care of it all. In a nutshell, it is safe to say that the company depends on the IT department to increase its efficiency and effectiveness and speed up its production. 

In this article, we shall introduce our readers to the concepts of ITOps, DevOps, and NoOps. They are all approaches or IT team structures that provide a company all the help that it needs to be as productive, secure, and agile as possible. 

ITOps

What it is

ITOps stands for IT Operations or IT ops. The other name for ITOps is TechOps. We can consider it to be the most traditional out of the three. It serves as the basis for both the other two concepts, which are DevOps and NoOps. ITOps has two subdivisions:

• SecOps and
• CloudOps

It helps in making the IT department’s job easier by handling the maintenance and delivering functions of services, technologies, and applications, which are all essential for the smooth running of a business. A person can effortlessly look after and manage all the operations of the IT department using ITOps. 

It does not matter what a company involves itself in, whether it is related to providing services or selling products. ITOps can help the company in doing anything even remotely related to the IT department or computer hardware.

And after studying the market, we can safely assume that most companies, enterprises, and institutions depend on technology one way or another. As such, every company can reap the benefits of adopting ITOps in their IT structure. 

What Does it Do?

Instead of discussing what it does, it is much easier to discuss what it does not cover because it is much shorter than the latter. ITOps does not cover the development of applications, systems, and software. It does not take care of implementing software either.

In simple terms, the IT ops concept helps in carrying out every role required besides software development. The main functions of ITOps are to install and maintain networks, manage the data center, internal help desk, storage, server, and device. Here is a more in-depth look at the functions of ITOps:

• Network infrastructure

ITOps installs and manages the network functions, both internal and external. It makes sure that the company’s network follows and complies with all the regulations to remain secure. ITOps even helps in providing network users with remote access through the likes of VPNs and two-factor authentication.

Communicating with the private branch exchange using the internal phone system is a breeze thanks to ITOps’ management. The security of a network is of the utmost importance regardless of what kind of undertaking a company is. ITOps ensures that every issue that might come up gets dealt with by altering network personnel. 

• Computer operations and help desk

ITOps manages the physical data center, which includes but is not limited to electricity, battery backups, location of equipment, cooling, and the like. If there is any problem regarding the loss of data because of a disaster, ITOps helps recover. It also oversees the backups.  

Sometimes, the company has to report to outsiders like auditors and regulatory bodies. During such times, ITOps takes care of security and network configuration. It builds and manages the internal IT help desk and the infrastructure library. 

• Management of service and device

ITOps manages the network and each user’s storage so that there is always fitting memory, archiving, disk, and backup. If the network applications and infrastructure need any configuration or maintenance, ITOps is there to take care of it. Any upgrading or patching function is also possible through this concept. 

There are times when users face some problems with their computers or mobile devices. During such times, a person can depend on ITOps to fix their devices and update them. Setting up of a computer or device is also another function of ITOps.

DevOps

What it is

DevOps is a combination of software development and IT operations. This set of practices fill in the gaps that ITOps left. It is the perfect “tool” that improves the collaboration between the development team and the operations team. Many people consider it to be more of a culture or mindset than a set of processes.  

One problem that many companies faced when serving their customers was to provide new services, programs, or software in a short time that has stability and comes with no interruptions. Although this sounds excellent on paper, it is not easy to pull off in the real world. The first problem that they face is: developing new software or making changes requires testing. They can make changes quickly, but it might not work as it should. Therefore, speedy delivery might mean an unstable system. 

On the other hand, if they choose to make sure the new system runs fine, they might have to exchange quick delivery for a stable system. The other option is to provide its customers with the same old software and applications that do not face any interruptions. Both problems needed a solution, and it came in the form of DevOps.

What Does it Do?

The primary purpose of DevOps is to ensure the rapid and speedy delivery of high-quality software. In other words, DevOps helps in developing new software that satisfies the customers regarding their desire for something new, and also makes sure the stability and integrity of the system stay intact. DevOps shortens the cycle of the continuous development model.  

This concept develops applications and programs speedily and improves the product for the customers’ best interest. DevOps also takes an active part in analyzing business, coding, testing the software, coding, and custom software. ITOps and DevOps must work together, side by side, to offer the best product as soon as possible. 

Benefits of DevOps

We have boiled down the benefits of DevOps into three main points:

• Quick delivery of software and applications to customers
• Ensures faster delivery of new features that the customers want
• Improved collaboration between the full stack developers and the operations team
• It finds solutions to problems quicker.
• The IT department can have more time to innovate instead of fixing or maintaining unstable systems.

TechOps vs. DevOps: What is the Difference Between the Two?

First of all, one should keep in mind that TechOps and ITOps are the same things. In contrast, TechOps and DevOps are very different, although they need to work together to provide a quick software with a stable system.

Here are the main differences between TechOps vs. DevOps:

• Time of functioning 

TechOps carry out its role in a completed system. It includes all the functions that the IT department might need to maintain and manage a system. If there are any problems that a server or network is facing, TechOps can take care of the repairs and damage control.

On the other hand, DevOps start at the beginning of a project and keep an eye on the projects while building them. DevOps work along with TechOps from start to finish and create a secure and stable software very speedily.

• Flexibility

DevOps is the more flexible concept if we compare it to TechOps. This difference is due to the very nature of both IT structures. While TechOps follow a fixed set of instructions to ensure stability and reduce risks, DevOps actively breaks the rules to develop software quickly. DevOps try out many different approaches to reach their aim of finding the fastest solution that can fit the situation perfectly. 

• Time of delivery 

The price that ITOps or TechOps need to pay for stability and security is the speed and time of delivery. Ensuring everything is stable and secure requires a considerable amount of time that might prove to be a setback in this fast-paced world.

Unlike TechOps, DevOps whole idea and essence revolve around speedy delivery. It is very effective in shortening the cycle of the software development lifecycle.  

SysOps vs. DevOps: What is the Difference Between the Two?

As the name suggests, SysOps performs the role of an administrator of a computer with a multi-user system. It manages all activities related to systems and operations. The differences between SysOps and DevOps are as follows:

• SysOps follows an ITIL approach for deliveries, while DevOps depends on the development and operations teams and their coordination.
• For any change of the software, SysOps follows a consistent approach. The developers and operators need to work together to bring any changes.
• DevOps brings change seamlessly and quickly. It is flexible. On the other hand, SysOps is similar to TechOps in this regard and less elastic. 

NoOps

The next concept is NoOps, which stands for No IT Operations. It is one step past DevOps in the sense that the IT operations team need not worry themselves with anything that has to do with tech actions. This IT structure is more or less a perfect or ideal concept that brings many benefits along with it.

DevOps provides the coordination and collaboration of the IT operations team and the IT development team. On the other hand, NoOps automates the environment such that it does not need any separate team for the management of the network. What it do is what can explain this concept even further.

What Does it Do?

With NoOps, developers of software do not have to spend as much time with the operations team members and work with them like before. The service providers give the developers whatever they need to develop software like backups, the right cloud infrastructure, resources, and patching to work on their own without any interference.

NoOps gives the developers maximum independence while working and allow them to work even more quickly. This fact is because they do not need to send approval requests to the operations team frequently. They can carry on with their works without requiring any feedback. This concept also allows the operations team to prioritize their main functions like project management and the like. 

Benefits of NoOps

• NoOps gives the developers even more efficiency regarding development time because they no longer always need to communicate with the operations team.
• Without the interference of human resources in most processes, it reduces the likelihood of a human error to slip in.
• NoOps helps the company to achieve its goals of generating revenue quickly. The quicker the development means, the quicker the delivery. Ultimately, faster delivery means the sooner they receive whatever payment they should receive.
• It increases the productivity of both the development team and the operations team. Since they can put all their focus on developing and operating, respectively, both teams get to do what they do best. In return, productivity skyrockets. 

What are the Challenges that NoOps Face?

The concept of NoOps sounds very good, but it comes with its own set of challenges. One assumption that this particular concept of NoOps makes is that the automation that it provides can take care of all cases and issues that it may face. Hence, there is no need for human intervention or interference. 

However, there may be times when the NoOps system requires maintenance or repair. During such times, it needs humans to help it out. NoOps eliminates most needs for humans, but it cannot eliminate the need. 

Final Thoughts

We have come to the conclusion that there is not one single right answer or approach for all companies. One concept may suit or benefit a company more than the other concept. The important thing here is to select the right one so that the company reaps all the benefits in full. Learn about the current IT structure of the company before settling on one approach.