A Leader in the Gartner of the first-ever Magic Quadrant for AI Code Assistants is coming to Europe

Picture this: The world's most sophisticated AI coding assistant just claimed its throne in Gartner's first-ever Magic Quadrant for AI Code Assistants. GitHub Copilot isn't just leading the pack – it's redefining how we think about software development. 

The timing is ideal. With GitHub about to launch its services in Microsoft's Azure European data centers for CSP, developers across Europe are eagerly awaiting the rollout. As GitHub Universe approaches next week with more exciting announcements, we'd like to share our experiences from past adoption inside SoftwareOne and for our clients.

The ROI of GitHub

Over the past few years, DevOps has evolved from a trendy concept into a transformative force in modern software development. It's no longer a luxury; it's a necessity. Without a disciplined set of DevOps practices, your competitors will outpace you. This cultural and organizational revolution bridges the gap between development and operations teams, aligning them with business outcomes and customer needs. DevOps empowers your teams to deliver software faster, at higher first-time quality, and more efficiently by automating and integrating the processes of securing, coding, testing, deploying, and monitoring applications. When designed effectively, it's not just a way to create a secure environment but a means to elevate your developer experience to new heights.

Why DevOps Matters

As a manager, you might wonder why DevOps matters and how it can benefit your company when considered from the perspective of your role. Here are some of the reasons why DevOps is critical practice: 

• By reducing the time-to-market and increasing the frequency of releases, you can deliver value to your customers faster and more often. A by-product of increased release cycles is that you can respond to changing customer needs and expectations more quickly by enabling faster feedback loops. 
  
  
• Through the reduction of errors and defects, you enhance the quality and reliability of your software. This not only boosts availability and resilience but also mitigates risks and ensures compliance through enforced security and governance standards. We achieve this by automating audits and controls. More importantly, however, is that fewer bugs and higher security standards dramatically impact brand loyalty and client confidence.
  
  
• DevOps can help you optimize your team's efficiency and productivity by eliminating waste, redundancy, and bottlenecks and increasing automation and collaboration. It can also enhance your teams' morale and motivation by empowering them to become a self-managed, autonomous team.
  
  
• Simplifying and standardizing processes and tools will reduce the cost and complexity of your IT operations and prepare you to leverage cloud and other technologies. It will also increase the scalability and flexibility of your IT infrastructure by enabling dynamic and elastic provisioning and resource management.
  
  
• DevOps will align your IT strategy to your business strategy by connecting the development and operations teams with your company's desired business outcomes. It will also demonstrate the value and impact of your IT investments by providing precise and relevant metrics.

Role of GitHub

GitHub is essential in DevOps for its robust version control, enabling seamless collaboration among developers. It supports automation through GitHub Actions, facilitating continuous integration and deployment (CI/CD). GitHub also enhances security with tools like Dependabot, integrates with various DevOps tools, and offers project management and documentation features. Overall, it streamlines the entire DevOps lifecycle, from coding to deployment and monitoring, making it a vital tool for modern software development.

Developed by GitHub in partnership with Microsoft, the AI assistant Copilot enhances DevOps by providing AI-powered code suggestions, which speed up coding and reduce errors. It integrates with CI/CD pipelines to automate tasks and maintain code quality, helping developers focus on strategic improvements. By simplifying code navigation and reducing cognitive load, Copilot supports efficient development and maintenance, making it a valuable tool in the DevOps toolkit.

According to a Forrester Study, GitHub Enterprise has demonstrated a significant return on investment (ROI) for organizations that adopt it. The study highlights a 433% ROI over three years, with key benefits including a 22% improvement in developer productivity and a 75% reduction in time spent managing tools and code infrastructure.
If you might think this all sounds great, but you can’t use GitHub for governance reasons anyway – read on! GitHub introduces data residency in the EU. This allows organizations to store their data within the European Union, ensuring compliance with stringent EU data protection regulations.