Managing Remote Teams in Payments DevOps

The Covid-19 pandemic put the entire world at a standstill, including the vast majority of home-based schools, colleges, and offices. In some cases, people have returned to work; however, many still feel unsafe heading back to an office. According to the reports, 64% of organizations have claimed to make their remote work culture permanent. As a large number of companies allow workers to remain remote for the foreseeable future in 2022 also—and in some cases, permanently—organizations need to find a way to manage things that were not really built for this type of setup.

Another thing that witnessed an extreme demand is DevOps. To shorten the development life cycle and hasten time-to-market, DevOps has never been more important. With the hybrid work model gaining prominence, many DevOps teams have adjusted by going completely remote. However, IT infrastructures, systems, and processes have not necessarily been built for this type of challenge.

Although some team members remain on-site yet managing a hybrid workforce with distributed team members, poses a challenge. This is especially true for payments companies that must adhere to certification, quality assurance, and compliance mandates—most of which rely on regular testing. Testing teams have struggled to keep up due to a lack of on-site teams. While some high-priority testing has continued to run with some workarounds, organizations need a long-term strategy to manage hybrid teams. Manual testing only complicates this issue. For payments companies, being out of compliance or risking a breach or other security vulnerabilities is simply out of the question.

Adapting to a Post-Pandemic Payments World

What may be viewed as a problem now is an opportunity. Remote work is becoming more mainstream, meaning many organizations are adopting it for the long haul. To adopt and implement effective change, there are several principles that payments organizations should embrace to withstand and even flourish in the new remote workforce.

Continue Cloud Migration:

It is most likely that organizations will be employing and managing a DevOps workforce that includes both on-site teams and work-from-home members. While in some cases, they may also be working with a hybrid infrastructure that includes both cloud and on-premise. Payments organizations should continue migrating operations to the cloud because remote teams need to have access without sacrificing security. This enables DevOps teams to do their jobs anywhere without losing operational velocity.

Ramp-Up Communication:

When teams operate from multiple places, communication becomes essential, especially with DevOps teams. These teams should be in close communication with other key departments within the organization, including executive leadership, to ensure priorities are aligned. Knowledge sharing will be a critical component, and all team members must be aligned on which application metrics are important and how they will be tracked. This is where dashboards can play an important role, transforming data points into visible representations. Video conferencing tools like Zoom have made the transition to remote meetings nearly seamless, but they still have shortcomings. Meetings should occur early and often, but it can also be beneficial to schedule some less-structured conversations to help facilitate creativity and innovation.

Automating:

Automation can streamline many systems and processes and fill gaps as organizations adjust to remote and hybrid working situations. It’s not unlikely that some cracks have been exposed due to the pandemic, and automation should be considered when it comes to finding solutions. Testing demands can be rigorous, and many companies already feel hamstrung on resources. Automation can be a critical part of a testing platform that keeps things running smoothly and securely.

The Way Forward

Business continuity will be a key differentiator moving forward. Businesses that are prepared and that have addressed any exposed weaknesses in systems and processes stand to gain the most. Companies must be proactive in managing vulnerabilities and ensuring that the organization is agile enough to withstand any upcoming regulatory requirements that may result from the pandemic. Operational resiliency will be under scrutiny from all fronts, so getting ahead of changes and issues is the winning play.

Payment companies that get ahead of the curve on the changes resulting from the pandemic—namely, a changing workforce, will find that they are well-positioned to make the most of the opportunity at hand. Many opportunities will arise out of this time, including improvements to operational resiliency, productivity, and employee engagement. As a hybrid, remote teams get better at communicating, collaborating, and problem-solving, and an organization will find that it is most prepared for whatever the future may bring.

Looking to excel at DevOps? Find out how our team of payment experts can help you.