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8 DevSecOps Tools That Will Save You Time and Money

Josh Rank
March 23, 2022

DevSecOps tools are more than just an advanced processes—they also heighten data security and protect your Salesforce environment as a whole.

Why It Matters: Streamlined operations benefit every aspect of the development pipeline. DevSecOps tools maintain high-quality products while expediting deployment velocity.

Reducing manual touchpoints decreases errors while increasing optimal speeds.
Giving developers the resources they need to succeed makes their jobs easier and infinitely more enjoyable.
Applying the right tools positively contributes to your ROI.

These 8 DevSecOps tools support streamlined operations to save you time and money:

Continuous Integration
Continuous Delivery/Deployment
Static Code Analysis
Version Control
Data Loader
Sandbox Management
Data Backup & Recovery
Policy Scanner

1. Continuous Integration

Working in a multi-developer team speeds updates and applications through the DevOps pipeline. Simply put, more experts working together can build an advanced product more quickly. However, compiling the work of these different hands into a singular product is difficult, time-consuming, and ripe for errors.

Continuous integration (CI) is the development process in which code is automatically integrated from multiple developers into a single software release.

Coding errors become significantly more expensive to fix the later they’re found in the development pipeline. With CI, every commit to the shared repository is continually verified by an automated build process to capture potential problems at an early stage, saving you on overall costs.

Catching errors before production is essential. Anything that makes it through your testing cycles has the potential to cause a failed deployment. And something that makes it through production and into a live environment poses serious data security risks.

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2. Continuous Delivery/Deployment

Gathering together and testing code from multiple sources is only the first step in preparing an update for production. The update or application itself needs to move everything to the next stage. And that’s where your next DevSecOps tool is critical.

Continuous delivery and continuous deployment both serve to move all types of changes such as features, configurations, and bug fixes into production.

These two similar tools enable teams to build, test, and release with increased frequency and speed. However, there is a major difference between these two tools: approvals.

Continuous delivery requires completion of an approval stage before sending the product to production. Continuous deployment automates the entire release process to the point of production for rapid release.

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3. Static Code Analysis

The greatest factor in the success of a DevSecOps project is the code that comprises it. Faulty code can create data security vulnerabilities, negatively impact the end user experience, and lead to costly fixes and updates. It’s important to get it right the first time. This saves you both the time and money it takes to complete a project as well as command your team members’ attention.

Performing a static code analysis gives you complete visibility into the health of your code from the moment it’s written.

This enables developers to correct mistakes as they occur. This is critical, because errors become more costly to fix the later they’re found. When you run a static code analysis, each line of code is checked against internal rulesets and immediately flagged when a discrepancy is found.

A static code analysis continually verifies an error-free environment to keep you moving forward in the DevSecOps pipeline. This saves on operational costs, avoids bugs, and supports successful deployments.

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4. Version Control

While multi-developer teams help expedite the application development process, the confluence of developers’ various work products can result in a messy work environment, and this leads to errors. Source code management is an essential consideration to ensure all the contributions from multiple developers are organized and nothing gets lost or contradicts other lines of code.

Version control is the cornerstone of a developmental organization and a critical component of a robust DevSecOps strategy.

Version control is a method of managing software revisions or updates over time. Each update to the source code is tracked with a time stamp and a personal marker for the person making the change. This increases accountability and visibility.

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5. Data Loader

It is often necessary to populate new environments or orgs with large amounts of data. This saves a lot of time for configurations—but also necessitates the migration of metadata. However, moving these massive data sets is incredibly time-consuming, which results in lost labor time.

A Salesforce data loader is an essential DevSecOps tool for exporting sensitive and/or large amounts of metadata and data.

A strong data loader tool protects this information as it’s moved through encryption and other data masking services. This ensures a company remains compliant with data security regulations, saving money on fines and penalties were they to fall out of compliance.

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6. Sandbox Management

Developers often work within their own sandboxes while creating new updates and applications. These sandboxes may be spread over large geographic areas and are difficult to keep consistent. Having a total overview is hampered by this as well.

Using a sandbox management tool produces reports on successes across sandboxes, allowing you to remove redundant data after comparing instances and synchronize versions of a project across multiple sandboxes.

It can get confusing when data is stored in multiple locations. Effective sandbox management tools keep everything aligned and ensure nothing gets lost in the mix.

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7. Data Backup & Recovery

We’ve saved perhaps the most important DevSecOps tool for last—data backup and recovery. You never know when a data loss event will occur. Even companies with strong data security strategies are susceptible to accidental deletions, cyberattacks, and natural disasters. And losing access to your data is an incredible drain on time and money.

The average cost of downtime is $5,600 per minute.

A reliable data backup tool with recovery functionality gets your system back online when you need it most. The failure to maintain a current data backup will lead to redundant work as team members try to return the system to its previous state.

Not only does this cost money, but it also takes companies away from furthering current projects. Productivity relies on constant connectivity. It’s impossible to guard against all possible outages, so it’s essential you take the proper precautions to ensure your system is able to get back online quickly should an outage occur. Having a current backup with powerful recovery functionality is integral to returning to work as quickly as possible.

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8. Policy Scanner

Data governance, adherence to internal rules, ensuring proper permissions settings—maintaining constant oversight of all these challenging functions is incredibly difficult and time consuming.

Performing automated scans of settings and adherence to rules drastically improves data security and the ability to remain in compliance with essential government regulations.

A Salesforce policy scanner oversees these considerations and provides automated reports and dashboards, ensuring your team retains visibility into the health of your Salesforce environment.

DevSecOps tools are available to address many different aspects of the development pipeline. Automation is an essential aspect of reducing manual work and streamlining your efforts. And any tool that improves quality and frees up your team members is time and money saved.

DevSecOps tools fast-track many different aspects of the development pipeline. Automation is essential to reduce manual work and streamline your efforts. And any tool that improves quality and frees up your team members means time and money saved.

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Next Step…

Now that you know your options for DevSecOps tools, it’s time to consider exactly why you need them. Learn more about how Salesforce’s shortcomings can easily be addressed with DevOps tools in our ebook, Salesforce was Built to Be a CRM, Not a Dev Platform.

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FAQs

Do I still need CI/CD tools if I have a static code analysis tool?

Yes. All of these mechanisms feed into each other to create synergy and expand the benefits you would see by just utilizing one of them. Multiple layers of testing ensure nothing slips through the cracks, creating the strongest, safest updates and applications possible. These components approach testing from different directions, so you can be sure total coverage is achieved.

How does an application free of bugs support data security?

Bugs and vulnerabilities create glitches and errors in a live environment. These bugs can be exploited by cybercriminals to create entry points into your system. Even a small intrusion can spread to other areas of your Salesforce environment and threaten the integrity of sensitive information. Maintaining a clean system through secure updates and applications protects your environment from these threats.

Why is automation important to DevSecOps tools?

People make mistakes. Even the most talented developers occasionally mess up a line of code. But even small mistakes can have drastic consequences if they aren’t found quickly. Manually reviewing hundreds or even thousands of lines of code makes it much more likely an error will slip through into production. Expecting the necessary consistency and attention to catch these errors is simply unrealistic. Automating these processes takes these time-consuming tasks out of your developers’ hands, freeing them up to work elsewhere while also heightening quality.