Future Trends in Salesforce DevOps: What Architects Need to Know

While it may be hard these days to stay on top of every trend hitting headlines in the DevOps world, prioritizing this is  necessary in order to keep your organization relevant. With DevOps constantly evolving, architects and developers who want to utilize the latest methodologies and tools will need to keep an eye out for the constant changes happening across the industry, all with a keen eye.

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As we continue on through 2024, you’ll want to be on the lookout for several key trends in Salesforce DevOps. These trends can potentially present both challenges and opportunities for your organization, depending on how you approach them. So, we’ve taken it upon ourselves to dig deep into these future DevOps trends in Salesforce to give you a little head start. 

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Let's take a closer look.

Understanding the Evolution of Salesforce Development

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Traditionally, Salesforce development has always followed a linear path, with distinct stages for planning, development, testing, and deployment. While this traditional approach worked well for many years (and still does for many companies) it has several limitations, the major drawback simply being that it’s slow and inefficient. 

What DevOps teams Are Doing Now

With each stage of the development process being siloed — and, generally, little communication or collaboration between teams — the result would be that the desired change would take a long time to implement, with the risk of errors or defects high.

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Now, organizations are embracing agile software development combined with newer DevOps methodologies: iterative development alongside small, cross-functional teams, who work collaboratively to deliver incremental improvements quickly. Then, DevOps — with the support of new tools, updated software, and AI technology — comes in to extend this approach by integrating development, operations, and quality assurance into a single, seamless workflow.

What Are the Biggest Challenges DevOps Teams Can Expect to Face? 

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Even as the future will bring DevOps into a new, more efficient era, there is still a culture of DevOps in general that can be slow to catch up. Before adapting to new changes, it’s critical that DevOps teams review common challenges in order to ensure they are fully ready to evolve:

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• Resistance to Change: Implementing DevOps requires cultural shifts and changes in established processes, which can meet resistance from stakeholders accustomed to traditional methodologies.
• Aligning Disparate Teams and Processes: DevOps requires close collaboration between traditionally siloed teams, such as development, operations, and QA. Aligning these teams and their processes can be challenging, particularly in large organizations with complex structures.
• Managing Complex Infrastructures: Modern applications often rely on complex infrastructures, including cloud services, microservices, and containers. Managing these infrastructures effectively while maintaining reliability and scalability presents significant challenges for DevOps teams.
• Ensuring Security and Compliance: Security and compliance are necessary considerations in DevOps workflows that can’t be ignored, particularly in regulated industries such as finance and healthcare. Therefore, ensuring that DevOps practices comply with security and regulatory requirements while maintaining agility and efficiency can be a delicate balance.

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Do any of these sound familiar? If so, take some time to embrace change whenever it may come. Addressing these challenges requires a combination of cultural shifts, process improvements, as well as the adoption of appropriate tools and technologies. 

The Key Components of Salesforce DevOps Today

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We’re almost there, but just before we begin the journey into the future trends in Salesforce DevOps, let’s highlight the key components that architects should already be putting into practice:

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• Adopting Agile Principles: Agile methodologies emphasize iterative development, collaboration, and customer feedback. By embracing agile principles, organizations can respond quickly to changing requirements and deliver value to customers more effectively.
• Integrating Automation: Automation is a cornerstone of DevOps, enabling organizations to automate repetitive tasks such as testing, deployment, and infrastructure provisioning. By automating manual processes, teams can streamline workflows, reduce errors, and accelerate time-to-market.
• Fostering Continuous Improvement: DevOps promotes a culture of continuous improvement, where teams strive to enhance processes, tools, and performance iteratively. By embracing a mindset of continuous learning and experimentation, organizations can adapt to changing market dynamics and drive innovation.
• Enhancing Collaboration: DevOps emphasizes collaboration and communication among cross-functional teams, including developers, operations, QA, and business stakeholders. By breaking down silos and fostering a culture of collaboration, organizations can accelerate delivery, improve product quality, and increase customer satisfaction.

7 Trends in Salesforce DevOps to Watch in 2024

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As Salesforce DevOps continues to evolve, architects must stay ahead of the curve to drive innovation and efficiency in their workflows. In 2024, several trends based on expert predictions are going to significantly impact the future of Salesforce DevOps, influencing how architects approach development and operations.

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 Let's break down each one of these trends and explore their implications for architects and development teams:

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1. Embracing Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery (CI/CD)

Development teams are increasingly embracing Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery (CI/CD) practices as indispensable components of modern Salesforce DevOps. These methodologies automate the integration and delivery of code changes, streamlining development processes, accelerating deployment cycles, and fostering enhanced collaboration among team members. By adopting CI/CD, architects can drive efficiency and innovation in their workflows, ultimately delivering superior products to their customers.

2. Leveraging Automation for Testing and Deployment

As automation continues to revolutionize testing and deployment processes in Salesforce DevOps, architects are finding new ways to enhance efficiency and reliability in their workflows. By automating repetitive tasks such as testing and deployment, architects can significantly reduce manual effort, minimize errors, and ensure consistent quality throughout the development lifecycle.

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Moreover, in 2024, the emergence of Git-based DevOps promises to usher in more modern developer experiences, accelerating velocity and enhancing collaboration among teams. With developers able to work concurrently on a single source code, mainframe development is poised to feel like a more contemporary experience.

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Leveraging automation tools empowers architects to streamline their workflows, optimize resource allocation, and focus on delivering unparalleled value to their customers.

3. Streamlining Development Processes with Low-Code Solutions

In 2024, organizations will continue to embrace low-code platforms to accelerate their development cycles while upholding quality standards. These platforms empower architects and developers to build applications with minimal hand-coding, allowing for faster iteration and deployment. 

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As the demand for rapid innovation grows, low-code solutions are becoming indispensable tools for driving efficiency and agility in Salesforce development workflows. This is one of the reasons we prioritize these solutions at Copado. 

4. Harnessing AI for Enhanced Test Automation

Speaking of low-code solutions,  it’s no surprise that Artificial Intelligence (AI) is increasingly being integrated into test automation processes, revolutionizing how developers validate their code. AI-powered testing solutions offer advanced capabilities such as intelligent test case generation, anomaly detection, and predictive analysis, enabling architects to achieve greater efficiency and accuracy in their testing endeavors. 

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Additionally, modern SaaS applications, built as composable applications (more on that later), will offer high quality, scalability, and AI-enhanced experiences. All of these forces together will enable architects to enhance their testing strategies, improve software quality, and accelerate time-to-market for their Salesforce applications.

5. Overcoming Bottlenecks and Blind Spots

In the upcoming year, as costs and intricacies escalate within microservice architectures, there will be a return to simpler frameworks like monolithic architecture. By simplifying the architectural approach, developers can dedicate their efforts to advancing applications rather than being bogged down by support and issue resolution. 

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Whether navigating the complexities of microservices or embracing the simplicity of monolithic architecture, recognizing and tackling bottlenecks and hidden weaknesses is imperative for sustaining momentum in Salesforce DevOps endeavors. Architects therefore will need to take proactive measures in confronting these obstacles to guarantee seamless project delivery.

6. Achieving On-Time Projects and Go-Lives

In 2024, architects will uphold the expectation of timely project completion and successful go-lives, as companies transition towards a product-centric approach. Essentially, there will be zero tolerance for delays in implementing expected changes. Architects will be tasked with implementing strategies that emphasize efficiency and reliability, ensuring consistent meeting of project deadlines and swift delivery to the customer

7. Empowering Teams with End-to-End Platform Features

This year, composable applications will take center stage as organizations pursue faster development cycles, scalability, and cost efficiency. Architects embracing this shift will streamline application development, reducing time-to-market and adapting to changing customer demands.

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Moreover, 2024 will witness the emergence of Web3 technology, revolutionizing enterprise computing with its consensus-driven approach. As organizations seek a more open market for computing, Web3 naturally emerges as the next evolutionary step from VMs to containers to serverless functions.

8. Hiring the Right Architects for the Job

Finally, while all these trends are important to know, an organization can only embrace them with the right talent. This may as well be a trend as well, but Salesforce DevOps architects will play a pivotal role in ensuring that Salesforce solutions align with business needs while optimizing development and operational processes. Therefore, organizations are not holding back from ensuring their architects are up for the challenge, which may influence hiring decisions across the industry. Salesforce architects: listen up!

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In order to stand out in your current role or in your next job interview, you’ll want to highlight these skills. And, organizations who are hiring or training their teas will want to ensure their architects can do the following as well

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• Continuous Learning and Adaptation: Staying updated with the latest Salesforce features and best practices.
• Automation and Tool Mastery: Mastering automation tools and CI/CD processes to streamline workflows.
• Advanced Understanding of Cloud Architectures: Deepening knowledge of cloud architectures and optimization techniques.
• Security and Compliance: Ensuring adherence to security standards and compliance requirements to protect sensitive data.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration Skills: Working effectively with diverse teams and stakeholders to drive alignment and collaboration.
• Metrics and Performance Analytics: Leveraging analytics to optimize workflows and monitor system performance.
• Change Management and Training: Leading cultural and procedural changes within the organization and providing training to team members.
• Innovation and Experimentation: Fostering a culture of innovation and experimentation to drive continuous improvement.
• Scalability and Performance Optimization: Designing scalable systems that can accommodate future growth and optimizing performance for enhanced efficiency.

Copado's Role in Revolutionizing Salesforce DevOps

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If you’re feeling overwhelmed by the multitude of trends, remember that you don’t have to navigate them alone. Copado stands at the forefront of revolutionizing Salesforce DevOps, providing architects with an indispensable toolkit to optimize their processes. 

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With a comprehensive suite of tools and features, we streamline development workflows, empower teams, and accelerate project delivery. From user-friendly low-code solutions that streamline development tasks to end-to-end platform features facilitating seamless collaboration, Copado equips architects with the necessary resources for success in the dynamic realm of Salesforce DevOps. 

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Not only this, but by offering comprehensive end-to-end platform features, Copado enables teams to collaborate seamlessly throughout the Salesforce DevOps lifecycle. Architects leverage these capabilities to drive innovation and achieve organizational success, confidently navigating the rapid changes of Salesforce development. 

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Listen to what Copado community members are saying in Builure Pulse’s podcast recent episode “A Day in the Life of a Salesforce DevOps Architect”.

The Bottom Line

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As we venture into 2024, the future of Salesforce DevOps is characterized by continuous evolution and innovation. Architects who are keeping up to date on these emerging trends while recognizing how they can continue to overcome common challenges, will be much more prepared in bringing their organization to the next era. 

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By embracing cutting-edge tools and platforms like Copado, architects can streamline their workflows, enhance collaboration, and deliver exceptional results for their customers. As the world of Salesforce DevOps continues to evolve, staying ahead of the curve is not just a competitive advantage—it's essential for long-term success.

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Book a demo to learn more at Copado today. 

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