High pressure in the cloud

When it comes to the practical implementation of digitization, the developers themselves often slow down projects. A study by Couchbase aims to shed light on why cloud computing and digitization projects fail because of this – and what are the consequences?

Developer teams are under tremendous pressure from expectations, delaying cloud and digitization projects and at the same time receiving very little support. This is the devastating result of the latest Couchbase global survey. 650 IT decision makers around the world were asked about their experiences implementing digitization and cloud computing. According to this, 88 percent of developers are under a lot of pressure. In Germany, the main reasons are: too tight deadlines (40%), too short time for many tasks (39%), lack of technological requirements (32%), and insufficient skills (30%).

but that is not all. Project management problems make things worse. Twenty-eight percent of respondents reported problems creating teams for new projects, 43 percent had difficulty aligning with project goals, and nearly half had difficulty understanding where their teams were on the project schedule. One reason for this dilemma is the disproportionately low growth of teams – compared to their missions. While it is planned to increase spending by 27 percent for digital transformation projects, there are only 3 percent of developers who can take on these projects at all.

The consequences can be dire: For 20 percent of those surveyed, failed projects mean that no new projects have been tackled in the past 12 months. Therefore, digitization has reached a dead end. New technologies that ease developers are supposed to help — about a third of those surveyed want to invest in them. On the other hand, about 37% stated that pressure from development teams has driven the company’s digital transformation. “The successful future of entire companies can depend on the success of digital transformation projects,” explains Ravi Mayoram, Couchbase CTO. “Development teams need every conceivable support for this, because digital transformation stands and falls with them. This support must be understood as a competitive advantage in the race to digital, and therefore must be intensified quickly and purposefully.”

(Cover Image: iStock)