Managing an IT team is a tough job. While demands on services are increasing, both internally and externally, the need to be aware of and in control of application and server performance is a constant pressure. Right now, there are four key areas that are of particular concern for those responsible for IT departments and teams.

The quality of database releases relies on thorough initial testing in development with teams needing access to fast, reliable data. While database testing is one of the most challenging aspects of development, processes which utilize database clones can overcome these issues. A database clone is a complete and fully functioning copy of a database that is identical to the original in terms of the metadata and the data.

In this series of blog posts, we speak with database professionals from Financial Services organizations around the world to better understand how DevOps is shaping the sector. On the way, we dig into key current factors including the rise of technology upstarts in fintech and insurtech, the speed of digital transformation and the ever-increasing threat of cyberattacks.

A constant challenge for many development teams is how to include test data management in the development process. Testing with consistent, realistic and compliant datasets, and bringing the database into CI and DevOps pipelines, has been shown to catch data-related issues long before they reach customers. The result: an increase in efficiency, a reduction in costs, and an improvement in the quality of software releases, enabling value to be released to customers faster.

In this series of blog posts, we speak with database professionals from Financial Services organizations around the world to better understand how DevOps is shaping the sector. On the way, we dig into key current factors including the rise of technology upstarts in fintech and insurtech, the speed of digital transformation and the ever-increasing threat of cyberattacks.

For the last five years and more, there’s been an elephant in the room when it comes to the way businesses and organizations collect, manage, store and analyze data: PostgreSQL. An open source relational database that offers the kind of enterprise advantages that have already attracted businesses like Netflix, Instagram and Spotify according to the tech stack intelligence platform, StackShare.

In this series of blog posts, we speak with database professionals from Financial Services organizations around the world to better understand how DevOps is shaping the sector. On the way, we dig into key current factors including the rise of technology upstarts in fintech and insurtech, the speed of digital transformation and the ever-increasing threat of cyberattacks. First up, we speak with Hamish Watson, DevOps Alchemist and Managing Director at Morph IT Consulting.