More people than ever are demanding high-speed internet services and using smart devices, while both businesses and governments strive for better connectivity between people and projects. It’s no surprise then, that the Telecommunications (Telco) market is set to be worth an impressive $2652 billion in the next six years, and that by 2050, Telco companies will gather data from 95% of the world’s population.
At such a large scale, the technology that supports Telco is complex and diverse. Engineers working in the industry therefore need tools that simplify and streamline processes. DeveloperExperience (DevEx) tools can provide a healthy, productive foundation for engineers to drive innovation in Telco, and ensure a smooth connection between its tech and people.
Better Developer Experience Equals Better Customer Experience
Engineers have to stay up-to-date with rapidly changing tools and technology, whatever vertical they work in. The role comes with a consistently high cognitive load, and requires engineers to maneuver between resources. Operating with this load can lead to less efficient tech processes, potential errors, and engineer burnout. Ultimately, the better the conditions for engineers to work well, the better the products they build, and the better end users receive them.
DevEx refers to the systems, tech, and culture that influence software development. It takes into account all of a developer’s ecosystem, including environment, tools, and workflows, and aims to optimize each one. When curated well, good DevEx can contribute to higher engineer retention, advanced security, and heightened developer productivity.
In the Telco space, engineers have to work on tasks that have large amounts of data and documentation, which means it can be challenging for them to find information and link it to other areas of work. Telco engineers also have to navigate different services, entities, and configurations at a time. Because of the connected nature of Telco, if the developer experience isn’t optimized, there is a direct impact on Telco’ customer experience. Reducing friction in DevEx can subsequently maintain positive customer experience and lead to more sophisticated Telco solutions.
Plugins Power Smarter Software Development
intive has developed a DevEx portal that assists engineers and can be used by Telco tech teams. After analyzing internal and external software portals, intive has created Backstage plugins to extend the DevEx. The goal is to improve engineers’ experience, reduce their cognitive load, and accelerate development and delivery across verticals.
With the DexEx portal, Telco engineers involved in large projects can easily search and find documentation via plugins like the Techdocs plugin. There are also a range of other plugins that boost visibility across projects, including:
- Jenkins plugin – to see the status of jobs
- Spinnaker plugin – to view the status of pipelines
- JIRA plugin – for tasks, stories, assigned tasks, and more
- Gerrit plugin – for code review
- Sonarqube plugin – for code quality
Our team also uses complex plugins which gather information from different sources and conduct internal calculations for more granular information.
For example, FollowYourCommit lets engineers see where their commits are in jobs or pipelines. Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) shows special JIRA tasks related to security. And Navigator shines a light on organizations’ structure from different views (e.g. deployments, components, relations).
These plugins mean that engineers can discover information in Telco (and other industry) projects faster and with greater ease. Plus, they boost transparency, which empowers engineers to build with greater confidence. And because the portal can be customized according to organizations’ needs, tailormade plugins can pull information from across areas into one place.
Considering that the telco industry is always looking ahead to its next generation, the DevEx portal helps increase technological effectiveness and productivity that fuels innovation in the space.
Stronger Security From One Place
Telco projects and services have to have robust security. DevEx tools like the portal can facilitate such protection by maximizing engineers’ view of code. For instance, engineers can parse code and if there are issues, they can find and correct them quickly. As a result there is less time for security threats to be opened or exacerbated.
Likewise, engineers can track their own commits and see if they trigger any breaks in code – they can follow the complete line of events until the code is released and where changes are throughout the product/service. This stronger quality assurance reduces any technological vulnerabilities and keeps gaps for malicious attacks closed.
When using the DevEx portal, engineers may discover that the Telco tool or functionalities they’re working on are misaligned. For example, they could realize that teams are using old processes, old data or that they aren’t synchronized on workflow. With the tool highlighting this disconnect, engineers can take action to get everyone on the same page and form a more united front against cybersecurity risks. The sooner mismatches are identified, the less likely that organizations have to do expensive retrofitting down the line.
It’s also worth noting that DevEx tools such as the portal are so comprehensive that they make onboarding new engineers easier. The portal supplies new team members with all project information in an accessible format, helping them get up to speed and lowering the chance of early stage errors.
DevEx is a necessity in software development. The tools that teams create are a reflection of their environment, and so organizations have to invest in resources that fosters efficiency and effectiveness. The portal is just one solution from our tech experts who know how to curate quality developer experience in Telco and beyond.
If you’re planning to attend Connected Britain 2024, we’d love to hear from you and explore the future of Telco together. Schedule a consultation with a member of our team today.
Sources
Vantage Market Research, Telecommunications Market - Global Industry Assessment & Forecast
precisely, Data Driven Telco - Industry Report
McKinsey, Why your IT organization should prioritize developer experience
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