State of DevOps report reveals security is strengthened by platform engineering

This report follows the continued maturity of platform engineering, with 43% of respondents reporting they have had a platform team for at least 3-5 years.

Since 2012, the annual State of DevOps Report produced by Puppet has reported on trends that impact DevOps success. In 2023, Puppet shifted the report's focus to a trend in the space: platform engineering. Conducting an annual survey from around 500 individuals all working with or on a platform team, the 2024 report focuses on how platform engineering delivers efficiency, speed, and security to DevOps.

Key findings include:

Security is being built into the foundation of platform engineering, with far-reaching benefits for organisations who understand that Security is priority one.

• 43% of respondents say that their platform has a dedicated security and compliance team, highlighting the importance of proactive security management
• Most respondents report that the platform team has helped their company become more compliant
• 51% of respondents say that platform teams are also responsible for enforcing software and tool versions for security updates

Standardised automation unlocks the full potential of DevOps.

• Organisations report an average of three self-service platforms operating internally, indicating expansion and maturity since last year's report
• ‘Automation’, ‘productivity’, and ‘standardised processes’ are cited as the three top use cases that platform engineering helps solve
• 66% report that automating workflows and processes ‘is in scope’ for their growing platform engineering teams

It's critical that developers are supported by the platform engineering team to do their best work.

• 52% say that a product manager is crucial to the success of the platform team
• Respondents cite ‘increased productivity’, ‘better quality of software’, and ‘reduced lead time for deployment’ as the top benefits that the platform team has delivered for developers
• 65% of respondents report that the platform team is important and will receive continued investment

"With the expanded scope of platform engineering, we're seeing security become a critical component of platforms from the start," said Kapil Tandon, VP of Product Management at Puppet by Perforce. "Security is everyone's responsibility, but it's notable that platform engineering has become a larger part of this critical work."

As the number of self-service platforms increase, the report also shows that most functions have moved onto a platform of their own – especially the security function ‘Platform engineering continues to enhance DevOps, and we are now seeing the impact on security and productivity.’ Tandon continues.

You can download the full report for free on the Puppet website.