Getting an 80% Productivity Boost By Transforming Development Workflows   

How much innovation could you reinvest in with 80% developer productivity recapture? My guess is: a lot. As a VP of Product at a security company, I’ve seen firsthand how making it easier for developers to manage security findings can help them focus on delivering value faster. Let me share with you about the developer security experience that can transform development workflows for increased productivity. 

Assessing Your Current Development Workflows: Identifying Bottlenecks and Opportunities for Improvement 

Security workflows often suffer from inefficiencies and bottlenecks, particularly when integrating with modern development practices. These challenges not only slow down the overall process but also compromise the security and quality of the applications being developed. While development workflows have been transformed by DevOps, security workflows often lag, creating significant obstacles to achieving a state that prevents new flaws from being introduced to applications. 

Identify bottlenecks and opportunities by asking the following questions: 

• How are security findings being prioritized in development? And is it before or after it’s checked into production? 
• How many of our applications are scanned? 
• How much security debt do we have and how much are we adding each year? 

By taking the time to assess current workflows, you’ll be able to pinpoint inefficiencies and areas where automation can be introduced, particularly in regard to security integration. This would mean developers spend less time doing repetitive, painstaking work and more time focusing on the work they enjoy. To give you an idea of what’s possible for integrations, let’s dive deeper into the kinds of tools and techniques you can use for automation. 

Implementing Automated Solutions: Tools and Techniques to Streamline Development Workflows

A variety of automated tools and techniques are available to prevent new flaws from being added to the codebase. Early implementation of security measures, such as static application security testing (SAST) and software composition analysis (SCA), can prevent disruptions and enhance developer output. It’s key that these be efficient, low false positive tools that don’t require tuning. 

The developer experience really transforms with the addition of repository scanning. This allows for all code to be automatically checked when it’s changed, and it allows DevOps teams to configure once and onboard thousands of repos, simultaneously. 

When it comes to automation, another particularly effective approach involves the use of Integrated Development Environment (IDE) plugins. These plugins are designed to integrate seamlessly into real-world development workflows, providing several benefits: 

• Security Flaw Identification: Via scanning in the IDE, developers can automatically see security-related code flaws highlighted as code is written. 
• Vulnerability Descriptions and AI- Powered Remediation: Detailed descriptions of vulnerabilities and guidance on how to remediate them effectively are game-changers. Tools like Veracode Fix utilize AI to deliver security remediation that adapts existing code to match expert-curated reference patches. This ensures that the solutions are both accurate and trustworthy.  

By providing real-time feedback and remediation guidance directly in tools like VS Code, developers can quickly and easily fix vulnerabilities without disrupting their workflow. This not only saves time and resources but also promotes a culture of secure coding and continuous improvement. 

Case Study: Real-World Application and Results of Development Workflow Transformation 

Our recently commissioned Total Economic Impact™ (TEI) study conducted by Forrester Consulting found that, with 80% developer productivity recapture, the composite organization could reallocate 70,000 developer hours to innovative product development efforts. 

When interviewed for the study, a Director of Risk and Security in the Software Industry said: “When we implemented automation in 2018, we [were doing] 4,000 scans, and today we do 24,000 to 25,000 scans a year, and it’s [all due to] automation.” 

More scans mean more vulnerabilities you know about, so when it comes to fixing these vulnerabilities, an Application Security Engineer in the Mining Industry said: “The mean time to remediate from when Veracode identifies a flaw to the time that it’s fixed nowadays is about 24 hours. … [Developers] keep getting better and better at remediation. I review new flaws every day, and one day they’re there, the next day they’re gone, which is amazing to me. It’s astounding.” 

If these results intrigue you, please read the full case study to see how these benefits and even more have been achieved. 

If you’d like to see how our automated solutions can work for you, please request a demo.