DevOps Shift Left: Accelerating Quality, Security, and Speed with Mphasis

Enterprises today are under intense pressure: deliver software faster, ensure high quality, embed security, reduce costs, and respond to market changes quickly. Traditional development pipelines often see testing, security, and reliability introduced too late in the process, resulting in costly rework, defects in production, delayed releases, and compromised user experience.

1. DevOps Shift Left: Accelerating
Quality, Security, and Speed with
Mphasis
How embracing shift-left in DevOps—through early testing, automation,
DevSecOps, and culture change—helps enterprises deliver innovation at scale
Introduction
Enterprises today are under intense pressure: deliver software faster, ensure high quality,
embed security, reduce costs, and respond to market changes quickly. Traditional
development pipelines often see testing, security, and reliability introduced too late in the
process, resulting in costly rework, defects in production, delayed releases, and compromised
user experience.
The concept of DevOps shift left (or simply “shift-left”) is transforming this: by bringing
testing, security, quality, and feedback earlier into the software development lifecycle
(SDLC), organizations can catch issues earlier, reduce risk, and accelerate time to market.
At Mphasis, we embed shift-left practices into our DevOps services, Quality Engineering
(ZeroQA™), DevSecOps, CI/CD pipelines, Value Stream Optimization, and SRE (Service
Reliability Engineering). This blog explores what DevOps shift left means, its benefits, trends
in 2025, how to implement it effectively, challenges, and why Mphasis is well positioned to
deliver excellence in shift-left DevOps.
What is DevOps Shift Left?
“DevOps shift left” refers to moving key quality, security, testing, feedback, and reliability
activities to earlier phases of the SDLC—requirements, design, planning, coding—rather than
reserving them for later phases (test, deploy, production).
Shift-left encompasses several sub-practices, including:
• Shift-left testing: unit tests, integration tests, API tests, early automation.
• Shift-left security / DevSecOps: static code analysis, vulnerability scanning, secrets
management, security practices embedded early.
• Shift-left reliability: early involvement of reliability engineering, monitoring,
observability, designing for failures.
• Shift-left performance / non-functional testing: assessing performance, load,
scalability earlier.
By doing so, organizations reduce latency in feedback, detect defects early, reduce cost of
fixing issues, and build more secure, robust, maintainable systems.

2. Key Components & Practices of a Strong Shift-Left
DevOps Strategy
To realize DevOps shift-left effectively, here are key practices and tools:
1. Continuous Integration (CI) with Early Testing
o Every code commit triggers automated unit tests, integration tests.
o Use test automation frameworks to run tests early.
2. Automated Static Code Analysis & Security Scanning
o Embed tools like SAST, dependency scanning, code linting, style checks in
the CI stage.
o Secrets scanning and policy-as-code to catch issues before merge.
3. Behavior-Driven Development (BDD) / Test-Driven Development (TDD)
o Define tests or expected behaviors before or alongside code implementation.
4. Design & Requirements Engagement
o Involve QA, security, reliability teams during requirements & design so
potential pitfalls are caught early.
5. Early Performance, Load, and Scalability Testing
o Run performance smoke tests, load tests in staging-like environments early.
6. Infrastructure as Code (IaC) and GitOps
o Infrastructure definitions are version controlled; testing of infrastructure
changes early.
7. Shift-Left Security (DevSecOps) Embedded in Pipeline
o Security checks automatically in CI/CD, e.g. policy-as-code, container
scanning, image vulnerability checking.
8. Observability & Feedback Loops from Day One
o Include logging, monitoring, tracing early in development so when issues
arise, you have context.
9. Culture, Collaboration & Ownership
o Break silos: developers, testers, security, operations collaborate early.
o Teams share responsibility for quality & security.
10. Metrics & Continuous Improvement
o Track metrics such as code coverage, defect rate, test cycle time, deployment
frequency, mean time to detect/fix issues, security vulnerabilities, etc.
Trends in Shift-Left DevOps for 2025
To keep your practice up-to-date and competitive, here are key trends related to DevOps
shift-left emerging in 2025:
• DevSecOps as a default: Security is no longer a checkpoint but is embedded in every
stage—early code reviews, scanning, secrets management, compliance-as-code.
• Platform Engineering & Internal Developer Platforms: Teams are building self-
service platforms that include shift-left practices (security, testing, environment
provisioning) so developers can work with minimal overhead.
• AI/ML & Automated Quality Engineering: Using predictive analytics, test impact
analysis, machine learning models to prioritize tests, detect anomalies earlier, suggest
fixes.

3. • Policy as Code & Compliance Automation: Automating security, governance,
regulatory policies into the pipeline so that compliance is continuous.
• Shift-Left Performance & Reliability: Rather than only functional or security
testing, more attention to performance testing, reliability, chaos, observability from
early stages.
• GitOps, Infrastructure as Code & Immutable Infrastructure: Ensuring that infra
changes are versioned, tested, and deployed early, reducing drift.
• ZeroQA / Quality Engineering: Building quality in, rather than as a later phase.
Embedding testing, environment, data management from the start. (Mphasis offers
ZeroQA).
How Mphasis Practices DevOps Shift Left
Mphasis has built its DevOps services with shift-left principles embedded. Some of the ways
we do this:
• ZeroQA™ Quality Engineering
Mphasis does not treat QA as a separate phase but as something that starts from the
beginning — requirements, design, code. Quality Engineering (ZeroQA) promotes
early automated testing, test data & environment management, and eliminating
technical debt.
• DevSecOps & Early Security Embedding
Security scanning, code analysis, compliance checks are integrated early in the
DevOps pipeline. Tools, practices, and governance are put in place so security is not a
bottleneck but a built-in property.
• Value Stream Optimization & CI/CD Acceleration
Mphasis helps clients define and optimize their value streams (from idea to
production), introducing pipelines, feedback loops, and metrics to reduce cycle time.
• Service Reliability Engineering (SRE)
Building shift-left reliability: early attention to observability, incident detection, self-
healing, root cause analysis so reliability is baked in, not retrofitted.
• Test Environment & Data Management (TEMS)
Ensuring that realistic test environments and test data are available early, to support
early testing and continuous feedback. Mphasis includes TEMS in its offerings.
• Modern Application Delivery Operating Models
Applying agile, lean, and modern delivery approaches to enable shift-left: early
requirement validation, frequent integration, small iterative delivery.
How to Implement DevOps Shift Left Effectively: Best
Practices
Here are actionable steps and best practices for organizations wanting to adopt shift-left in
their DevOps practices:
1. Start early in Requirements & Design
Involve QA, security, reliability engineers in design & requirement gathering to
define testable requirements, security threats, performance constraints.

4. 2. Adopt small, incremental changes
Use agile and iterative methods to provide frequent feedback and reduce risk.
3. Automate tests & security checks
Build CI pipelines with unit, integration, API tests; include static code analysis,
vulnerability scanning. Automate regression suites.
4. Use mocks / stubs / contract testing for APIs
Enables early integration testing even when some services are not yet built, reducing
blocking dependencies.
5. Invest in test environments & test data early
Ensuring realistic environments and representative data early avoids last-minute
surprises.
6. Shift-left performance & monitoring
Early load tests, stress tests; embed logging, metrics, observability from scratch.
7. Embed DevSecOps & policy as code
Define policies, compliance rules as code; enforce via pull requests, automated scans.
8. Measure, monitor, feedback
Key metrics: defect leakage rate, cycle time, lead time for changes, deployment
frequency, MTTR, code coverage, security vulnerabilities.
9. Culture & Collaboration
Encourage cross-functional teams, shared responsibility. Developers, testers, security
should collaborate, QA is involved from the start.
10. Tooling & Platform Support
Use internal developer platforms (or platform engineering) that offer reusable
templates, self-service infrastructure, testing, security components.
Challenges & Pitfalls when Shifting Left
Implementing DevOps shift-left is powerful, but there are potential pitfalls to be aware of:
• Overloading Early Phases
If too many tasks are pushed too early without resources, you may create bottlenecks
in design or requirement gathering.
• Skill Gaps & Training
Developers or designers might not have adequate expertise in testing, security,
performance; testers may need deeper developer skills.
• Tooling & Infrastructure Limitations
Lack of reliable test environments, slow build pipelines, insufficient hardware or
environments can reduce benefit.
• Maintaining Test Suites
Automated tests, especially unit/integration tests, need maintenance. Poorly written
tests can become liabilities.
• Balancing Speed & Coverage
Over-testing or unnecessary early testing can slow down innovation; need to prioritize
what to test early.
• Cultural Resistance
Teams accustomed to separate QA phases, separate security gates, etc., may resist
changing their workflow.
• False Sense of Security
Early testing helps, but doesn't replace good security practices, ongoing testing,
monitoring, reliability engineering.

5. Real-World Impact: ROI and Metrics
Here are metrics and indicators to track for shift-left effectiveness:
• Reduction in defect rate / fewer critical defects in production
• Decrease in cycle time / lead time for changes
• Higher deployment frequency
• Lower Mean Time to Detect (MTTD) and Mean Time to Recover (MTTR)
• Reduction in cost of fixing bugs (estimated vs actual)
• Improved test coverage (unit, integration, functional)
• Number of security vulnerabilities detected pre-merge vs post-production
• Developer satisfaction and reduced rework hours
Many organizations that adopt shift-left see 30-40% improvements in velocity, 20-50%
reduction in defect rate, and significant cost savings. Mphasis’ DevOps services aim for these
kinds of gains.
Trends & Tools Supporting Shift-Left DevOps
To support shift-left, here are some trending tools and technology enablers:
• CI/CD tools & pipelines: Jenkins, GitLab CI, GitHub Actions, Azure DevOps
• Static Application Security Testing (SAST), software composition analysis (SCA)
tools: Snyk, Checkmarx, SonarQube
• Infrastructure as Code (IaC) tools: Terraform, Pulumi, AWS CloudFormation
• Observability tools: Prometheus, Grafana, OpenTelemetry, full-stack tracing, log
aggregation
• Automated test frameworks, unit/integration/API testing frameworks
• Contract testing, mock services, virtualization
• Policy Management / Policy-as-Code tools (e.g. OPA, Rego, Kyverno)
• DevSecOps tools integrated early in pipeline
Mphasis uses mature toolchains, partnerships, and internal frameworks to enable these.
Why DevOps Shift Left is More Important in 2025 &
Beyond
Here are reasons that make shift-left not just a nice-to-have but almost indispensable now:
• Accelerating Innovation Cycles: Enterprises are in shorter release cycles, agile
transformation, and need to deliver features faster.
• Security Threat Landscape: Cyberattacks, vulnerabilities, supply chain threats make
early security detection critical.
• Regulations & Compliance: GDPR, PCI-DSS, HIPAA etc. demand proof of secure
practices; early audit readiness helps.
• Hybrid/Distributed Systems & Microservices: Complex architectures mean
interdependencies; early testing avoids cascading failures.

6. • Cloud & Platform Engineering Trends: As platform engineering grows, internal
platforms will embed shift-left practices.
• AI/ML Enabled Automation: AI & analytics allow better test prioritization,
automated detection, anomaly detection early.
• Customer Expectations: Users expect more reliable, feature-rich software with fewer
bugs; bad experiences spread fast.
How Mphasis Enables DevOps Shift Left
Bringing the theory to practice, Mphasis offers comprehensive capabilities to enable shift-left
across DevOps:
1. DevOps Services & Solutions
Mphasis’ DevOps service offerings include Modern Applications Delivery (MAD)
model, Value Stream mapping and execution, toolchain integration, and ensuring
metrics that matter across business, development, operations, security and
governance.
2. ZeroQA™ and Quality Engineering
Building quality in, not tacking on QA at the end. Early testing, early detection,
environment & test data management, technical debt reduction.
3. DevSecOps and Native Security Integration
Integrate security scanning, compliance, policy-as-code, vulnerability detection in
early stages of pipeline. Mphasis’ DevSecOps services ensure security is shifted left.
4. Service Reliability Engineering (SRE)
Mphasis SRE practice brings reliability engineering early—observability, incident
detection, self-healing, root cause analysis.
5. Test Environment & Data Management (TEMS)
Ensuring high-fidelity environments and relevant test data are available early to
enable representative testing.
6. Counselling, Readiness, and Cultural Change
Mphasis helps organizations assess DevOps readiness, train teams, break silos, adopt
lean & agile practices, and shift culture toward shared ownership.
Conclusion
DevOps shift-left is not just a technical tweak; it’s a strategic imperative. Shifting testing,
quality, security, and feedback earlier into the software lifecycle increases speed, reduces
cost, improves reliability, and helps organizations stay competitive. The “shift-left”
movement redefines how enterprises deliver software — fewer defects, faster releases, higher
security.
Why Choose Mphasis for devops shift left
Because Mphasis brings together:
• Deep experience in DevOps services and consulting, with a holistic view across
business, development, operations, security, and governance.
• Proven frameworks like ZeroQA™, TEMS, Modern Applications Delivery (MAD),
and Service Reliability Engineering that embed shift-left practices from day one.

7. • Strong DevSecOps integration ensuring security is not an afterthought but part of the
pipeline from early phases.
• Value-stream approach to optimize feedback loops, CI/CD pipelines, automated
testing, environment and test data readiness.
• Cultural and process change expertise: aligning teams, breaking silos, enabling
collaboration.
• Metrics and measurement focus: track what matters — defect leakage, lead time,
deployment frequency, MTTR, etc.
Partnering with Mphasis for devops shift left means you're not adopting superficial
changes—you’re embedding quality, security, and reliability early, accelerating innovation,
reducing time to market, and delivering resilient software your customers can trust.