Perforce Software has released its 2026 State of DevOps Report, based on a survey of 820 global technology professionals—54% in C-level roles—examining AI's impact on DevOps practices, roles, costs, and governance. The findings show that mature DevOps organizations scale AI far more successfully, concluding that DevOps is not obsolete but foundational to effective AI adoption across the software delivery lifecycle (SDLC).
Quick Intel
The report dispels the notion that AI will replace DevOps, instead demonstrating that strong DevOps foundations—automation, collaboration, control, auditability, and governance—amplify AI's effectiveness. Organizations with incomplete or immature DevOps struggle to scale AI, while mature practices enable broader embedding across the SDLC.
"The market often asks whether AI will replace DevOps. Our research shows the opposite: AI amplifies DevOps," said Anjali Arora, CTO of Perforce and Author of The State of DevOps Report. "Organizations with disciplined engineering practices, automation, strong collaboration, and focus on control, auditability, and governance are the ones scaling AI successfully and turning innovation into measurable business outcomes."
AI's Role in Testing A companion report on AI-augmented testing highlights role evolution and measurement shifts. Ownership of test authoring moves toward developers, while QA teams emphasize analytics orchestration. Compliance automation and secure-by-default approaches advance, though skills gaps remain. Success metrics now prioritize business outcomes over traditional execution counts.
"AI is helping teams shift up from execution to oversight and strategy, effectively elevating individual roles," said Jake Hookom, EVP of Product at Perforce and Author of The State of DevOps Report. "But the research also highlights that governance and auditability need to be a focus for organizations and the collaboration between teams."
Confidence in AI outputs is high, yet governance lags, with compliance oversight distributed across functions and limited automated audit trails hindering consistent measurement. Cost concerns—particularly cloud and energy usage—emerge as notable barriers, influencing adoption decisions for three-quarters of respondents.
View the State of DevOps Report 2026 here and download the AI in Testing edition here.
About the Report The survey ran November–December 2025, collecting 820 responses across North America, the UK and Europe, Latin America, and Asia Pacific. 54% of respondents hold C-level titles, 26% are VP/head/director level, and 85% are key buyers or decision-makers. Conducted by Panterra on Perforce's behalf, the State of DevOps Report series has gathered insights from over 40,000 contributors over more than a decade.
*The DevOps Maturity Model High-maturity: standardized delivery, highly effective incident response with automated rollback, ≥61% deployment automation. Mid-maturity: mostly standardized practices, effective incident response, ≥31% deployment automation. Low-maturity: ad hoc or partially standardized practices, poor incident response, <31% deployment automation.
Resources
About Perforce
The best-run DevOps teams in the world choose Perforce. Powered by advanced technology, including powerful AI that takes you from AI ambition to real results, the Perforce suite is purpose-built to handle complexity, maintain speed without compromise, and ensure end-to-end integrity across your DevOps toolchain. With a global footprint spanning more than 80 countries and including over 75% of the Fortune 100, Perforce is the trusted partner for innovation. Harness the power of AI and accelerate your technology delivery without shortcuts. Build, scale, and innovate with Perforce — where efficiency meets intelligence.
TechIntelPro empowers B2B technology decision-makers with the latest industry trends, deep insights, leadership perspectives and actionable intelligence to drive both organizational and professional milestones—and thrive on the tech pulse.