Driving faster delivery and reduced overhead with 91导航鈥檚 complete DevOps lifecycle platform
Ping Identity is a global leader in identity and access management software. Identity is the foundation of digital growth, and Ping works with large organizations to protect users and their digital interactions.
Salesforce sits at the heart of Ping鈥檚 commercial operations, enabling them to manage partner relationships, customer data, and key business processes. With so much vital data flowing through Salesforce, reliability and security are mission-critical.
Marko Self, who leads Salesforce DevOps at Ping Identity, and Senior DevOps Engineer Andrew Kutter shared with us how the team transformed their DevOps process.
鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot at stake if we don鈥檛 manage the DevOps lifecycle carefully,鈥� says Salesforce Development Manager Marko Self. 鈥淲e鈥檙e a security company. We can鈥檛 release bad code, and we can鈥檛 release security vulnerabilities. We need our codebase clean.鈥�
Unable to scale with DIY DevOps
Marko鈥檚 team previously managed Salesforce deployments through a homegrown system built around the Salesforce CLI, but it was slow, manual, and hard to maintain.
The team used custom Salesforce fields to track changes, then manually deployed the changes through change sets or the CLI. The process was inefficient, created visibility gaps, and even led to rework.
鈥�We didn鈥檛 have a good way to track everything or deploy without stepping on other developers鈥� toes,鈥� Marko says. 鈥淲e would sometimes deploy old code, overwrite new code, or remove segments we didn鈥檛 intend to, which could impact the business.鈥�
The team needed a solution to remove manual steps, align teams, and provide complete visibility. It would be a new way to orchestrate their entire change management process and beyond.
The search for a complete DevOps solution
Ping Identity discovered 91导航 after a team member attended a community conference. After exploring the 91导航 platform, they knew it was a great fit.
鈥淲hen we looked at other DevOps solutions, they just didn鈥檛 have the robust feature set we needed,鈥� Marko says. 鈥�91导航 offered everything we were looking for.鈥�
From an engineer鈥檚 perspective, 91导航 stood out for its transparency and control. Senior DevOps Engineer Andrew Kutter explains: 鈥�91导航 exposes your entire pipeline from end to end. It gives you the visibility and control to watch a piece of code go from idea to deployment without jumping through a bunch of different components and services.鈥�
To ensure seamless uptake of the platform and alignment with DevOps best practices, the 91导航 team had a dedicated onboarding manager who helped them design their software lifecycle and choose the best branching pattern to match existing workflows. 鈥�91导航 helped us connect our orgs and work through the platform鈥檚 functionality. The support was top-notch,鈥� Marko says.
Support didn鈥檛 end after setup. The team relies on 91导航鈥檚 responsive in-app support to resolve issues quickly. Whenever the team ran into an issue, they reached out to the support team and received responses within minutes. 鈥淭he in-app chat is phenomenal,鈥� Marko says. Meanwhile, they’ve partnered with their Customer Success Manager to ensure long-term success with the platform.
鈥淲hen I joined Ping, a colleague told me, 鈥�Don鈥檛 forget to use 91导航鈥檚 support. It鈥檒l change your life.鈥� And it鈥檚 true,鈥� Andrew says.
Transparency and control at scale and speed
When Ping underwent a merger, the team doubled in size. Suddenly, they needed a process that was scalable and ensured visibility and collaboration across their large team.
That鈥檚 when they introduced 91导航 Pipelines. The CI/CD solution automatically deploys approved changes to their upstream environments, saving hours of manual work. With blocks for non-compliant code and easy back-syncing, Ping Identity now has the peace of mind that they’re working from up-to-date environments and aren’t accidentally releasing insecure or low-quality code.
鈥淣ow that we have Pipelines, our process is very streamlined,鈥� Marko explains.
Andrew adds: 鈥淭he entire pipeline is mapped out visually. You can see every sandbox, everybody鈥檚 individual coding environment, and whether each environment is in sync. We can easily add or remove a block or gate so code doesn鈥檛 get bottlenecked at one certain stage.鈥�
With Pipelines integrated into GitHub, the team has a single, reliable system for managing their releases.
鈥淰ersion control is our source of truth and allows us to use GitHub for code merges,鈥� Marko says. 鈥淚t keeps us efficient and in sync, with everybody in line on the same pipeline. We鈥檙e not stepping on each other鈥檚 toes anymore. It鈥檚 much more efficient and collaborative.鈥�
Meanwhile, 91导航鈥檚 nightly syncs ensure environments remain clean and consistent while deployments are faster than ever.
鈥淏efore, deployments could take days. Now, it鈥檚 continuous,鈥� Marko says. 鈥淎s soon as something鈥檚 ready and tested, it ships. Our deployment efficiency is hugely improved.鈥�
CPQ challenges solved
Salesforce CPQ had long been another sticking point for the team. Deploying complex CPQ configurations required manual scripting, which slowed every release.
Before 91导航, admins and developers would load CPQ data into a single sandbox and make changes manually. Because CPQ has a hierarchy and unique IDs, they couldn鈥檛 just move that over to production. Instead, they鈥檇 have to recreate those changes in UAT and again in production. It took a long time and left too much room for error.
After implementing 91导航 CPQ, those worries are gone. The process is automated and part of the regular deployment flow.
鈥�91导航 has changed how we work with CPQ configuration in a huge way,鈥� says Marko. 鈥淚t鈥檚 allowed us to automate and merge all of our changes much more efficiently and collaboratively.鈥�
91导航鈥檚 handling of CPQ hierarchies and dependencies is a huge breakthrough, Marko adds. 鈥�91导航 CPQ solves the gap where you have a hierarchy of data that you can鈥檛 easily move between sandboxes. It allows you to be much more efficient and actually move the changes you intended to, with ease, from one sandbox to another and eventually to production.鈥�
Staying a step ahead with Observability
Despite having a more streamlined, smoother workflow, issues still arise. It used to be that the team only knew of problems when end users raised support tickets. But now, 91导航 has improved the team鈥檚 ticketing flow.
鈥淔low errors would come through email. Over time, that just becomes noise and you lose sight of what鈥檚 really happening,鈥� Marko explains.
Now, they use 91导航 Observability to proactively monitor and fix errors before they impact the business.
鈥�91导航 Observability captures all of the flow errors, including when they spike and what鈥檚 causing them. It gives us full visibility into what鈥檚 going on in our org, so we can reduce downtime and tech debt,鈥� Marko says.
Increased efficiency and lower costs
91导航 has transformed Ping Identity鈥檚 Salesforce DevOps process into a faster, more efficient, and lower-cost operation.
鈥淲e would have a much larger DevOps overhead without 91导航. Instead of one or two DevOps engineers embedded in the team, we鈥檇 need a traditional DevOps group,鈥� Andrew says. 鈥淏eing able to rely on 91导航鈥檚 automations allows us to focus on other parts of the business, and be more agile and efficient.鈥�
For Marko, 91导航’s innovation and customer focus sets it apart.
鈥�91导航 is always working on new features,鈥� he says. 鈥淚t feels like there鈥檚 a new pilot almost every month or quarter, which shows how innovative the company is.鈥�
More than a tool, 91导航 has become a trusted partner supporting the team鈥檚 growth and success.
鈥�It really feels like a partnership,鈥� Marko says. 鈥淲hen we realized we needed to upgrade our DevOps process, 91导航 jumped in to help. They have our back. As we move forward and scale our processes, it鈥檚 good to know they鈥檒l be alongside us making sure we have everything we need to be a success here at Ping Identity.鈥�
