How GitLab and Google Cloud drive innovation and efficiency for retailers

Innovation and growth can sometimes be at odds in the world of retail, especially when trying to develop, deploy, and manage modern applications across multicloud environments. GitLab and Google Cloud together help retailers create and secure software that scales along with their business. GitLab’s comprehensive DevSecOps Platform connects with Google Cloud’s Distributed Cloud Edge edge networking environment and Anthos cloud-centric container platform to provide retailers with enterprise-class features such as collaboration and planning, continuous integration (CI), configuration management, and built-in security and compliance. GitLab enables development teams to streamline management of their distributed, hybrid environments right out of the gate. Retailers can utilize the following capabilities: Agile planning and collaboration to ensure Anthos cloud container cluster configurations and policies are up to date and compliant with company standards. Continuous integration to help develop quality code and configurations while simultaneously reducing code errors. Configuration management to roll back to previously working Anthos states or configurations. Native integration with Google Cloud to deploy software faster and more securely. Why GitLab for retail? Multicloud environments are beneficial to retailers because they enable them to easily deploy and manage applications across a vast network of stores, warehouses, and the like. In addition, developing and hosting applications in the cloud provides more choice, faster delivery (i.e. time to market), real-time data access, and the ability to automatically scale resources (up or down). As more retailers look to cloud platforms to achieve these goals, GitLab is uniquely positioned to help them manage these environments in a way that keeps them agile, secure, and able to meet customer demands. GitLab’s DevSecOps Platform is geared toward helping retailers gain operational efficiencies throughout the software development lifecycle and across multicloud environments like Google Cloud.  Developers at retailers can leverage the full range of features in GitLab’s DevSecOps Platform to build, test, deploy, and secure high-performance, low-latency business-critical applications, such as point of sale.  Google Distributed Cloud Edge retail customers can use GitLab to manage their hybrid cloud policies, manage configurations, and administer Anthos clusters. GitLab’s industry-leading DevSecOps Platform helps developers streamline in-store technology management processes and makes it easier for DevSecOps teams to collaborate. GitLab’s DevSecOps Platform also has built-in security and compliance to meet the unique auditing and reporting needs of retailers.  Use case: Automated deployment at scale Retail companies with multiple locations need technology that enables them to manage sprawling resources and maintain smooth operations, even when major changes are introduced. With GitLab’s DevSecOps Platform, retailers can automatically sync configurations and data across their Google Cloud, as well as other cloud and on-premises environments. This is critical for large retailers looking to scale hybrid Anthos clusters vertically across their network with Google Distributed Cloud Edge machines. GitLab also lets developers easily collaborate and make changes using Agile tools, Merge Requests, and requirements-based workflows. This creates a streamlined, audit-ready process that helps team members make decisions quickly. Configurations are stored as YAML files in GitLab repositories, where teams can use a different repository per configuration state. Anthos Configuration Management then retrieves the appropriate configurations when network access is available, allowing for specific regional changes to be made. Once changes are reconciled across regions, the new configurations are automatically applied and propagated to the correct Google Distributed Cloud Edge nodes. This secure, scalable process can be used at thousands of locations, decreasing the company's time to value and increasing ROI. Having the right technology is a key driver of growth and innovation for retailers. Investing in technology and utilizing platforms like GitLab and Google Cloud can be a game changer for retailers looking to thrive in today's competitive market.