DevSecOps: The Underestimated Strategy That’s Cutting Public Sector Waste

Public sector agencies are facing increasing demand to modernize quickly, reduce budgets, and provide secure digital services without slowing down. But many still lose millions on wasteful infrastructure, siloed workflows, and legacy deployment models. With growing cyber threats and the need for real-time service, public sector IT is having to rethink its roots. One approach gaining rapid momentum is DevSecOps, a strategic blend of development, security, and operations designed to streamline delivery, cut waste, and embed resilience from the ground up. Leading this quiet yet powerful shift is Satish Yerram, a seasoned DevSecOps Senior System administrator whose innovations are helping public sector systems move faster, spend smarter, and operate more securely.

He has been instrumental in designing some of the most technically sophisticated DevSecOps infrastructures backing public sector systems of today. With extensive hands-on experience in designing and implementing end-to-end DevSecOps pipelines, particularly within AWS cloud environments, his work addresses the critical intersection of automation, security, and cost optimization. Known for his methodical and results-driven approach, he delivers scalable, secure solutions that improve efficiency and add lasting value across high-stakes public sector projects.

“Working on public sector national-scale projects, every dollar and every second counts," says Satish. “DevSecOps, when executed properly, doesn’t just streamline processes; it prevents waste at scale.” One of his most notable contributions is the design of fully automated pipelines that can deploy complete environments across multiple availability zones in just 40 minutes. This isn’t just fast; it’s transformational. These pipelines launch everything from web and application servers to databases and microservices, all configured, tested, and security-validated before a single user interacts with the system. The entire deployment is not only automated but designed with cost efficiency and compliance from the ground up.

“I embedded security tools like SonarQube directly into the CI/CD flow,” he explains. “This means vulnerabilities are caught early, reducing rework and ensuring security is built-in, not bolted on.”

But Satish’s work goes beyond speed and security. His efforts have tackled one of the most invisible forms of public sector waste: over-allocation of resources in the cloud. After optimizing EC2 instance types, memory configurations, and storage based on actual usage patterns, he introduced a model of Cloud Economics that reduced cloud spending by nearly one-third. “It’s not just about building fast, it’s about building smart,” he says.

The impact of these strategies is striking. In projects where he has implemented DevSecOps, organizations saw a 60% improvement in delivery efficiency. Rework was cut by over half. And perhaps most importantly, the same scale of projects was maintained without increasing team size. That’s not just better tech, it’s leaner, more responsible governance.

Take, for instance, the automation of Network traffic switchovers. “It used to take 30 minutes and required manual coordination,” Satish recalls. “I automated that to just 2 minutes, with zero risk of human error.” The challenge was compounded by the fact that these Network Load Balancer systems were housed in DMZ environments, highly secure zones where access is severely restricted. Hence, through careful planning and an in-depth understanding of network security protocols, he made it work.

Security, of course, remains the backbone of all his solutions. His pipelines follow a secure-by-default philosophy. Nothing is left to chance, and everything is auditable from day one. Even IAM permissions, often a source of silent vulnerabilities, were meticulously handled to ensure that automation tools had the access they needed, no more, no less.

Aside from his technical contributions, he has evolved into a mentor and culture creator in his organization. Through teaching internal teams DevSecOps best practices and promoting a culture of ownership and automation, he's gotten the value of his work disseminated far beyond his current projects.“When teams see what’s possible, they want to adopt it,” he says. “You start seeing momentum build across the board.”

Satish’s perspective on DevSecOps is refreshingly grounded.“Success doesn’t depend on the tools,” he emphasizes. “It’s about designing a process that fits the environment, the people, and the problem.” His real-world experience, earned from solving complex problems under real constraints, has shaped a practical philosophy: full automation enables resilience. “We’ve supported emergency deployments, shipped multiple releases a week, and handled nonstop change, without losing stability,” he says.

For him, DevSecOps isn’t just a technical improvement. It’s a strategic necessity for the public sector. “In public sector projects, change is constant. If your systems can’t evolve quickly, they become obsolete,” he notes. His advice to organizations? “Build for change. Build for speed. But above all, build securely.”

The lessons from Satish’s work are clear. With DevSecOps done right, public sector can finally escape the cycle of waste and rework that has plagued legacy systems for decades. Instead of reacting to problems, they can anticipate them. Instead of overspending, they can optimize. The path forward isn’t just about modernization; it’s about responsibility.

“DevSecOps is not just a technical framework,” says Satish. “It’s a disciplined approach that brings together speed, security, and cost-efficiency, and right now, the public sector cannot afford to ignore its value.”

Public agencies need to do more with less. That means delivering secure, scalable systems without wasting time or money. Satish gets that. He doesn’t just talk solutions, he builds them. His results prove that real change comes from clear thinking and solid execution, not jargon.