How Bank of Communications Achieved DevOps Maturity and Accelerated Digital Transformation

On December 24, the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT) launched the 2021 GOLF+ IT New Governance Leadership Forum, focusing on balancing governance and efficiency to build a new ecosystem of technology governance and on XOPS innovation to lead new trends in operations. The forum aimed to integrate new governance with innovation for stable digital development.

CAICT announced the 2021 Outstanding Enterprise and Influential Team awards. Bank of Communications (BoC) won the GOLF+ "2021 Outstanding Enterprise" and its Smart HR team won the "2021 Influential Team".

BoC's Smart HR project previously passed the CAICT "R&D Operations Integration (DevOps) Capability Maturity Model" Continuous Delivery Level 3 assessment.

We interviewed Liu Lei, General Manager of BoC Software Development Center, who shared the bank's DevOps journey and digital transformation experiences.

Interview

Q: Please introduce yourself and your organization.

Liu Lei: I am Liu Lei, General Manager of the Software Development Center of Bank of Communications, a century‑old state‑owned commercial bank headquartered in Shanghai. We view technology as the primary productive force and continuously promote fintech reform, applying AI, privacy computing, quantum computing and other emerging technologies to drive business transformation.

Q: How does it feel to receive the 2021 Outstanding Enterprise and Influential Team awards?

Liu Lei: We are honored that BoC and the Smart HR team were selected. Both of our projects have passed the CAICT DevOps Capability Maturity Model Continuous Delivery Level 3 assessment, confirming that our delivery capability meets industry‑leading standards. The assessment helped us set clear goals, adopt best practices, build an end‑to‑end pipeline, embed quality gates, and achieve unified process management and monitoring.

Q: What successful experiences does BoC have in digital transformation?

Liu Lei: (1) Technology leadership is now a strategic priority, with a comprehensive digital transformation vision “POWER”. (2) We leverage data as a core asset, sharing enterprise‑level data internally and supporting national digital infrastructure. (3) AI drives innovation across customer service, internal operations and risk management. (4) We expand service scenarios through open banking, creating diversified financial products for healthcare, education and travel. (5) We align talent development with the national talent‑strong strategy via the “Fintech Ten‑Thousand Talent Program”.

Q: Tell us about the Smart HR project and team.

Liu Lei: The Smart HR team, a 40‑person agile pilot, develops a next‑generation HR management system. Using agile methods and continuous DevOps practice, we improve delivery efficiency and quality.

During ten months, the project achieved 60 % unit‑test coverage, 100 % API‑test coverage, 20 builds per day, 40 releases, and reduced the average delivery cycle from 30 days to 14 days, raising DevOps maturity from 1.8 to Level 3.

Q: What challenges did you face in the DevOps rollout?

Liu Lei: (1) Breaking down departmental silos required top‑level alignment, joint work groups, clear responsibilities, and visual project tracking. (2) Integrating business and technology demanded continuous collaboration, with business units participating early in delivery and tech teams involved in requirement planning.

Q: How does DevOps support digital transformation?

Liu Lei: DevOps integrates best‑practice workflows, enabling end‑to‑end visibility and automation, which accelerates product development, supports open‑bank architectures, and strengthens the bank’s technology‑driven innovation.

Q: What are BoC’s future digital transformation plans?

Liu Lei: We will use technology and data as key drivers to build new business momentum, a comprehensive data management system, agile and resilient technical infrastructure, secure information system delivery, and a governance framework that matches digital transformation.

Industry Statistics

As of December 24 2021, state‑owned banks that have participated in the DevOps Capability Maturity Model assessment are listed (data from the official DevOps assessment website). Bank of Communications contributed two CD projects from the head office and one from the credit‑card center.

About the DevOps Capability Maturity Model

The “R&D Operations Integration (DevOps) Capability Maturity Model” is a series of standards led by CAICT, co‑created with the Cloud Computing Open Source Industry Alliance, Efficient Operations Community, BATJ and major financial and telecom enterprises. It is the first comprehensive DevOps standard in China and was adopted by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. The model covers agile development management, continuous delivery, technical operations, application design, security and risk management, and system/tool assessment.

For inquiries about the DevOps assessment, contact CAICT (Liu Kailin, phone 156 5078 6171, email [email protected]) or the Efficient Operations Community (Dong Hui, phone 185 1511 5139, email [email protected]).