Kingfisher plc, the parent company of brands like B&Q and Screwfix, is rethinking how its developers work. By turning to GitLab, the company is simplifying processes, prioritising security, and automating repetitive tasks. The idea is simple: reduce complexity for their teams and deliver results faster and more efficiently. At the recent GitLab DevSecOps World Tour in London, Parmar, one of Kingfisher’s tech leaders, shared how they’re making this happen. During a conversation with GitLab’s Sherrod Patching, Parmar explained how GitLab is helping Kingfisher improve the way projects go from concept to completion.

Kingfisher’s tech evolution

With over 2,000 stores across eight countries and £13 billion in revenue last year, technology plays a huge role in Kingfisher’s operations. The company started using GitLab back in 2016 with a free plan. By 2020, it had upgraded to Premium and moved to a cloud-based environment. Along the way, it added reusable CI/CD components to make repetitive tasks, like testing and deployment, quicker and easier. The changes haven’t been about dramatic overhauls. Instead, it’s been a steady shift toward making workflows simpler and more manageable for its teams.

Data that drives decisions

Metrics are a big part of Kingfisher’s approach. The company doesn’t just track numbers like deployment frequency, lead times, and failure rates—it makes sure those metrics translate into something meaningful for the business. “Execs may not care about whether a merge request has been waiting 15 or 20 minutes, but they do care about how we translate that time value into dollars or pounds,” Parmar said. What matters to the company is how that time affects efficiency and revenue. By connecting technical metrics to business outcomes, Kingfisher ensures its leaders see the value of their efforts.

Focusing on the people behind the code

For Parmar, improving workflows isn’t just about the tools—it’s about understanding the people who use them. To make this a priority, Kingfisher created a “developer experience squad” to help identify and remove the roadblocks developers face every day.

“We’re focused on the hearts and minds of our people…and remembering that people can be attached to how they work through pipelines,” Parmar said. “People have different ways of building their pipelines. We need to understand what they need, what their workflows look like, and then work with them to find the right solution. After, we’ll go back to them with data that shows the improvements worked. So instead of telling them what they need, we find out what that is, and fix what’s slowing them down. That builds a very good rapport with our engineers.”

The collaborative approach doesn’t just solve problems—it builds trust and gives developers space to focus on work that really matters to them.

Insights from GitLab’s Global DevSecOps Report

Kingfisher’s story mirrors some of the wider trends in the industry, as outlined in GitLab’s recently released 8th Annual Global DevSecOps Report. Based on responses from over 5,300 professionals worldwide, the report shows where organisations are thriving, and where challenges remain. One standout finding is the acceleration in software delivery. Nearly 70% of global CxOs say they’re shipping software at least twice as fast as they were a year ago. Yet, adoption of AI—a key catalyst for this acceleration—remains limited, with only 26% of respondents reporting its use. The report also reveals interesting disconnects between executives and individual contributors, particularly around AI, security, and productivity:

• AI risks and training gaps: Over half of CxOs (56%) view AI as risky in the software lifecycle, compared to only 40% of individual contributors. Similarly, 25% of contributors said they lack adequate AI training, but only 15% of CxOs see this as an issue.
• Security shortcomings: While 67% of contributors rely on open-source code for their work, just 21% of organisations are using a software bill of materials (SBOM) to document their software’s composition.
• Developer productivity: Nearly all CxOs (99%) agree that improving developer productivity benefits their business. However, 51% admit their methods for measuring it are flawed, and 45% aren’t measuring it against business outcomes at all.

Another area of concern is the toolchain. Over half of CxOs (52%) report using between two and five tools in software development, while 54% of contributors work with as many as 6-14 tools—highlighting a clear disconnect. Despite this, only 17% of respondents have started consolidating their toolchains.

What’s next for Kingfisher?

Kingfisher plans to integrate security earlier in the development process—a practice called “shifting left.” It’s also aiming to cut down on the number of tools teams rely on, and expand automation. By 2025, it hopes to explore GitLab’s AI features to see how those tools can help it go further. Through all of this, the focus remains clear: build workflows that support teams while keeping up with the fast-changing demands of software development.

Looking to revamp your digital transformation strategy? Learn more about Digital Transformation Week taking place in Amsterdam, California, and London. The comprehensive event is co-located with IoT Tech Expo, AI & Big Data Expo, Cyber Security & Cloud Expo, and other leading events.

Explore other upcoming enterprise technology events and webinars powered by TechForge here.