Dun & Bradstreet, a leading global provider of business data and analytics, is committed to maintaining its position at the forefront of innovation. For the past two years, this commitment has included the company’s deliberate approach to improving its software development lifecycle by infusing AI solutions. 

While development velocity and security were the company’s most pressing considerations, Dun & Bradstreet was also inundated with productivity and operational challenges common to many global enterprises which included: 

• Significant time onboarding new team members 

• Siloed knowledge of legacy codebases 

• Low test coverage

• Application modernization challenges

To achieve its goal of accelerating software development, Dun & Bradstreet knew it had to take a holistic “people, process, and tools” approach to solve the traditional development lifecycle issues that most enterprise engineering teams face. They looked to AI-assistance to anchor this new effort.

Finding a partner for the future of the software development lifecycle

As a provider of information that can move markets and drive economies, Dun & Bradstreet had a high bar for any technology tools, with demanding expectations as high as the financial professionals and government leaders they serve. 

Dun & Bradstreet executed a thorough evaluation process to identify the best partner and coding assistance tool, considering both open-source and commercial options. The company ultimately selected Gemini Code Assist due to the Gemini model’s performance, seamless integration with their existing development environment, and robust security features.

The implementation of Gemini Code Assist was a collaborative effort between Dun & Bradstreet's development teams and the Google Cloud team. The developers who were part of the team were actively involved in the configuration and customization of the tool to ensure that it met their specific needs and workflows.

A key focus area for Dun & Bradstreet was Google’s security stance. Incorporating AI into the development process required both top-grade protection of private data and guardrails to ensure the safety of machine-generated code. Google’s security expertise and guidance allowed Dun & Bradstreet to move forward with confidence due to the following factors:

• Gemini models are built in-house, allowing Google to fully validate and filter all source code samples used in model training.

• Trust and verify: Integration into a company’s existing coding and review lifecycles allows developers to guide the model outputs with human oversight, without learning a whole new system.

• Google’s partnership with Snyk provides additional options for automated security scanning, covering both AI-generated and human-written code.

• Google’s AI Principles underpin the architecture and design decisions for Gemini Code Assist. Privacy and security protections include single-tenant storage of customer code references, encrypted logging, and fine-grained administrative controls to prevent accidental data leakage.

• Google’s indemnification policies.

“AI-assisted code creation is not just a leap forward in efficiency — it’s a testament to how innovation and security can work hand-in-hand to drive business success,” said Jay DePaul, chief cybersecurity & technology risk officer at Dun & Bradstreet. “By embedding robust guardrails, we’re enabling our teams to build faster, safer, and smarter.”

Transformation in action

Dun & Bradstreet decided to move forward with Code Assist in October 2024. The solution is now starting to roll out to more teams across the organization. Adoption has been smooth, aided by Code Assist’s intuitive interface and comprehensive documentation.

Having a program for incubation at large organizations helps to iron out both technical and potential adoption blockers. For example, the Dun & Bradstreet team identified the need to educate teams on how coding assistants are there to help developers as a partner, not as replacements.

Now that the rollout is underway, Dun & Bradstreet is sharing the factors that drove their adoption of Gemini Code Assist.

• Increased developer productivity: Gemini Code Assist's AI-powered code suggestions and completions have significantly reduced the time developers spend writing code. The tool's ability to automate repetitive tasks has freed up time for the developers so they can focus on more complex and creative aspects of their work.

• Improved code quality: The automated code review and linting capabilities of Gemini Code Assist helped Dun & Bradstreet's developers detect errors and potential issues early in the development process. This has led to a significant reduction in bugs and improved overall code quality.

• Easier application modernization: A significant amount of time was saved when converting Spring apps to Kotlin.

• Increased developer efficiency: Early internal indicators show a 30% increase in developer productivity.

• Developer onboarding: New developers at Dun & Bradstreet have been able to ramp up quicker due to the real-time guidance and support provided by Gemini Code Assist. 

• Enhanced knowledge sharing: Gemini Code Assist has fostered a culture of knowledge sharing within Dun & Bradstreet's development teams. The tool's ability to provide code examples and best practices made it easier for developers to learn from each other and collaborate effectively.

Leading the way with AI

Gemini Code Assist has proven to be a valuable solution for Dun & Bradstreet as it has empowered their developers with advanced AI capabilities and intelligent code assistance. 

“AI-assisted code creation is a game changer for everyone involved in the solution-delivery business,” said Adam Fayne, vice president for Enterprise Engineering at Dun & Bradstreet. “It enables our teams to innovate, test, and deploy faster, without having to risk security or quality.”

The company has been able to accelerate velocity, improve software quality, and maintain its competitive edge in the market. Companies like Dun & Bradstreet trust Google Cloud and Gemini to greatly enhance their software developer lifecycles. In fact, Google Cloud was recently named a Leader in the 2024 Gartner Magic Quadrant for AI Code Assistants for its Completeness of Vision and Ability to Execute.

Visit the Gemini Code Assist website for more information on use cases and how to start using it today.