What does cost efficiency mean in platform engineering?

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In today’s software development landscape, platform engineering has emerged as a crucial discipline for organizations looking to streamline their development processes and boost productivity. However, as teams rush to build internal developer platforms (IDPs), they often overlook the critical aspect of cost efficiency in platform engineering, leading to overbuilt solutions and unnecessary expenses. 

This article explores the delicate balance between creating robust developer platforms and maintaining fiscal responsibility, offering practical insights into platform engineering optimization.

Through actionable recommendations, you will learn how to implement platform engineering initiatives that deliver maximum value without breaking the bank, ultimately creating a more sustainable and efficient development ecosystem.

What makes platform engineering expensive? 

Platform engineering is a strategic investment in software development infrastructure, with expenditures extending beyond the basics of, say, implementing DevOps practices. While its goals—boosting developer productivity and enabling self-service—are worthwhile, there are costs involved that must be kept in check:

• Engineering effort: Significant time and expertise are needed to design, implement, and continually evolve platforms, as cloud-native toolchains are becoming more complex and confusing than ever.
• Skilled talent: Continuous upskilling is required to adapt to evolving technologies; also, due to the current skills scarcity, salaries of platform engineers are usually higher.
• Sustainability challenges: Long-term maintenance adds to initial costs, with technical debt compounding over time.
• Training costs: Substantial resources must be allocated for team onboarding, training, and adopting best practices.

Common pitfalls that result in excess spend include:

• Overengineering
• Insufficient scalability planning    
• Misalignment with developer needs    

These challenges can turn a productivity-boosting initiative into a resource-intensive burden that hampers organizational agility.

The economics of developer productivity  

The economics of developer productivity involve optimizing the balance between tools, workflows, and cultural practices to maximize developer efficiency and business impact while keeping costs in check.

Calculating the true ROI of platform engineering   

Determining the return on investment (ROI) for platform engineering initiatives encompasses various factors that affect developer productivity and overall organizational efficiency. 

To calculate the true ROI, organizations must factor in both the initial cost of tools and technologies and the long-term benefits they bring. The latter includes improvements in developer velocity, reduction in time-to-market, and enhanced quality and reliability of software products. 

By benchmarking pre- and post-implementation metrics, companies can gain insights into how platform engineering accelerates application delivery and optimizes resource allocation. Additionally, transforming developer efficiency and job satisfaction through better tools and streamlined processes can lead to lower attrition rates and higher retention of top talent, further contributing to a favorable ROI.   

Factoring in how platform engineering empowers developers 

Platform engineering significantly enhances developer velocity by minimizing the time developers spend on environment setup, configuration, and troubleshooting, allowing them to focus more on coding and delivering features. This reduction in setup time translates directly into improved time-to-market, as teams can push out new functionalities and products faster. 

Furthermore, as teams utilize standardized processes and best practices established through platform engineering, the quality and reliability of the deliverables improve. This is achieved through better alignment on coding standards, more effective testing frameworks, and integrated monitoring solutions that catch issues early in the software development lifecycle. 

Moreover, platform engineering directly addresses the cognitive load imposed on developers, which often stems from navigating complex toolchains and cloud architectures.

Providing a well-defined IDP and streamlined workflows helps organizations reduce technical overhead and lighten the burden on engineering teams. This enables engineers to focus on creative problem-solving and innovation instead of being overwhelmed by infrastructure complexities, fostering a more engaged and productive workforce while driving better overall outcomes for the organization.

Smart cost optimization strategies

The following tactics are recommended to achieve an optimal ROI with your platform engineering initiative.  

Resource optimization techniques

Resource optimization includes infrastructure rightsizing and automated scaling, ensuring that computing resources align with actual application needs and demand. This minimizes waste and ensures cost-effectiveness while maintaining optimal performance.

Workload optimization

Workload optimization prevents bottlenecks by leveraging load balancing to distribute tasks efficiently. Container orchestration tools can enhance resource utilization, leading to lower operational costs and applications that run effectively in the cloud.

Process optimization

Process optimization emphasizes self-service capabilities and automation, allowing teams to provision resources independently. Clear documentation and knowledge-sharing promote efficiency, reducing reliance on operational teams for troubleshooting.

Team structure optimization

Optimizing the platform team involves rightsizing it to align with organizational needs and defining clear roles based on skill distribution. Implementing cross-functional collaboration fosters better communication and enhances overall agility in development practices.

Tools and technologies for cost-efficient platforms

Developers have several solutions at their disposal to drive cost efficiency in platform engineering. 

CI/CD

CI/CD tools like Jenkins, Argo CD, and Github Actions are widely used for continuous integration and delivery. Optimizing their use improves the productivity of developers and reduces infrastructure costs. 

Products like Incredibuild also help in implementing cost-effective platform engineering. It accelerates software development by providing faster compilation times, improved observability, and asset orchestration.

Infrastructure as code (IaC)

Infrastructure as code (IaC) lets devs provision and oversee infrastructure using code, making processes repeatable and efficient. Popular IaC tools include Terraform, which enables users to define infrastructure in a high-level configuration language, and AWS CloudFormation, which simplifies resource management within the AWS ecosystem.

Monitoring and observability

Monitoring and observability solutions are essential for ensuring platform efficiency. Prometheus is widely used for monitoring applications and services, providing real-time metrics collection, while Grafana offers powerful visualization tools to analyze data. Additionally, Datadog integrates monitoring and analytics, providing comprehensive visibility across cloud applications.

Cost management tools

Cloud cost management tools enable organizations to monitor and optimize their spending on cloud resources effectively. Kubecost provides insights into costs, usage patterns, and performance metrics while delivering actionable optimization suggestions. Similarly, AWS Cost Explorer helps teams track AWS expenses and predict future spending trends using historical data.

Automation frameworks

These tools streamline repetitive tasks and processes across environments. Ansible is popular for automating application deployment and configuration management, while Kubernetes is widely used for cloud-native deployment and orchestration. 

Internal developer portals

Internal developer portals serve as centralized hubs for tools, documentation, and services enabling developer self-service. Humanitec provides a platform for creating customized developer portals that simplify workflows, while Backstage from Spotify allows organizations to manage microservices and developer documentation with ease.

Future-proofing your platform investment

As organizations seek to enhance their platform engineering strategies, several emerging trends are shaping the future of cost-efficient platform investments. The evolving use of artificial intelligence (AI) is at the forefront, with tools like AI copilots assisting in generating complex configurations using plain text and aiding in troubleshooting tasks. 

Additionally, AI can provide valuable insights from internal developer platforms. This enables data-driven decisions while offering AI-enabled support for observability and monitoring, ensuring proactive issue resolution.

Key trends to consider include:

• Increased automation and self-service: Enterprises are focusing on automating processes and providing self-service capabilities to empower development teams.
• Community-driven standardization: There’s a growing movement toward standardizing platform engineering practices and architecture, with efforts such as defining maturity levels through community-driven white papers.
• Preparing for scale: Organizations must build flexibility into their platform strategies, adopting open-source and cloud-native tools that allow for easy integration of new technologies.
• Modular architecture and open standards: Emphasizing modular architecture and open standards ensures that platforms can adapt to changing technologies and requirements.
• Product mindset for development: By treating internal platforms as products, teams can prioritize user feedback and continuous improvement, aligning with the evolving needs of developers.

Conclusion: Making the business case

More than just a trend, platform engineering represents the future of software delivery. With cloud-native landscapes becoming more and more complex, the need for effective IDPs has become critical. 

These platforms streamline software delivery by driving standardization, eliminating operational bottlenecks, and empowering developers with true self-service capabilities. The result? A transformative shift in productivity and efficiency.

Organizations must embrace cost-effective platform engineering to boost developer productivity, enhance developer workflows, and accelerate innovation to thrive in today’s competitive environment. 

Key strategies include implementing platform engineering tools such as CI/CD pipelines, leveraging Infrastructure as Code (IaC) for agile deployments, and incorporating observability to ensure seamless operations. Automation frameworks further reduce manual tasks so that devs can focus on innovation.

Looking ahead, emerging trends such as AI-driven automation, community-standardized practices, and modular architecture designs are reshaping how platforms are built and managed. These advancements empower businesses to create scalable, future-ready systems that address the evolving demands of software development.

Ready to take your platform engineering to the next level? Discover how Incredibuild can help you unlock efficiency, cut costs, and empower your development teams to innovate faster. 

Explore the possibilities and shape the future of software delivery with us. Sign up for a Guided Trial of Incredibuild today.