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How to Avoid Hidden DevOps Costs and Optimize for Efficiency
While DevOps enhances software delivery speed, financial inefficiencies can arise if not properly managed. Learn best practices to optimize costs and streamline DevOps tools and processes.
4 Min Read
Alamy
DevOps has become popular because it can help make software delivery fast and efficient. But that doesn't necessarily mean that DevOps is cost-effective.
On the contrary, a variety of challenges can lead to financial inefficiency in the realm of DevOps. If you want to make the most of DevOps practices, it's critical to understand how to keep DevOps costs in check.
Keep reading for guidance as we delve into DevOps cost management challenges and discuss cost optimization best practices for DevOps teams.
Why DevOps Can Be Costly
DevOps is an approach to software development and deployment that aims to optimize efficiency through practices such as continuous delivery and constant communication between stakeholders.
In theory, techniques like these should make DevOps-based software delivery projects more cost-effective. When organizations plan, implement, and manage DevOps initiatives well, DevOps certainly can save money compared with less efficient software delivery methodologies, like waterfall.
But few DevOps teams operate in a truly optimal way. It's not uncommon for organizations that have adopted DevOps to run into challenges such as the following, which could bloat costs:
The deployment of unnecessary cloud resources, which are left running after they're no longer necessary, to support tasks like DevOps tests. This wastes money because the organization is stuck paying for resources it's not using.
Automations that don't work as intended, which wastes staff time — and, by extension, the company's money — when DevOps engineers have to go back and fix things manually.
The adoption of bloated DevOps toolchains or of tools whose functionality is redundant. This can lead to higher software licensing costs because the organization has to pay for more tools or features than it actually uses.
Shadow IT that arises when DevOps teams deploy tools or resources without seeking permission.
Platform engineering, a practice designed to support DevOps by providing self-service access to preconfigured DevOps tools and environments. If those resources are not all frequently used, however, platform engineering could become a source of wasted money.
These are just some examples of how DevOps can end up breeding financial inefficiency, even within organizations that adopt DevOps specifically because they hope it will help them save money.
DevOps Cost Optimization Best Practices
At a high level, the best way to optimize DevOps from a cost perspective is simple: Ensure that your DevOps strategy is well-designed and -implemented. When organizations actually follow DevOps best practices — as opposed to adopting DevOps tools or techniques in a haphazard way — they're primed to build a cost-effective DevOps culture.
But implementing DevOps well is easier said than done. To help ensure that DevOps actually saves — rather than wastes — money, organizations should consider the following DevOps cost optimization best practices.
Automate infrastructure management
The best way to avoid wasting money on cloud resources or other infrastructure used by DevOps teams is to automate the process of turning the infrastructure on and off. For example, a cloud server that supports automated testing as part of a CI/CD pipeline should turn on automatically when there are new tests to run, then shut down when testing completes. This mitigates the risk of wasting money because someone forgets to shut down the server.
Keep humans in the automation loop
Automations can help save money — but only when they actually work. As noted above, a bad automation could end up wasting time and resources.
To safeguard against this risk, DevOps teams should consider keeping a "human in the loop" when automating processes. For example, during software testing, they could require a human to review test results before considering the process to be complete. That way, failed tests that automated tools don't detect won't lead to operational problems later in the DevOps pipeline.
Prefer integrated DevOps toolchains
In general, DevOps tools are more cost-effective when they are part of an integrated set of tools — such as a complete CI/CD platform — than they are if engineers purchase tools one-by-one.
Adopt DevOps tools with usage-based pricing
DevOps tools are also likely to be more cost-effective when their pricing is based on usage rather than flat fees or number of users. For example, when choosing build tools, consider tools that are priced based on how long they run and/or how many infrastructure resources a project consumes when compiling code. That way, you're not stuck paying for tool capacity you don't require.
Choose DevOps tools with modular features
Yet another way to reduce costs when selecting DevOps tools is to opt for solutions that offer modular features and charge only for the features you use. For instance, if you implement a Continuous Integration (CI) server that also offers deployment automation features, but you plan to use a different tool for deployment, it would be a waste of money if you're forced to pay for the deployment feature in the CI server when you'll only be using that tool for CI.
Conclusion: Making Cost a Priority for DevOps
When done properly, DevOps can help organizations reduce costs associated with software development, deployment, and management. But it can just as easily lead to financial inefficiency — which is why it's critical to ensure that the DevOps practices and tools your business uses are streamlined from a financial perspective.
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