Why a Well-Functioning CI/CD Is Key to Effective Cost Control in the Cloud

October 27, 2023

Manual processes are a leading contributor to increased cloud costs — in ways you might not consider. When organizations try to manage their cloud environments manually, they wind up overspending on security tools, backup and other resources. There’s also the operational overhead of managing those tools.

The problem is that organizations don’t have a well-functioning CI/CD pipeline. The continuous integration (CI) component involves automatically building and testing code changes and releasing them into a shared repository. Continuous deployment (CD) automates the process of putting code releases into production. When the CI/CD pipeline is working properly, there’s no need for a human to touch any of those processes unless there’s a severe “break glass” situation.

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The Impact on Security

Here’s how that impacts security costs. When you need to give a human access to the environment, you have to configure it in a way that creates security vulnerabilities. You then have to deploy security tools to address those vulnerabilities. The CI/CD pipeline eliminates the need for those tools, making the security portfolio a lot simpler. You also eliminate the manpower required to configure, operate and maintain all those tools, further reducing costs.

The Impact on Backup

Having a properly functioning CI/CD running against a good security design also eliminates the need for most backup services. The only thing you need to back up is your data source. The in-between systems can be treated as ephemeral. If a system is having an issue, it’s typically faster to tell the CI/CD to replace it than to try to diagnose the problem.

The Impact on Disaster Recovery

When you’re in an emergency recovery environment — say, one of your primary data centers goes down — you command the CI/CD to deploy the source code and configuration in a new location. You don’t have to recover from backup and bring cold systems online. Everything snaps together in hours, just like it’s brand new.

Failback is just as easy. You don’t have to worry about what’s in the failback environment. You can break everything there and ask the CI/CD to replace it. The CI/CD replaces the manpower needed to handle an emergency failover and failback.

The Impact on Operations

The CI/CD also enables you to get code into production significantly faster. Here’s an example. DeSeMa recently began working with an organization that needed five people and roughly 46 staff hours to get a piece of code into production. Now that we’ve implemented a CI/CD, it takes about three staff hours. The developer checks a code change into the repository, the testing team says it’s good, and the CI/CD takes it from there. It can be done same-day instead of taking three to five weeks.

From a cost control perspective, they’re saving a ton of manpower and don’t have to worry about misconfigurations. They also have a significantly more secure environment because they’re operating their security tools with much deeper insight.

These metrics are typical. A Forrester study found that a CI/CD pipeline can cut development and operations costs in half. A CI/CD also optimizes infrastructure usage, which is key from a cloud cost control perspective.

Conclusion

Managing your cloud environment manually hits you on the security front and on backups and disaster recovery. It hits you on the deployment front and on stagnation because it takes so much time to get anything done.

DeSeMa can help you implement a well-designed, fully functioning CI/CD and the cost controls around it. You can stop spending money on security tools and backups that are only needed in a poor design. You also save money on the overhead associated with managing unneeded tools, and get your code into production faster. Contact us to learn more.