Kubernetes has evolved from an interesting project to a core aspect of the next generation of software platforms. As a result, enterprise IT departments need to manage the costs associated with Kubernetes to be responsible financial stewards. This pressure to be financially responsible is exacerbated by the current status of COVID-driven pandemic recession that the majority of the world.
Past recessions have shown that the companies best suited to increase sales after a recession are those that
- Minimize financial and technical debt
- Invest in IT
- Support decentralized and distributed decision-making, and
- Avoid permanent layoffs.
Although Kubernetes is a technology and not a human resources management capability, it does help support increased business flexibility. Kubernetes cost management is an important exercise to ensure that the business flexibility created by Kubernetes is handled in a financially responsible manner. Technology investments must support multiple business goals: optimizing current business initiatives, supporting new business initiatives, and allowing new business initiatives to scale. Without a financial management component, technology deployments cannot be fully aligned to business goals.
From a cost perspective, Amalgam Insights believes that the IT Rule of 30 also applies to Kubernetes.
The IT Rule of 30 states that any unmanaged IT spend category averages 30% in wasted spend, due to a combination of resource optimization, demand-based scaling, time-based resource scaling, and pricing optimization opportunities that technical buyers often miss.
IT engineers and developers are not typically hired for their sourcing, procurement, and finance skills, so it is understandable that their focus is not going to be on cost optimization. However, as Kubernetes-related technology deployments start exceeding $300,000, companies start to have 6-figure dollar savings opportunities just from optimizing Kubernetes and related cloud and hardware resources used to support containerized workloads.
To learn more about Kubernetes Cost Management and key vendors to consider, read our groundbreaking report on the top Kubernetes Cost Management vendors.
[…] week, we mentioned why Kubernetes is an important management concern for cloud-based cost management. To manage Kubernetes from a financial perspective, Amalgam Insights believes that the foundational […]