Nine Cost Considerations for Observability Platforms
Abstract: This white paper by Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) delves into the financial implications of implementing observability platforms in organizations. Observability is pivotal for stakeholders such as developers, DevOps engineers, platform engineers, and SREs to ensure real-time performance, system reliability, and rapid market response. The paper highlights the collaboration between these roles to maximize business impact through effective decision-making and infrastructure optimization. However, it emphasizes that without a clear understanding of the cost structure, observability expenses can become prohibitive, hindering business success. EMA's research identifies nine critical cost challenges that organizations face when implementing observability platforms: lack of granularity and control, unpredictability, vendor lock-in, freemium plans, premium features, compliance and data security, geographical data storage, real-time monitoring and alerting, and the skill gap and training costs. The paper provides recommendations for each challenge to help organizations make informed decisions and avoid unexpected costs. The conclusion underscores the importance of addressing these cost considerations during the selection process to ensure that the observability platform chosen provides a viable cost-benefit ratio, managing costs effectively while enhancing system performance and the developer experience. |
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