As software delivery grows more complex, organizations struggle with fragmented DevOps practices, inconsistent workflows, and operational inefficiencies. Developers are expected to manage infrastructure, CI/CD pipelines, security policies, and monitoring—often leading to cognitive overload and reduced productivity. This is where Platform Engineering comes in.
Platform Engineering focuses on building an Internal Developer Platform (IDP) to streamline workflows, standardize processes, and enable self-service capabilities for developers. Unlike traditional DevOps, which emphasizes cultural shifts and automation, Platform Engineering operationalizes these principles at scale, providing a structured and reusable approach to software delivery.
Benefits of an Internal Developer Platform (IDP)
An IDP serves as a centralized, self-service hub for development teams, offering pre-configured tools, infrastructure abstractions, and automation to accelerate software delivery. Key benefits include:
#1 Faster Development Cycles
- Without IDP: Teams spend hours setting up environments, debugging infrastructure issues, and managing deployments.
- With IDP: Developers can deploy applications in minutes using standardized templates and automated workflows.
#2 Reduced Cognitive Load on Developers
- Without IDP: Developers must learn Kubernetes, Terraform, and networking just to deploy applications.
- With IDP: Self-service APIs and abstractions let developers focus on writing code instead of managing infrastructure.
#3 Improved Reliability and Compliance
- Without IDP: Security policies and best practices are inconsistently applied across teams.
- With IDP: Centralized governance ensures compliance, monitoring, and security are built into every deployment.
#4 Higher Engineering Efficiency
- Without IDP: Ops teams manually provision resources, troubleshoot issues, and manage configurations per request.
- With IDP: Automated provisioning and reusable templates reduce operational overhead. Small ops teams can efficiently manage large and complex infrastructure.
But IDPs are costly to build and maintain. Is it worth it?
Yes, IDPs require effort to build and maintain, but they deliver long-term benefits that outweigh the costs.
Why It’s Worth It
- Scalability – Once built, an IDP standardizes workflows, reducing operational burden as teams grow.
- Developer Productivity – Teams spend less time on setup, debugging, and infrastructure concerns.
- Reliability & Compliance – Security policies, monitoring, and best practices are applied automatically.
- Cost Efficiency – While upfront investment is high, long-term savings come from reduced toil and faster delivery.
Many companies see 40-70% improvements in deployment speed, onboarding time, and reliability. If your organization is large enough to struggle with DevOps at scale, an IDP is worth it.
Read more about how IDPs work.
Is Platform Engineering Just a Hype?
No. Unlike DevOps, which focuses on principles, Platform Engineering provides tangible, scalable solutions to DevOps challenges. It enables organizations to scale software delivery without burdening developers with infrastructure concerns.
Conclusion
Platform Engineering isn’t just a trend—it’s a necessary evolution of DevOps for modern software delivery. By investing in an IDP, organizations can reduce complexity, improve developer experience, and drive measurable gains in efficiency and reliability.
If your team is struggling with DevOps inefficiencies, it’s time to embrace Platform Engineering. Take a look at how Cloudomation can support you as an IDP backend when you’re planning to build your internal developer platform.
