Why platform engineering is the next evolution in software development

There can be irony in innovation.

Over the past decade, 73% of companies have adopted a hybrid IT model to manage their technology estates more efficiently and effectively.¹

However, integrating public and private cloud services with on-premises infrastructure can create security, compliance, cost and infrastructure variability issues. These challenges, in turn, make it harder for software developers to design, deploy, secure, oversee and refine system applications.

With enterprises increasing their investments in hybrid cloud to improve operation scalability, support advanced technologies and drive business innovation,² software teams need a more comprehensive application development process that provides an elevated developer experience and increased productivity.

Platform engineering represents this next evolution in software development.

Why businesses should invest in platform engineering

DevOps has redefined software development for many companies by integrating the work of development and operations teams to deliver applications and services faster and more reliably than traditional approaches. This combination of cultural philosophies, practices and tools is ideal for individual development teams trying to enhance operational performance and efficiency.

Platform engineering builds upon DevOps by using internal platforms to streamline the entire software development lifecycle.³ This approach helps multiple development teams — specifically application, infrastructure, security and operations — across organizations reduce complexity and work more seamlessly.

Companies that use a variety of technologies and services or have multiple development and deployment environments can use platform engineering to:

• Increase standardization and productivity. Dedicated infrastructure and tooling platforms allow developers to focus on application coding and deployment rather than the intricacies of infrastructure configuration and cloud management. This operational standardization lightens the cognitive load on developers, freeing up time for more coding and making it easier to build and implement consistent applications.
  
  
• Improve developer experience and efficiency. Internal developer platforms (IDPs) mask the underlying complexity of cloud resources, allowing developers to access the tools and services they need through self-service portals. This capability enables software engineers to work more efficiently, reducing the likelihood of burnout and allowing them to focus on delivering high-quality code.
  
  
• Enhance security and compliance. Automated security and compliance policy assets incorporated into platforms are designed to ensure consistent application of security measures across all applications and environments. Codifying and enforcing policies at the platform level helps organizations reduce vulnerabilities and meet compliance standards, lowering related costs across all applications and environments.

Improving the developer experience across industries

Platform engineering has potential uses across a range of industries such as healthcare, finance, manufacturing, technology and education.

For example, when a leading university in India was experiencing performance, scalability and data privacy issues associated with its legacy management system and software development processes, we implemented a cloud-based, self-service solution for developers. The system automates manual and repetitive tasks and simplifies infrastructure lifecycle management, enabling faster software development and infrastructure deployment while enhancing security.

Beyond the developer environment, students and faculty now enjoy several new features that were quickly released across 1,400 touchpoints with the end-to-end developer platform solution.

Building blocks of a platform engineering solution

Platform engineering solutions require three essential components to maximize value and meet the diverse needs of software development teams:

1. Assets, templates and developer content. Preconfigured assets and templates enable developers to build and implement applications without making changes manually. These resources can include infrastructure-as-code (IaC) templates, reusable application frameworks, and guidelines that accelerate application delivery and minimize configuration time. Using best practices established by the organization helps developers improve consistency and reduce errors across deployments.
   
   
2. Internal developer platform. As the backbone of platform engineering, the internal developer platform provides a unified interface where software developers can access all necessary tools, resources and environments. Developers can deploy assets and various policy controls — including security, compliance, resiliency and budgeting — through the platform rather than each application team creating the elements individually. Internal developer platforms also provide standardized observability solutions that development teams can use to monitor their pipelines and applications.
   
   
3. Platform engineering services. Platform engineering teams manage the daily operations that are designed to keep the internal development platform secure, efficient and aligned with evolving technologies and business needs. These services include automating workflows, monitoring performance, and updating assets and templates. Ongoing optimization facilitates scaling and integration of new tools, sustaining the internal developer platform as an asset for all development teams.

Collectively, these building blocks can help you create a robust, adaptable platform engineering ecosystem that enhances the developer experience and outcomes across your organization.

How (and why) to build a minimum viable platform

When designing a platform engineering solution, consider starting with a minimum viable platform (MVP) and developing your solution in stages.

• Stage 1: The MVP can focus first on delivering essential services like IaC templates, providing a highly curated collection for developers to deploy consistent, pre-approved infrastructure. By establishing a baseline functionality and refining it based on developer feedback, you can optimize core requirements before expanding.
  
  
• Stage 2: Once the foundation is stable, your platform team can gradually add more advanced services. Introducing a continuous integration and continuous delivery/deployment (CI/CD) toolchain with preconfigured pipelines is a logical next step, followed by embedding compliance and security checks to comply with regulatory and operational standards.
  
  
• Stage 3: In future platform iterations, you can implement budget parameters managed by your finance department to help teams track and manage cloud costs with FinOps principles. You can then incorporate monitoring tools to give developers continuous visibility into application performance.

Building your developer platform incrementally minimizes disruptions and allows developers to adjust to the changes over time while fostering productivity and operational resilience, creating a foundation for sustainable growth.

An alternative to modernization complexity

Digital transformation should complement rather than complicate software development. Platform engineering can help address this paradox of progress, providing a structured way to deliver standardized assets and ongoing platform services that support developers more effectively, reduce operational inefficiencies, and enable compliance and security at scale.

Dave Simpson is Senior Vice President, Practice General Management for Kyndryl’s Cloud Services Global Practice

¹ 160+ fascinating cloud computing statistics for 2024, G2, June 2024
² Is hybrid cloud the new normal in 2024?, Network Computing, May 2024
³ Platform engineering vs. DevOps: How are they different?, BizTech, November 2023