Cloud Cost Savings By Consolidating Onto Tools You Already Know

Organizations everywhere are feeling the pressure of growing cloud spend. Teams often adopt new SaaS platforms or cloud-native services quickly to meet a need, but over time this creates tool sprawl: multiple overlapping systems, each with its own contract, learning curve, and integration requirements. While the intent is usually to innovate faster, the outcome is often higher costs and greater complexity.

The smarter approach, as discussed in our recent podcast episode, is consolidation: getting more value out of the platforms and tools you already have before looking outward. By leaning into existing capabilities, businesses can unlock major cost savings while still meeting operational and strategic goals.

Curious to hear more? Tune in to the following podcast for deeper insights and expert perspectives on the issue:

Also available on Apple Podcasts and as an audio or video podcast on Spotify.

The Cost of Tool Overlap and Underutilization

Many teams juggle multiple tools that perform similar functions, leading to unnecessary expenses and operational confusion. As Dwayne Hale, CTO of Arbory Digital highlights, organizations often pay for several tools that accomplish several tools that have significant overlap in functionality, making workflows harder to manage and budgets harder to justify.

Too often, teams overlook the full potential of the tools they already use, particularly version control systems like GitLab, GitHub, and Bitbucket. These platforms do far more than manage source code; they include powerful, built-in CI/CD capabilities that are frequently underutilized. Instead of fully leveraging GitHub Actions, Bitbucket Pipelines, or GitLab CI, many organizations purchase separate CI/CD platforms: creating redundancy, driving up costs, and fragmenting developer workflows.

Revisiting what your existing version control systems already offer can eliminate the need for third-party solutions, simplify processes, and keep teams better aligned.

Auditing Tool Usage & Overlap

Before purchasing new solutions, we advise auditing existing tools by asking questions like:

• Do our current tools already support the functionality we’re looking for?
• What are our real CI/CD requirements (security audits, code quality checks, automation)?
• Where are we duplicating effort or cost?

A practical exercise to spot inefficiencies: invite someone unfamiliar with your setup to navigate the CI/CD pipeline.

If they struggle to determine which tool to use, that’s a clear signal of too much overlap. An outside perspective can reveal inefficiencies insiders may overlook, giving teams a starting point for consolidation before costs escalate.

The Hidden Costs of Multiple Tools

It’s easy to assume that tools like Jenkins are “free” because only the infrastructure requires investment, but hidden costs are significant:

• Maintaining custom pipelines
• Ensuring compatibility between multiple tools
• Developer time spent troubleshooting rather than coding

By contrast, integrated solutions like GitHub Actions or Bitbucket Pipelines minimize these overheads, allowing teams to focus on delivering value rather than managing tools.

Productivity and Training Costs

Introducing new tools also brings training and ramp-up costs, often causing temporary productivity losses.

Integrated tools, however, are generally more intuitive and allow developers to manage their own pipelines without relying heavily on DevOps specialists. This shift improves velocity and keeps projects moving efficiently.

Evaluating New Tools

Not every new tool is worth adopting. Teams should ask:

• Does this tool provide unique functionality that our current stack cannot deliver?
• Will it significantly improve efficiency, or just provide marginal gains?
• Are the training, adoption, and maintenance costs worth it?

Adoption should be strategic and value-driven, not simply chasing the latest feature.

Balancing Cost Savings with Innovation

Consolidation doesn’t mean sacrificing innovation. The key is balance: organizations should pursue tools that enhance productivity, scalability, or collaboration, while also considering long-term costs and sustainability.

This ensures that teams remain agile, efficient, and able to leverage new technologies when they provide genuine value.

Arbory Digital’s Role in Tool Consolidation

At Arbory Digital, we can help clients transition from complex, open-source CI/CD setups to streamlined solutions.

Benefits of these transitions include:

• Reduced overhead in managing multiple tools
• Less time spent on updates, maintenance, and troubleshooting
• Developers gain direct control over pipelines, increasing velocity
• Simplified processes foster better collaboration between DevOps and development teams

By consolidating tools and maximizing the value of existing platforms, organizations can save money while improving efficiency and productivity.

For a real-world example, see how Arbory Digital helped Zaxby’s cut costs and streamline operations through smarter platform consolidation in our Zaxby's Customer Spotlight.

Conclusion

Tool sprawl drives unnecessary costs and creates inefficiencies, but the solution isn’t always a new tool. By auditing your existing stack, identifying overlaps, and leveraging the full capabilities of familiar platforms, organizations can simplify workflows, reduce hidden costs, and free up teams to focus on delivering real value.

If your organization is facing similar challenges, connect with Arbory Digital to explore how we can help you streamline your ecosystem and unlock greater efficiency from the tools you already use.

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