ArangoDB’s journey to cloud cost optimization and greater visibility with DoiT
Meet ArangoDB
ArangoDB is a leading provider of native multi-model database systems with a product that combines graph, document, and key-value models in a single database engine. The ArangoDB platform enables organizations to handle complex data challenges and build high-performance applications efficiently. ArangoDB serves various industries including e-commerce, finance, healthcare, and more.
ArangoDB operates in a multicloud environment, utilizing services from providers such as Google Cloud and Amazon Web Services (AWS). It has separate teams responsible for managing its cloud offering, setting up infrastructure, managing customer accounts, and handling internal tests. Additionally, its internal cloud teams are structured with different responsibilities, including infrastructure management, financial oversight, and cost allocation.
The Challenge
As it scaled, ArangoDB faced growing challenges managing its cloud infrastructure to support that growth. ArangoDB faced several key challenges:
Driving revenue: To accelerate sales and new customer growth, the team saw the need to list on cloud marketplaces (AWS and Google Cloud). However, building that presence can be complex and time-consuming for the product and engineering teams. ArangoDB needed a way to build these integrations without diverting resources from its flagship product.
Understanding customer usage and costs: ArangoDB lacked clear visibility into the costs associated with its customers’ usage. It needed to map usage metrics, network throughput, instance size, and compute, to actual costs for accurate billing.
Managing cloud costs: ArangoDB relied on resource-intensive spreadsheets to track costs, slowing spend analysis and cost optimization. It needed proper tooling and automation to allocate and track costs effectively across different environments, customers, and teams.
Managing and optimizing commitments: Fluctuating workloads prevented ArangoDB from effectively utilizing compute commitments, such as Reserved Instances (RIs) or Savings Plans (SPs). It required assistance forecasting usage and negotiating optimal commitment deals with cloud providers.
Technical configuration: ArangoDB lacked in-depth training to configure its systems and get more from analytics platforms—gaining deeper insight into cloud spend and usage. ArangoDB needed to either acquire that training firsthand or leverage a partner with that kind of expertise.
The Solution
DoiT began by leading ArangoDB through a series of technical reviews and workshops. These reviews informed DoiT’s recommended plan to help the database company tackle its cloud challenges:
Marketplace integration: Leveraging extensive Marketplace experience, DoiT provided a tailored approach to AWS and Google Cloud Marketplace integrations. “DoiT has done marketplace for tons of companies, it was easier to leverage their expertise than allocating a whole team to work on this project” says Jason Heine, CFO
Enhanced reporting and visibility: DoiT’s reporting capabilities gave ArangoDB comprehensive visibility into its cloud spend. The consolidated reports offered detailed cost breakdowns by teams, CI/CD tooling, and other relevant categories. This improved visibility empowered ArangoDB to make data-driven decisions.
Automated cloud cost management: DoiT’s experience helped ArangoDB implement cost allocation best practices, using Attributions to map costs to different environments, customers, and teams. This eliminated manual, time-consuming spreadsheet work, resulting in more accurate allocations and attributions.
Reduced cloud costs: ArangoDB adopted Flexsave for Compute to automate Savings Plans coverage, cutting on-demand EC2 costs and freeing engineers for higher-value work.
Anomaly detection and quota monitoring: To answer its need for insights and analysis, ArangoDB leveraged the DoiT’s Anomaly Detection to identify any unusual spikes or unexpected cloud costs early on to minimize its impact on their monthly bill. Additionally, it enabled out-of-the-box quota monitoring to stay within resource limits and avoid overage charges.
The Results
Working with DoiT provided significant benefits and measurable outcomes for ArangoDB:
Marketplace integration: ArangoDB followed its tailored Marketplace integration plan and was able to launch its new sales channel in only a few weeks.
Cost savings and optimization: By implementing cost optimizations and adopting Flexsave for Compute™, ArangoDB reduced on-demand EC2 spend by 25%. With DoiT’s expertise in commitment negotiations and cost analysis, ArangoDB put cloud commitments to work, reducing unexpected spend.
Improved visibility and reporting: DoiT’s reporting capabilities and cost allocation practices provided ArangoDB with enhanced visibility into its cloud spend. It gained insights into customer-level costs, utilization, and internal allocations, enabling better decisions and ongoing optimization.
Time and resource savings: By using DoiT’s platform and services, ArangoDB significantly cut time spent managing cloud usage. Automated reporting and cost analysis simplified workflows and freed time for core initiatives.
Strengthened partnership: DoiT’s holistic partnership approach, encompassing support, consultancy, and marketplace integrations, proved invaluable to ArangoDB. It leveraged DoiT’s expertise in various areas such as infrastructure planning, marketplace expansion, and financial planning, helping them grow their product and optimize their cloud operations.
What's Next?
DoiT played a crucial role in helping ArangoDB overcome its cloud challenges and optimize its cloud costs. With DoiT’s support, ArangoDB achieved significant cost savings, gained better visibility into their cloud spend, and improved its overall cloud management practices. The partnership continues to thrive as both teams refine cost strategies, enhance product efficiency, and drive growth.