This article was originally published by +OneX before its merger with iqbusiness. Some references to +OneX remain.
We have spent months on a Cloud Management Platform (CMP) due diligence, testing, trialing and comparing the various CMP’s sitting in Gartner’s magic quadrant. Now, just as there is not an ultimatum when it comes to cloud migrations and providers, there isn’t a perfect CMP.
Enterprises have found themselves at a cross-road, navigating dual-speed paradigms. On one side of the spectrum, they have their legacy and historical core systems. These have not only been deeply ingrained into their operational DNA but have also been fully recouped and sit as a viable IP asset on their balance sheets (depreciating rapidly or irrecoverable). On the other side, they have the 4th Industrial revolution, screaming out to them to validate their relevance, as every minute that passes introduces far more intelligent technologies that have been pioneered by agile and laser-focused start-ups, threatening to challenge the existence of the enterprise.
This dichotomy can also be used to highlight the conundrum surrounding public cloud migrations.
Is public cloud better than on-premise or private cloud option?
In my opinion, no, as each workload has a fit-for-purpose landing zone. More importantly, though, that is not the right question. The complexity within enterprises cannot be simplified by migrating to the public cloud, but rather addressing internal intent, reinvigorating corporate culture, and transforming processes. This digital transformation segways into the introduction of the Cloud Management Platform (CMP).
Gartner defines Cloud management platforms as “integrated products that provide for the management of public, private and hybrid cloud environments. The minimum requirements to be included in this category are products that incorporate self-service interfaces, provision system images, enable metering and billing, and provide for some degree of workload optimisation through established policies.”
More intelligent CMP’s may extend this self-service platform into automated self-healing, Kubernetes cluster deployments, integration into your service desk (ServiceNow, etc.), resource cost optimisation functionality, as well as advanced log analytics, to name a few.
With the proliferation of operational IT and the increasing data points needed to gain visibility and the variety of systems used to collect the data, a CMP needs to provide a simplified management view through its functionality and the aggregation of multiple data points across the various cloud environments.
Next-Gen CMP’s
The next-generation of intelligent CMP’s should not just be seen as orchestrators of multi-cloud or hybrid cloud environments, but as a single-pane of glass, a central command plane whereby organisations can aggregate and orchestrate key IT operations and processes such as:
- DevOps, Automation & Workflow
- Provisioning and custom blueprints (Infrastructure-as-code Automation-as-code)
- Cost Management & resource optimisation
- Cross-functional security management
- Identity access management across all platforms
- Intelligent Backups and DR
- Monitoring and analytics
- Service management (simple integration of your Service & Helpdesk stacks)
- API integration (published API’s or customisation)
Want more detail?
Choosing a CMP is an intense journey of not only suppliers and vendors but also a discovery of internal requirements including governance and freedom to innovate. There is a fit-for-purpose CMP that we believe stands ahead of the competition.
If you are in the process of adopting a CMP or may want a second opinion on a CMP, get in contact with us, and we will gladly share our findings.
