In today’s fast-paced business environment, enterprises need to be agile and efficient to remain competitive. As digital transformation continues to reshape industries, it is increasingly critical for CIOs to invest in a successful platform engineering strategy. Over the past few years, cloud adoption has accelerated providing on-demand access to infrastructure, but the overall operational complexity has increased. A platform engineering strategy is a critical approach that can help organizations achieve their business goals by providing a structured framework for building, deploying, and managing software applications. 

What is Platform Engineering? 

Successful cloud-native enterprises have consolidated Kubernetes and multi-cloud DevOps expertise into platform engineering teams whose mission is to:

•   Build an architecture and platform based on Kubernetes and open-source software (OSS) projects from the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) ecosystem.
•   Define reusable blueprints (a.k.a. “golden paths”) for application deployment and life-cycle management.
•   Build internal developer platforms that provide secure self-service interfaces to product development teams.

While platforms are not new, in this new trend, enterprise-ready internal developer platforms are increasingly built on Kubernetes and assembled from mature open-source software (OSS) projects such as Crossplane, Argo CD and Kyverno from the CNCF ecosystem.

Key Benefits of Platform Engineering

Some reasons why enterprises should adopt a cohesive platform engineering strategy:

Improved Efficiency

Platform engineering provides a streamlined approach to building and managing software applications. It enables enterprises to standardize their software development processes, making it easier for teams to work collaboratively and efficiently. Platforms can be composed from interoperable and interchangeable best-in-class open-source projects to reduce lock-in

Faster Time to Market

By adopting a platform engineering strategy, enterprises can reduce the time it takes to bring new applications and services to market. This is achieved by leveraging automation and standardization, which allow developers to focus on writing code rather than configuring and managing infrastructure. Secure self-service platforms can eliminate delays in provisioning application environments.

Better Quality

Platform engineering strategy emphasizes quality control throughout the software development lifecycle. This approach ensures that applications are thoroughly tested, secured, and verified before they are released to production, resulting in higher quality software and fewer bugs. A common approach for achieving this is by shifting security “left” in the build and integration phase instead of just at runtime 

Greater Flexibility

Platform engineering strategy that leverages open-source technologies such as containers and Kubernetes, enables enterprises to build software applications that are flexible and scalable. This approach allows applications to be deployed and scaled on demand on any cloud infrastructure without significant effort.

Cost Savings

Platform engineering teams can help enterprises save money by ensuring optimized resource usage and reducing infrastructure costs. This is achieved by leveraging the infrastructure elasticity provided by cloud computing technologies along with modern application architectures.

Competitive Advantage

By adopting a cohesive platform engineering strategy, enterprises can gain a competitive advantage by delivering high-quality software applications faster than their competitors. This approach enables organizations to respond quickly to changing market conditions, making it easier to innovate and adapt to new business opportunities. 

The return on investment for a well-executed platform engineering strategy can be significant. Companies that excel at software delivery grow revenues up to 70% faster than their peers. By investing in a successful platform engineering strategy, organizations can reduce costs, improve software quality, and achieve faster time-to-market, driving growth and success for their organizations.

Adopting a platform engineering strategy is critical for CIOs as they navigate the challenges of digital transformation. Kubernetes and open-source technologies are essential components of a successful platform engineering strategy, enabling organizations to achieve greater efficiency, flexibility, and scalability. As digital transformation continues to reshape industries, CIOs who invest in a successful platform engineering strategy will be well-positioned to gain a competitive advantage and drive innovation in their organizations.

Download this free ebook to understand how policy and governance are the key building blocks to automating security concerns and key for a successful Kubernetes Platform strategy: Policy-based security and governance for Kubernetes.

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Read this Nirmata post on how Nirmata empowers platform engineering teams with Kubernetes governance!