Cloud itself has many of these traits, but not all. However,
we would argue that cloud-native delivers on all these
facets.
To develop its own Cloud Native Manifesto, an organization
needs to fully understand where it positions itself in four
specific areas, and how the use of cloud resources can drive
change in them. The first, and most important, list of ques-
tions focuses on the company’s business itself. The organi-
zation is trying to create a cloud-native environment to
improve its business. That is the why component that sets
up questions about how the company will transform its
business by altering its strategies in three other areas –
economics, technology and people.
Other experts may argue that a Cloud Native Manifesto
should create a detailed, baked-in plan that any organiza-
tion can follow, step by step, to get to a finish line. That
model works for a chef who wants to make a perfect sauce.
But IT projects are not recipes to follow. Tomorrow’s ingre-
dients and conditions will be different from today’s. Answer-
ing questions about how the business, economics, technol-
ogy and people impact each other will give a leader a
playbook to respond to changes over time. Understanding
how the organization is aligned allows the leader to, with
assistance, create an innovation engine that will help the
organization compete in the marketplace.
62 | THE DOPPLER |
SUMMER 2019
Looking at Cloud Native From
Every Angle
Business
Different kinds of businesses are going to use cloud in dif-
ferent ways, depending on a long list of factors. B2B and
B2C businesses have radically different selling models, so
any cloud implementation will need to be sensitive to this.
Ask who are the “customers” of the applications you want
to build in the cloud – insurance policy holders, or internal
groups? While internal groups will start with a certain
amount of confidence in the success of the overall cloud
delivery strategy, end users might require more education.
Who are the users of the application, and what are they
using it for? If you are delivering a visual consumer app, you
will need to hire skilled designers and commit to a trove of
cloud-friendly tools. Then there are other factors to con-
sider. What is the projected life span of the application?
What is your release strategy? And how are sales mone-
tized – through a SaaS model or through legacy, up-front
payments?
Economics
This is where you get down to dollars-and-cents issues:
essentially, how to pay for the business benefits you are