GigaOm Key Criteria for Evaluating Cloud Management Platform (CMPs) Solutionsv3.0

1. Executive Summary

Cloud management platforms (CMPs) are suites of integrated tools that help organizations manage and monitor hybrid and multicloud environments. These solutions are typically not used to manage single cloud implementations, but they are key to centralizing the control and governance of complex cloud environments.

In response to digital transformation and evolving business needs, multicloud and hybrid cloud infrastructures are now the norm. However, data centers and legacy applications haven’t disappeared, and organizations must contend with disparate systems and users around the world, all of which leads to complex and hard-to-manage infrastructure. CMPs help organizations to manage these complex environments and control costs more effectively.

As a discipline, cloud management encompasses three functional areas, often implemented with separate tools that are integrated to some degree:

• CMP: Automation and deployment
• Cloud resource optimization: Performance and capacity management (report link)
• Cloud FinOps: Forecasting and value management (report link)

Figure 1 shows how these functions relate to each other. This report covers CMPs; GigaOm offers separate reports on the other two topics.

Figure 1: Three Focus Areas of Cloud Management

This is the third year GigaOm has reported on CMPs, and the need to use them to manage complex environments and control costs more effectively has only continued to grow. This report builds on our previous analysis and considers how the market has evolved over the last year.

Business Imperative
A CMP enables organizations to efficiently manage and optimize their cloud resources, leading to significant cost savings and operational efficiencies. It provides centralized visibility and control over multicloud environments, allowing businesses to monitor usage, manage costs, and ensure compliance with security and regulatory standards. This centralized approach reduces the complexity of managing disparate cloud services and enhances decision-making by providing actionable insights. Additionally, a CMP supports automation of routine tasks, freeing up IT staff to focus on strategic initiatives. By streamlining cloud operations and improving resource utilization, a CMP helps organizations achieve greater agility, scalability, and resilience, ultimately driving business growth and innovation.

Sector Adoption Score
To help executives and decision-makers assess the potential impact and value of a CMP solution deployment to the business, this GigaOm Key Criteria report provides a structured assessment of the sector across five factors: benefit, maturity, urgency, impact, and effort. By scoring each factor based on how strongly it compels or deters adoption of a CMP solution, we provide an overall Sector Adoption Score (Figure 2) of 4.6 out of 5, with 5 indicating the strongest possible recommendation to adopt. This indicates that a CMP solution is a compelling candidate for deployment and worthy of thoughtful consideration.

The factors contributing to the Sector Adoption Score for CMP solutions are explained in more detail in the Sector Brief section that follows.

Figure 2. Sector Adoption Score for Cloud Management Platforms (CMP)

This is the third year that GigaOm has reported on the CMP space in the context of our Key Criteria and Radar reports. This report builds on our previous analysis (“2023 GigaOm Key Criteria and Radar Report for CMP) and considers how the market has evolved over the last year.

This GigaOm Key Criteria report highlights the capabilities (table stakes, key features, and emerging features) and nonfunctional requirements (business criteria) for selecting an effective CMP solution. The companion GigaOm Radar report identifies vendors and products that excel in those decision criteria. Together, these reports provide an overview of the market, identify leading CMP offerings, and help decision-makers evaluate these solutions so they can make a more informed investment decision.