Cloud-native at your pace: Why the guide you choose matters

The journey to the cloud-native enterprise. 

It sounds like the tagline of a blockbuster movie in which an adventurous team of explorers follow a mostly unreliable map, navigating through peril and pitfalls in pursuit of a mythical place in the clouds. 

For many enterprises, this cinematic comparison isn’t all that far from reality. With each new release, they often encounter unexpected obstacles and wrong turns on their path to modernization. I get the opportunity to speak with hundreds of customers each year, and one of the top things I hear is that they think they’re not moving to the cloud fast enough. They worry they’re falling behind, missing out on innovations like AI, and struggling to bring new products and services to market quickly. 

Many organizations are unsure of exactly where or how to start with a cloud-native strategy. They know the end state they’re looking for—a flexible and modern environment for their enterprise applications—but getting there is complicated, unclear and challenging. 

We understand these obstacles and uncertainties. And we know that a cloud application platform that’s truly enterprise-ready must enable organizations to efficiently and reliably build, deploy, run and manage applications across the hybrid cloud. 

At Red Hat, we see ourselves as a guide to help enterprises get to where they want to go with cloud-based application platforms at a pace that makes sense for them. To us, modernizing isn’t just about new technology. It’s about providing a clear, consistent path forward—making developers more productive and operations more efficient through automated, adaptable infrastructure. The end result? Product teams that can deliver value to customers much faster. 

Our approach is gaining industry attention. Gartner® has named Red Hat a Leader in the 2024 Magic Quadrant™ for Cloud Application Platforms. We believe this recognition highlights our support for what many customers need most: deploying modern cloud-native apps, running virtual machines efficiently, enabling AI applications—all done by leveraging platform security features to manage risk. 

True to our open source roots, we believe in offering choice and flexibility for our customers’ application platform deployments. Our cloud services include Red Hat OpenShift Service on AWS, Azure Red Hat OpenShift, OpenShift Dedicated on Google Cloud and Red Hat OpenShift on IBM Cloud. We’re proud to jointly engineer, support and manage these offers with the leading hyperscalers. We see them as true partners in helping our customers succeed—wherever they choose to build and run applications. 

The Magic Quadrant report from Gartner provides valuable context for organizations evaluating application platforms. We believe Red Hat’s position as a Leader reflects what we’ve seen working with enterprises worldwide: there’s a real need for solutions that address the practical and strategic concerns that enterprise leaders face. 

Red Hat OpenShift has proven itself at scale—enabling teams to quickly adapt to evolving market conditions, drive efficiency and manage sophisticated workloads with an enhanced security posture. Enterprises across industries have used OpenShift to modernize their application environments, streamline operations and accelerate how quickly they can bring new products and services to market.

As you make your way on your cloud-native journey, you certainly can “choose your own adventure.” Many enterprises have gone down that path. But why not choose a partner for this journey who will help you determine the best route, who knows what to watch out for and who will make sure you get to your destination. 

Learn more about the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Cloud Application Platforms

A full copy of the report can be downloaded here.

Want guidance on other tech challenges?

Discover more expert perspectives in The Executive’s Collection—where Red Hat leaders and industry analysts help you make smarter decisions and stay ahead of disruption.

Gartner disclaimer:

Gartner, Magic Quadrant for Cloud Application Platforms, By Tigran Egiazarov, Mukul Saha, Anne Thomas, Steve Schwent, 4 November 2024

Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

GARTNER is a registered trademark and service mark of Gartner and Magic Quadrant is a registered trademark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally and are used herein with permission. All rights reserved.

Full report: https://www.gartner.com/doc/reprints?id=1-2J9KOPUG&ct=241104&st=sb 

Read the collection