What Is Cloud Native?

Chapter 1. What Is Cloud Native?

The research findings are not surprising. Today, the most successful companies and organizations are those that most quickly and efficiently develop and deploy innovative software products and services to increasingly demanding customers. They are doing so by building applications in increments, continuously releasing better versions in a cycle of build-evaluate-learn-improve.

Consider a venerable business such as consumer banking. Traditional brick and mortar banks are heavily challenged today by so-called fintechs. These are banks without walls or front doors, operating their businesses mostly or entirely in the cloud via the internet. Time and again, they have shown an ability to beat traditional banks to market with new products like high-interest savings accounts and certificates of deposits with fractionally higher rates of return. They were ahead of traditional banks in offering their services to smartphone users, thereby gaining significant market share with millennials—the biggest smartphone users of all. Fintechs have mastered both lower operational costs and faster time to market of mission-critical investments. They understand that speed and efficiency are the true coin of the realm in banking.

Enter Cloud Native

The same holds true across the entire spectrum of vertical markets and organizational types. There is tremendous pressure to develop and deploy software and services faster and with far greater efficiency. These requirements, ...