Figuring out how much cloud computing a customer has adopted can present a daunting task. That’s because platforms and services may not be uniform or widespread throughout the organization. That leaves gaps and creates any number of disparities. Along those lines, understanding how best to guide that end user toward greater cloud maturity requires as much information as possible — and not simply about the cloud assets themselves.

To that end, members of the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) will show managed service providers, system integrators and other cloud-centered channel partners ways to navigate clients’ cloud environments and take them to the next level. The session, “A Field Guide to the Cloud: The Cloud Native Maturity Model,” will take place at the 2023 Channel Partners Conference & Expo and MSP Summit. Robbie Glenn, technology architecture delivery manager at Accenture, Simon Forster, co-founder of consultancy Stackegy, and Danielle Cook, vice president of Kubernetes software provider Fairwinds, will team up to lead attendees on the aforementioned journey.

As part of the Cloud Native Computing Foundation, Glenn, Forster and Cook each hold expertise in developing frameworks that gauge organizations’ progress toward cloud-native models. Channel partners looking to emulate those capabilities will want to “A Field Guide to the Cloud” for pointers.

Cloud-Native Technology

Accenture’s Robbie Glenn

“Cloud-native technology – Kubernetes, containers, cloud – is exploding,” Glenn said. “It presents a huge opportunity for channel partners to educate their customers as to the benefits. But it also involves new ways of working. It is essential that channel partners understand not just the technology, but the people, processes and policies around it. Most importantly, they can set expectations about the business outcomes from cloud native.”

Cook agreed.

Fairwinds’ Danielle Cook

“Adoption of cloud-native technologies and the Kubernetes ecosystem is only increasing,” she said. “Channel partners should attend this session to learn how they can become familiar with the technology as well as the entire landscape surrounding it. Attendees will learn about the Cloud Native Maturity Model and be able to apply it when helping customers.”

One of the most vital takeaways could come in the form of learning to spot the gaps partners will tend to encounter as they help customers evolve their cloud journeys.

Stackegy’s Simon Forster

“The biggest gap is often understanding why they are moving to the cloud,” Forster said. “Some organizations take what they are doing and simply move it to the cloud. Sure, you get some benefits of the cloud such as not having services on-premises and reducing capital expenditure. But to truly maximize it, organizations should consider how adoption of cloud-native technologies – technologies truly built for the cloud – can be of benefit. Efficiency, scale and access to technologies not typically possible on-premise, are examples of these.  Further, without considering how cloud changes how people work, and new processes and policies needed, adoption, and therefore, maturity slows.”

To those points, Forster, Cook and Glenn will show channel partners how to sort through all the tools and vendor logos they might come across. This can be an overwhelming part of the cloud-native journey, they said. But tackling, and overcoming, it will help partners expand beyond a pure technology focus and toward additional action around policies, processes, people, security and business outcomes.