Not All Digital Platform Conductor Tools Are the Same
- By CDOTrends editors
- January 30, 2023
Digital Platform Conductor (DPC) tools, such as those from Stonebranch, Readyworks, Cloudsoft, and Flexera, are becoming increasingly important to organizations seeking to automate and streamline their digital transformation initiatives. Use cases for DPC tools include coordinating, orchestrating, automating, and managing the delivery of digital services. However, it can be difficult for organizations to identify the best solutions for their needs.
The good news is that Gartner predicts that by 2026, 75% of businesses using DPC tools will be able to consistently and successfully demonstrate the value they get from these tools — compared with only 25% of non-users.
The technological research and consulting firm's Market Guide for Digital Platform Conductor Tools report indicates how DPC tools can help companies maximize the business value they derive from their infrastructure investments. Digital platform conductor solutions use hybrid digital infrastructure management tools to plan, implement and monitor the underpinning technology for applications.
According to Gartner, “the greater variety of IT infrastructure is prompting the need for new management tools, such as digital platform conductor tools, to enable and measure value.” Gartner's report says that key capabilities required from a DPC Tool to provide value and deliver benefits to organizations are Workload Assignment; Service Enablement; Value Monitoring and Observability; Technology Inventory and Classification; Cost Management and Resource Optimization; Migration, Backup and Disaster Recovery; Identity, Security and Compliance; Packaging and Delivery; and Value Improvement Visibility.
Therefore, Gartner advises companies deploying DPC tools to treat their investments as bets on innovative technologies within a rapidly shifting market. To get the best returns on their investments, I&O leaders should identify use cases across on-premises, cloud and edge infrastructure that DPC tools can support — and then address immediate business challenges accordingly.
When choosing their vendors, Gartner suggests that I&O leaders favor those whose offerings are most compatible with existing hybrid digital infrastructure management (HDIM) toolset and operational practices. They should also focus on learning and making progress quickly rather than trying to get things right the first time.
Gartner also found that IT operations management (ITOM) tooling segments such as data center infrastructure management (DCIM), IT asset management (ITAM) and monitoring have been converging into a single category. The increased use of ephemeral technologies and continuous DevOps approaches is causing a breakdown in traditional siloed methods used to manage implementation, service delivery, and monitoring — breaking down borders between different tooling segments so that they are brought together.
The market guide also highlighted how it is increasingly becoming difficult for I&O leaders to clearly communicate the business value their systems enable and how those results are achieved due to coordination problems between different systems with varying degrees of control.
In the next 12 months, Gartner expects DPC tool capabilities to increase. However, buyers must be realistic in their expectations and focus on use cases that are achievable with their current level of tooling and maturity.
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