The role of infrastructure and operations (I&O) leaders is shifting from the car mechanics of data center and cloud infrastructure to something more akin to product managers creating streamlined platforms, according to Gartner Analyst Jeffrey Hewitt.

The analyst firm predicts platform engineering, which it describes as the coalescing of infrastructure tech like application resource management (ARM), application performance monitoring (APM), digital experience monitoring (DEM), and digital platform conductor (DPC) tools, will be a major trend impacting I&O leaders in 2023.

Platform engineering provides self-service infrastructure and deployments that build upon ideas of continuous integration and delivery and supports agility, speed, efficiency, compliance, and safety, according to Gartner.

Hewitt explained the evolving role of I&O leaders is to put pieces together "to create a platform that allows me to enable solutions. In other words, it makes it more streamlined, more capable." In this way, I&O becomes "the linchpin about building the business case about why we want to do something," he said. "I'm going to look at it and say, what are the best ways to do that? And what underpinnings can I provide so that the value stream can flow really smoothly and quickly?"

I&O leaders should, for example, examine the best solution from a hardware perspective to run a certain application at the edge, including which elements – like management or monitoring tools – need to be included.

"I'm acting like a product manager because I'm putting the features and functions together and enabling those to be together and driving the business case that makes sense [and] that is a positive for my organization, whether it saves us more money or helps us make more money," Hewitt explained.

At the end of the day, this shift is a cultural change within the I&O organization. This type of transition includes filling modern cloud skills gaps that may exist, along with competencies like communication and business-related skills like building business cases and cost benefit exercises. "It is a change in thinking and an evolution," Hewitt said.