Cloud-native development has matured beyond its initial promises. In 2024, we're seeing new patterns emerge that reshape how applications are built, deployed, and maintained in cloud environments.
Platform Engineering Takes Center Stage
Platform engineering has emerged as a discipline focused on building self-service internal developer platforms. These platforms abstract infrastructure complexities and provide developers with standardized tools and workflows.
This approach reduces cognitive load on developers, improves productivity, and ensures consistent governance across large organizations—balancing developer autonomy with organizational standards.
Modern cloud-native architecture combines various deployment models and services
The Rise of FinOps
As cloud costs become a significant portion of technology budgets, FinOps (Financial Operations) practices are being integrated into cloud-native development workflows.
Teams are implementing cost monitoring, setting budgets at the service level, and making cost optimization a shared responsibility across development, operations, and finance teams.
Multi-Runtime Architectures
Applications are increasingly being built using multiple runtimes and deployment models. A single system might combine containers, serverless functions, edge computing, and WebAssembly—each chosen for specific workload characteristics.
This pragmatic approach focuses on selecting the right tool for each component rather than standardizing on a single deployment model across the entire application.
Developer Experience as a Competitive Advantage
Organizations are recognizing that developer experience directly impacts productivity and innovation. Cloud-native tools with better developer experiences—from infrastructure-as-code to observability platforms—are gaining adoption even when they aren't the most feature-rich options.
This trend is driving improvements in local development experiences, deployment workflows, and debugging capabilities across the cloud-native ecosystem.