Insights from the Qt Group's 2024 commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting reveal that while many executives perceive their platform capabilities as mature, a significant gap exists between this perception and operational readiness, particularly in the mobility and vehicle sector, where custom-built solutions remain prevalent.
Notably, the Forrester survey found that smaller companies achieve significantly higher levels of compliance with industry-specific standards, reuse of predefined code elements, release automation, use of standard templates, and consistent design systems. Based on their current engineering platforms, companies with 1,000-5,000 employees report excelling in these practices, nearly double the number of enterprises with over 20,000 employees.
Scaling globally distributed embedded software teams presents unique challenges that platform engineering must address. These include managing diverse hardware, overcoming resource constraints, and meeting strict security requirements, with each demanding tailored solutions to enable efficient development at scale.
So, why are smaller companies seemingly more successful in addressing these challenges, and how can larger organizations better leverage platform engineering to do the same?
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Streamlined Decision-Making and Reduced Bureaucracy
Smaller organizations often have an inherent advantage in adopting platform engineering practices. These advantages stem from reduced bureaucracy, clearer decision-making pathways, and the ability to focus on value streams without being hampered by legacy system complexities.
Dan Grøndahl, the Platform Owner for the CCoE team in VELUX, says that smaller organizations typically operate with flatter hierarchies and fewer decision-making layers.
The lack of ‘red tape’ and complex hierarchical processes allows these companies to rapidly implement platform engineering practices that align with their business objectives, he adds.
Grøndahl states that their success isn’t necessarily about greater investment but about aligning team size and scope to their needs.
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For example, a team of five platform engineers can effectively enable 50 others. Smaller companies achieve this balance without unnecessary hierarchy or bureaucracy, he says.
He believes larger organizations should focus on learning from their own value streams.
It’s not just about smaller companies; it’s about identifying bottlenecks and ensuring efforts deliver value to business domains, he emphasizes.
Supporting this, the Qt Group's commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting found smaller companies report higher success levels in reusing code elements and automating releases. This ability enables them to implement solutions effectively and stay competitive in dynamic markets.
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Automation as a Core Principle
One of the most critical success factors for smaller companies is their reliance on automation to handle common development challenges. Continuous integration/continuous deployment (CI/CD) pipelines, automated testing frameworks, and pre-defined templates for new projects are frequently employed. These tools create a “DevOps safety net,” ensuring compliance, quality, and security are embedded from the outset, notes Marko Klemetti, CTO at Eficode.
Automation provides a centralized framework where developers can begin new projects without manually configuring tools or infrastructure. This ensures consistency across projects and allows teams to focus on innovation rather than repetitive tasks.
Standardized templates and interfaces further bolster efficiency in smaller organizations. These tools facilitate seamless collaboration between teams, enabling developers, testers, and operations staff to work cohesively, adds Klemetti.
Centralized developer platforms simplify tool adoption and foster cross-functional collaboration, ensuring that teams can quickly align on shared objectives. Smaller companies excel here, leveraging engineering platforms to maintain improved workflows and brand consistency. 57% of the Forrester survey respondents also cited such outcomes as key benefits.
Lessons for Larger Organizations
A critical insight for larger organizations is the adoption of the "team topologies" framework. This concept, popularized by Matthew Skelton and Manuel Pais in their 2019 book, outlines four types of teams (stream-aligned teams, enabling teams, complicated subsystem teams, and platform teams) that interact to drive value delivery.
For example, a platform team provides reusable tooling and infrastructure to streamline the work of stream-aligned teams focused on delivering customer-facing features. By clearly defining roles and interactions, organizations can reduce inefficiencies and foster autonomous team operations.
Larger organizations often struggle with treating platforms as products, which, as Grøndahl points out,
requires understanding developer needs and prioritizing features that deliver the most value.
Moreover, larger organizations frequently lack a "product mindset" in their platform engineering efforts, which hampers their ability to align platform capabilities with user requirements.
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Despite 93% of Forrester survey respondents agreeing that their platform is strategic to business success, only 40% of larger organizations (over 20,000 employees) track developer experience metrics, while 78% focus more on tracking developer productivity as a platform user metric. This highlights a significant gap in adopting a platform-as-a-product mindset. Investing in product leadership can help bridge this gap and refocus efforts on enhancing the developer experience.
For instance, having a platform owner with domain expertise ensures that platform investments align with developer requirements and broader organizational objectives. Klemetti adds that larger organizations are often hindered by legacy systems and siloed team structures, which require significant cultural shifts to overcome. Honest assessments of DevOps maturity and a clear roadmap for platform engineering are essential for driving progress.
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Overcoming Governance and Security Challenges
Governance complexity is a common roadblock in larger enterprises. As Grøndahl highlights,
organizations must implement governance models that strike a balance between compliance and flexibility.
He emphasizes that,
nudging developers towards ‘golden paths’ that adhere to best practices, rather than mandating rigid workflows, can reduce friction and foster innovation.
Additionally, embedding guardrails like security policies and monitoring into the platform from the start ensures compliance without compromising agility.
Security and quality are foundational to successful platform engineering because they directly impact the trust and reliability of the platform for development teams. Without proactively addressing these aspects, platforms risk becoming bottlenecks rather than enablers. For larger organizations, this means prioritizing "shift-left" strategies—integrating security and quality checks early in the development lifecycle rather than relying on late-stage interventions.
By building trust in the platform, organizations can empower developers to innovate faster while adhering to governance standards. As Grøndahl notes,
delayed or insufficient integration of security measures can lead to inefficiencies, costly retrofits, and diminished developer experience.
Addressing this upfront helps balance the dual priorities of agility and compliance, a challenge that often hinders larger organizations more than smaller, leaner ones.
Ultimately, successful platform engineering enables distributed teams to deliver value faster, aligning technical capabilities with client needs and paving the way for scalable, efficient, and secure software development across the organization.
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