Who should enter the ‘Cloud Automation Solution of the Year’ category?

The ‘Cloud Automation Solution of the Year’ category recognizes the tools, platforms, and frameworks that eliminate manual intervention to accelerate digital delivery and improve operational precision. This award celebrates excellence in the “programmable cloud,” highlighting solutions that use intelligent automation to manage the entire lifecycle of cloud resources.

Entries may showcase how the solution utilizes Infrastructure as Code (IaC), automated CI/CD pipelines, and policy-driven orchestration to reduce human error and technical debt. Submissions should demonstrate how the solution handles complex tasks such as auto-scaling, automated patch management, and the rapid replication of environments across different cloud regions or providers.

In addition, submissions should highlight innovations in AIOps and event-driven automation, demonstrating how the solution identifies and remediates performance bottlenecks or security vulnerabilities in real time. Judges will look for evidence of how the platform integrates with existing DevOps toolchains to create a “frictionless” path from code commit to production.

The category also encompasses automated compliance and governance, ensuring that every automated action adheres to corporate standards, security protocols, and budgetary constraints without slowing down the pace of innovation.

Successful entries will provide clear evidence of accelerated time-to-market, significant reductions in “Mean Time to Repair” (MTTR), and measurable gains in team productivity.

Team of Six Software Developers Working on Computers Programming

Example Use Cases

Cloud automation solutions eligible for this award may either provide an outstanding broad solution, or exceptional specialized solutions in one of these areas (among others):

Male & Female Developer devops team discussion around computer screens Streamlining cloud environment deployment through automated provisioning and configuration. Cloud automation solutions eliminate manual setup processes, enabling consistent, scalable infrastructure delivery across environments.

Typical use cases:

  • Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC) deployment
  • Automated environment provisioning and teardown
  • Configuration management and version control
  • Policy-driven infrastructure templates
  • Automated patching and system updates

Some examples of results from this application:

  • Faster infrastructure deployment cycles
  • Reduced configuration errors and environment drift
  • Improved scalability across development and production environments
  • Lower operational overhead through standardization

Male DevOps Engineer and Female IT Consultant Work on a Tablet Computer Standing in Office Above the Rows of Servers in a Data Center Working on Research and Development of Artificial Intelligence Optimizing business and IT processes through rule-based and event-driven automation. Cloud automation platforms connect systems and trigger actions without manual intervention.

Typical use cases:

  • Automated approval workflows
  • Event-triggered notifications and task execution
  • Cross-system integration and orchestration
  • Robotic Process Automation (RPA) in cloud environments
  • Scheduled job automation and maintenance tasks

Some examples of results from this application:

  • Reduced manual processing time
  • Increased operational consistency and accuracy
  • Faster turnaround for business processes
  • Lower administrative workload across teams

Digital Transformation Specialist Working On Coding Language Accelerating software development and deployment through automated pipelines and integrated tooling. Cloud automation solutions support agile practices and rapid innovation cycles.

Typical use cases:

  • CI/CD pipeline automation
  • Automated testing and deployment
  • Container orchestration and scaling
  • Blue-green and canary deployment strategies
  • Automated rollback and release management

Some examples of results from this application:

  • Reduced time-to-market for new features
  • Increased release frequency and reliability
  • Improved collaboration between development and operations teams
  • Lower failure rates in production deployments

Programmer entering server room office using AI to review infrastructure diagnostics Enhancing resilience through automated detection and remediation of operational issues. Cloud automation solutions integrate monitoring with corrective workflows to minimize service disruption.

Typical use cases:

  • Automated incident response and remediation scripts
  • Performance threshold-triggered scaling
  • Self-healing infrastructure policies
  • Intelligent workload balancing
  • Predictive maintenance automation

Some examples of results from this application:

  • Reduced downtime and faster issue resolution
  • Improved system reliability and uptime
  • Lower mean time to resolution (MTTR)
  • Increased service continuity during peak demand

Cropped hand of businessman scanning identity card on machine in office Embedding policy enforcement and compliance monitoring directly into automated workflows. Cloud automation platforms ensure consistent governance across distributed cloud environments.

Typical use cases:

  • Automated compliance checks and reporting
  • Policy-as-Code enforcement
  • Security configuration validation
  • Automated audit trail generation
  • Access provisioning and deprovisioning automation

Some examples of results from this application:

  • Reduced compliance risk and configuration drift
  • Improved audit readiness
  • Stronger governance consistency across environments
  • Lower operational risk through standardized controls

Hall of Fame: Previous Winners

Workato Logo

Workato stood out for redefining what cloud automation looks like at enterprise scale. Workato ONE goes beyond task-level automation to deliver intelligent, agent-driven orchestration across systems, teams, and cloud environments. The judges were particularly impressed by its ability to operationalize AI with governance, context, and measurable business impact. This makes Workato a clear winner in the Best Cloud Automation Solution category at The Cloud Awards.”

The Cloud Awards COO, Annabelle Whittall

Best Cloud Automation Solution 2025/26, Workato
Temporal Logo

Temporal Cloud revolutionizes distributed systems management with its innovative approach to workflow durability and scalability. By abstracting away complexity and enabling developers to focus on core business logic, it delivers unparalleled impact, transforming how businesses approach mission-critical applications. Temporal’s offering really impressed the judging team at The Cloud Awards and this is a well-served win.”

Lead Judge, Maneet Bansal

Best Cloud Automation Solution 2024/25, Temporal
PagerDuty Logo

PagerDuty Process Automation, part of the PagerDuty Operations Cloud, securely connects to customers’ clouds, data center, and edge environments to run automation. It’s plug-in integration system is simple to perform any kind of automation jobs securely. It resolves tasks 99% faster with increase in accuracy and faster response times. We at The Cloud Awards are delighted to see that this cloud automation solution is at its best to serve the industry.”

Judge, Venkateshwarlu Rupani

Best Cloud Automation Solution 2023/24, PagerDuty

Areas to Highlight in Your Submission

Judges score nominations across these five key areas:

  • Innovation: The features or technology that makes your cloud automation solution unique - or transformed your market.

  • Impact: Evidence of the positive effect your cloud automation solution has brought to your customers.

  • Scalability: How your solution grows or adapts to changing business needs, without significant upgrades or overhauls.

  • User Experience: How intuitive your cloud automation solution is to use for users of varying roles or skill levels.

  • Relevance: What makes your solution a worthy winner in this particular category.

Although not formally scored, focus on these areas specific to this category, can help your nomination stand out:

Automation

The complexity or breadth of automation capabilities delivered by the solution.

Integration

How easy the solution is to integrate with other cloud services and platforms, or data sources.

Customization

The level of flexibility the solution offers to organizations seeking to tailor it to their needs.

More Cloud Awards Categories

Next Steps to Enter The Cloud Awards

To enter this Cloud Awards category, or any other category in The Cloud Awards, please follow these three simple steps:

  • Download the entry form. Open up the ‘Cloud Awards Simple Form’ document.
  • Complete your form. You only need to complete the form once, even if entering multiple Cloud Awards categories.
  • Submit your entry. Head to the ‘Submit Now’ section on our website, select ‘The Cloud Awards’ and the category/categories you are entering from the list, upload your form and any other materials you would like the judges to review, and process your fees.

Since 2011, The Cloud Awards been helping organizations across the globe gain the recognition they deserve for market-leading innovation in the cloud computing and software sectors.

For a detailed breakdown of all the benefits you receive as an awards entrant as either a shortlistee, finalist or ultimate winner, please see our “Why Enter?” page. The many benefits are replicated across all international awards programs. If you have any questions about this category, please contact us.