Pets vs Cattle: Understanding Cloud-Native Platforms

If you’re a fan of Clarkson’s Farm, you’ll know Richard Ham, the micro-pig who definitely should have been a named pet, getting fuss and personality in equal measure.

Now imagine naming every single sheep, cow and goat on a commercial farm. You’d love them all, sure, but you’d spend all your time fussing over calves called Colin and sheep called Sheila instead of running the place.

That’s exactly the difference between the old world of software and the modern world of cloud-native platforms.

Traditional systems are treated like Richard Ham precious, personalised, fragile and high-maintenance.

Cloud-native platforms, on the other hand, are treated like livestock on a working farm: reliable, scalable, repeatable and built to be managed as a whole rather than fussed over one animal at a time.

The Problem With Treating Software Like a Pet

For years, enterprise software was built and managed like a pet.

Each system was:

• Individually configured
• Carefully maintained by hand
• Difficult to change
• Risky to update

If something broke, everyone panicked. Fixes were slow. Updates were infrequent. And no two environments were ever quite the same.

That approach made sense when systems lived on physical servers and change was expensive. But it doesn’t hold up in a world where customers expect fast, reliable, always-on digital services.

In leisure, this “pet” mentality shows up as:

• Long release cycles
• Fragile upgrades
• Downtime during busy periods
• Hesitation to improve customer journeys because change feels risky

You end up protecting the system instead of improving it.

What Treating Software Like Cattle Looks Like

Cloud-native platforms flip this on its head.

Instead of relying on one special server or one fragile setup, cloud platforms:

• Run across multiple environments
• Scale automatically when demand increases
• Replace components instead of fixing them by hand
• Are designed to recover quickly when something goes wrong

Nothing is precious. Everything is repeatable.

If a service fails, another takes its place. If demand spikes, capacity expands. If an update is needed, it’s deployed safely and consistently.

This is what people mean when they talk about “cattle, not pets”.

It’s not careless. It’s resilient.

Cloud-Native vs Lift and Shift (And Why It Matters)

Not all cloud platforms are created equal.

Some systems are simply lifted and shifted into the cloud. That means taking old, pet-style software and hosting it somewhere else.

It might run on cloud infrastructure, but it still behaves like a pet:

• Manual processes remain
• Scaling is limited
• Updates are risky
• Complexity increases over time

Cloud-native platforms are different.

They are designed from the ground up to:

• Scale automatically
• Deploy updates continuously
• Handle failure gracefully
• Support modern security and compliance standards

GladstoneGo is cloud native. It wasn’t dragged into the cloud. It was built for it.

That distinction matters because cloud-native systems don’t just live in the cloud. They work properly there.

Read more about the Gladstone platform

Gladstone’s Experience in the Cloud

Gladstone’s move to cloud wasn’t a sudden trend-chasing exercise, our platform restructuring started back in 2021. It’s been a deliberate, long-term investment in platform architecture, DevOps practices and operational maturity.

That experience shows up in:

• Automated deployments that reduce human error
• Consistent environments from testing to live
• Continuous improvement without disruption
• Platforms that can evolve without starting from scratch

This is how Gladstone supports innovation without destabilising the core systems operators rely on every day.

It’s not about shiny features. It’s about dependable progress.

Why This Matters for GladstoneGo

GladstoneGo sits on this cloud-native foundation.

Because it’s built as part of a modern platform, not bolted on later, it benefits from:

• High availability during peak demand
• Fast response times for browsing, joining and booking
• Safe, frequent updates that improve the experience over time
• The ability to evolve as consumer expectations and regulations change

That’s especially important for customer-facing journeys like online joining, where performance, trust and reliability directly affect conversion.

When systems behave like cattle, not pets, customers don’t see the complexity behind the scenes. They just experience something that works.

Compliance and Security Are Built In, Not Bolted On

One of the biggest misconceptions about cloud is that it trades control for convenience. In reality, the opposite is true when cloud is done properly.

Cloud-native platforms allow for:

• Centralised security controls
• Consistent policy enforcement
• Regular releases & patching without downtime
• Continuous monitoring and auditing

This makes it easier to meet modern compliance expectations, not harder.

As regulations evolve around digital services, subscriptions and consumer rights, platforms need to support:

• Clear customer communication
• Reliable record keeping
• Secure handling of personal data
• Transparent digital journeys

These aren’t afterthoughts. They need to be part of the platform itself.

Gladstone’s cloud approach supports this by design, helping operators stay secure, compliant and confident without adding manual overhead.

What Operators Actually Feel Day to Day

All of this technical stuff only matters if it delivers real-world benefits.

For operators, a cattle-style, cloud-native platform means:

• Fewer unexpected outages
• Faster delivery of improvements
• Less fear around updates
• Better support for modern customer journeys
• Confidence that the platform will scale with demand

For members, it means:

• Faster, more reliable digital experiences
• Clearer, more trustworthy interactions
• Services that work when they need them

That’s the real value of the cloud when it’s done properly.

The Bigger Platform Message

This isn’t about technology for its own sake.

It’s about building a platform that:

• Can evolve without disruption
• Supports new products like GladstoneGo properly
• Meets rising expectations around usability, security and compliance
• Gives operators confidence to move forward, not stand still

Treating software like cattle doesn’t mean you care less. It means you’ve built something strong enough to grow.

That’s the philosophy behind Gladstone’s platform and the reason GladstoneGo can deliver a modern, reliable experience without the fragility of older approaches.

Final Thought

Pet-style systems slow you down because they’re fragile and precious.

Cattle-style platforms move faster because they’re resilient, repeatable and designed for change.

Gladstone’s cloud-native platform, and GladstoneGo in particular, are built for that second world. One where improvement is constant, compliance is baked in, and customer experience doesn’t suffer every time something needs to change.

That’s not the future of leisure technology.

It’s the present.