Colin Griffin and William Rizzo explore the evolving state of platform engineering in 2026. They discuss how the discipline plays out very differently across verticals such as fintech, telco, and automotive, and why generic frameworks must be tailored to the unique regulatory, cultural, and technical realities of each industry.

The conversation moves through the growing pressure to align platform investments with measurable business outcomes, the distinct compliance challenges facing European organizations under tightening AI regulation, and the infrastructure reckoning triggered by large-scale GPU investment. Both speakers converge on a shared wish: that the CNCF Platform Engineering White Paper and Maturity Model be updated to reflect vertical-specific guidance, informed directly by end-user organizations.