Which of the following strategies should a team prioritize to enhance platform efficiency?

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation at least 150 to 200 words:

Enhancing platform efficiency requires reducing operational friction and ensuring that updates, patches, and upgrades happen consistently without introducing unnecessary manual effort or delays. According to Cloud Native Platform Engineering practices, automation of the version bump process—whether for libraries, services, or cluster configurations—is a critical strategy for improving both reliability and security. By automating cluster updates, teams can minimize human error, enforce standardized practices, and ensure systems remain aligned with compliance and security benchmarks.

Option A, where each team independently manages platform tools, increases fragmentation and cognitive load, ultimately reducing efficiency. Option B, relying on manual updates, is both error-prone and unsustainable at scale, particularly in environments with multiple clusters or microservices. Option D, holding frequent meetings to discuss minor updates, wastes engineering cycles without delivering the tangible improvements that automation can achieve.

Automating updates is a direct application of Infrastructure as Code and GitOps principles, enabling declarative management, reproducibility, and consistent rollout strategies. Additionally, automation supports zero-downtime upgrades, aligns with cloud native resilience patterns, and improves developer experience by abstracting away operational complexity. Thus, option C represents the most effective strategy for enhancing platform efficiency.