---
title: Datadog Catalyst by Critical Cloud
description: Backlog-led improvement engineering that delivers agreed Datadog changes.
breadcrumbs: Docs > Integrations > Datadog Catalyst by Critical Cloud
---

> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.datadoghq.com/llms.txt).

# Datadog Catalyst by Critical Cloud
marketplace
{% callout %}
# Important note for users on the following Datadog sites: us2.ddog-gov.com

{% alert level="info" %}
To find out if this integration is available in your organization, see your [Datadog Integrations](https://app.datadoghq.com/integrations) page or ask your organization administrator.

To initiate an exception request to enable this integration for your organization, email [support@ddog-gov.com](mailto:support@ddog-gov.com).
{% /alert %}

{% /callout %}
   Catalyst - Improvement deliveryCatalyst - From agreed backlog to handoverCatalyst - How to get started
## Overview{% #overview %}

**Get the Datadog improvements on your list delivered.**

Every mature Datadog environment carries a list: tags to standardize, monitors to redesign, dashboards to rebuild, subscribed products nobody has had time to configure. The work is understood and the value is clear. What it needs is focused engineering time, the scarcest resource in any team, so platform improvements lose to the roadmap quarter after quarter.

Catalyst removes that bottleneck. Critical Cloud practitioners take the agreed backlog and complete it: writing the configurations, making the changes, testing the outcomes. Your team approves the scope and accepts the handover. The output is an improved environment, not a document about improving it.

### How it works{% #how-it-works %}

Four stages:

- **Review**: assesses current state, drawing on an existing HealthScan or run at kickoff
- **Prioritize**: agrees on the backlog with impact and effort ratings, priority order, and a definition of done per item. Nothing starts until it is signed off
- **Implement**: practitioners execute that backlog with your approval checkpoints
- **Govern**: hands over what was done, the decisions made, and the standards applied, then plans the next wave before the current one closes

### What we implement{% #what-we-implement %}

The backlog is defined by your environment, not a fixed template. Common areas:

- Tagging and naming standards applied consistently across environments, services, and teams, forming the foundation for filtering, cost attribution, and ownership mapping
- Monitor design and alert tuning, thresholds calibrated to real environment behavior and ownership routing corrected, so every alert is worth acting on
- Dashboard rationalization: retiring unused views, rebuilding the ones that matter, assigning ownership so they stay current
- Service level objectives (SLOs) built around real customer-facing reliability targets, with error budget tracking teams will use
- Log and telemetry governance: pipeline review, retention and sampling aligned to operational and cost targets
- Security signal operations and incident workflows: detection tuning, triage, escalation routing, plus Incident Management, Workflow Automation, and event correlation for structured response
- Product adoption: activating capability already in your subscription, such as APM, RUM, Security, or LLM Observability

### Scope control{% #scope-control %}

Scope is agreed and locked before work starts. Nothing is added without your written authorization, and no spend occurs above the approved envelope. The backlog is the contract, so the engagement has a defined end point.

**Duration**: scoped by backlog and package. **Access required**: Datadog admin, plus cloud access where scope requires it.

### About Critical Cloud{% #about-critical-cloud %}

Critical Cloud is the world's first Powered by Datadog accredited managed provider and a Datadog Advanced Partner, with more than 200 cloud projects delivered across AWS and Azure, and ISO 27001 and Cyber Essentials Plus certification. Teams in Cardiff, London, and Dublin.

Our Datadog services span the full lifecycle:

- **Adopt**: FETCH, HyperCare, LaunchPad
- **Optimize**: HealthScan, Catalyst
- **Manage**: Managed Datadog, Critical Support

## Support{% #support %}

Need help? Contact Critical Cloud support:

- Email: [datadog@criticalcloud.ai](mailto:datadog@criticalcloud.ai)
- Phone: +44 (0)204 538 1116
- Website: [https://criticalcloud.ai](https://criticalcloud.ai)

We respond to support requests during UK business hours.

This application is made available through the Marketplace and is supported by a Datadog Technology Partner. Click Here to purchase this application.

## Further Reading{% #further-reading %}

Additional helpful documentation, links, and articles:

- [Catalyst - Datadog Improvement Engineering | Critical Cloud](https://criticalcloud.ai/datadog/services/catalyst/)
- [UK Datadog Partner | Critical Cloud](https://criticalcloud.ai/datadog/uk-datadog-partner/)
- [What the Powered by Datadog Accreditation Actually Means, and Why It Matters](https://criticalcloud.ai/blog/powered-by-datadog-accreditation-what-it-means/)