Unit 1 roadmap — Digital Transformation with Google Cloud

Every objective below is quoted from Google's Cloud Digital Leader exam guide, retrieved 2026-09-22. Under each topic is that topic's own summary of what the exam actually tests, taken from its lecture.

Topic 1 — Why Cloud Technology is Transforming Business

CDL-U1.T1 · 8 objectives · lecture deck of 16 slides

1. Define the terms: cloud, cloud technology, data, digital transformation, cloud-native, open source, open standard.
2. Describe the differences between cloud technology and traditional or on-premises technology.
3. Explain the benefits of cloud technology to a business’ digital transformation: this technology is scalable, flexible, agile, secure, cost-effective and offers strategic value.
4. Describe the primary benefits of on-premises infrastructure, public cloud, private cloud, hybrid cloud, and multicloud and differentiate between them.
5. Describe the main business transformation benefits of Google Cloud: intelligence, freedom, collaboration, trust, and sustainability.
6. Describe the implications and risks for organizations that do not adopt new technology.
7. Describe the drivers and challenges that lead organizations to undergo a digital transformation.
8. Describe the transformation cloud and how it accelerates an organization’s digital transformation through app and infrastructure modernization, data democratization, people connections, and trusted transactions.

What this topic actually tests. Which subject is the definition about? cloud, cloud native, transformation. Which axis is the estate on? deployment model, and separately vendor count. Which mechanism is under the benefit? a claim with nothing under it is the distractor.

Topic 2 — Fundamental Cloud Concepts

CDL-U1.T2 · 5 objectives · lecture deck of 13 slides

1. Describe how transitioning to a cloud infrastructure affects flexibility, scalability, reliability, elasticity, agility, and total cost of ownership (TCO). Apply these concepts to various business use cases.
2. Explain how an organization’s transition from an on-premises environment to the cloud shifts their capital expenditures (CapEx) to operational expenditures (OpEx), and how that affects their total cost of ownership (TCO).
3. Identify when private, hybrid, or multicloud infrastructures best apply to different business use cases.
4. Define basic network infrastructure terminology, including: IP address; internet service provider (ISP); domain name server (DNS), regions, and zones; fiber optics; subsea cables; network edge data centers, latency; and bandwidth.
5. Discuss how Google Cloud supports digital transformation with global infrastructure and data centers connected by a fast, reliable network.

What this topic actually tests. Scalability or elasticity? only one comes back down. Cheaper up front or cheaper in total? TCO counts managing. Which constraint is in the scenario? it picks private, hybrid or multicloud. How long, or how much? latency is time, bandwidth is capacity — and zones sit inside a region while the edge does not.

Topic 3 — Cloud Computing Models and Shared Responsibility

CDL-U1.T3 · 4 objectives · lecture deck of 11 slides

1. Define IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS.
2. Compare and contrast the benefits and tradeoffs of IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS including total cost of ownership (TCO), flexibility, shared responsibilities, management level, and necessary staffing and technical expertise.
3. Determine which computing model (IaaS, PaaS, SaaS) applies to various business scenarios and use cases.
4. Describe the cloud shared responsibility model. Compare which responsibilities are the cloud provider’s, and which responsibilities are the customer’s for on-premises and cloud computing models (IaaS, PaaS, SaaS).

What this topic actually tests. What do you still manage? operating system (IaaS), code (PaaS), data (SaaS). What does the scenario want to stop doing? that picks the model — and mixing models is normal. Who secures what? the line moves with the model; your data and access policies never leave you, and the infrastructure never leaves Google.