IT automation is one of most thrown-around phrases in digital transformation, yet many enterprises don’t know what it is they’re trying to automate or what the impact will be. Among IT personnel, the concept is often synonymous with job insecurity, but it’s understood as more of a general unease than a direct cause-and-effect relationship.

Is your enterprise pursuing IT automation? It may be your motivation for adopting technologies such as software-defined wide area networking (SD-WAN), which allows for some strategic advantages related to automation when it is optimized. Many enterprises fear being the last to leverage automation in an effort to become more agile, and the following perspectives may help them find a way to consider IT automation and begin pursuing it:

Determine Why You Are Automating. In many cases, enterprises have pursued automation but for murky reasons that don’t serve to move the process forward. It might be related to cost reduction or better efficiency, but that tends to be a short-sighted view.

Enterprises might benefit from thinking bigger about automation such as automating change management so that infrastructure functions are making agility a given. Changes are made quickly, and speed and cost reduction are simply the byproducts of reliable infrastructure.

Decide What to Automate. Many enterprise teams that set out to prioritize IT automation get stuck on what exactly they are automating. They might talk in terms of automating the network, but it is only effective to talk about automating functions or thinking in terms of action items instead of components. A team must understand their workflows in a way that allows them to precisely codify them, or IT automation will never come to fruition.

Teams should think about workflows that are needed regularly or those that are in high demand in stressful circumstances such as troubleshooting workflows.

Choose Automation Location. The best workflows for automation are those that span multiple people, systems, or different organizations. Workflows that cross a boundary are ideal because it is in the coordination between elements where automation can make a significant difference. The key to automating these kinds of workflows is the abstraction of operations above the device. This is why enterprises are prioritizing SD-WAN – it virtualizes network operations and sets a foundation for IT automation.  

Identify Candidates for IT Automation. Many IT personnel see automation as being replaced by some complex code. The reality is that as automation is embraced, the focus shifts from mastering a particular device to becoming fluent in workflows and intent. From the organization’s perspective, it makes sense to equip existing talent with the skills to future-proof their careers since replacing a qualified IT team could put a damper on all of the progress that automation introduces.Is your perspective on IT automation a bit off? To learn more about the best ways to think about automation and what it can do to make your business more agile and give you the competitive edge you’ve been seeking, contact us at Diversified Technology Group.