IT Automation Doubles in Cloud, Virtual, Big Data Initiatives

IT Automation in the Cloud

Every year, Advanced Systems Concepts surveys ActiveBatch customers around the world to gain insight on how leading IT professionals are using IT automation and the value that automation is delivering to the business. This year’s survey, conducted in January 2015, showed that workload automation is quickly becoming a critical part of cloud, virtual, big data, and onboarding initiatives, with the use of automation for these initiatives expected to double or even triple in the future. 

While most organizations are taking advantage of traditional automation capabilities in areas such as Batch Processes (93% of current users) and Managed File Transfers (77% of current users), we see more and more organizations utilizing automation in new areas like cloud, virtual, big data, and onboarding.

Cloud and virtual systems are recording the biggest jump; in 2014, only 2% of respondents reported using workload automation for their cloud processes, compared to 21% who said they either now use, or intend to use, workload automation for this purpose. The increase for virtual systems is even greater, jumping from 2% in 2014 to a total of 26%. Similarly, in the area of Big Data, 12% of respondents stated they were currently using automation for Big Data processes, while 28% plan to use it in the future.

Onboarding and off-boarding processes, a routine IT task, is expected to double in the future as 8% of organizations currently use workload automation for onboarding processes with 16% planning to do so in the future.

For example, longtime customer SThree, a global recruiting firm headquartered in London, shared with us how they are automating onboarding and off-boarding processes in a recent case study. SThree’s IT organization was able to decommission their HR onboarding software by using ActiveBatch’s built-in Active Directory and Microsoft Exchange Job Steps. This enabled true cost savings for the organization as it was able to make the old HR software obsolete and utilize a built-in ActiveBatch capability to simplify their IT environment. 

How Frequently Are Organizations Using Automation?

Lastly, another trend was that the number of people using workload automation on a daily basis increased to 79%, up from 63% in 2014. Given the rising complexity of modern IT environments and dynamically changing business demands, automation is becoming a core part of IT and business operations. As more technologies enter the fold to simplify processes and speed Operations, workload automation is needed more than ever to consolidate and unify disparate technologies, applications, and platforms.