IT Automation Tools Are Not Created Equal
2018 is well underway, and automation is top of mind for business and IT professionals in every industry. In fact, according to the latest Gartner research, IT Infrastructure Automation Tools ranked number one as the top Initiative for Increased Investment in 2018. 71% of I&O leaders surveyed reported that they have plans to increase investment in these tools in the coming year, and Gartner listed the major benefit of these automation tools as reduced costs from standardizing infrastructure, automation workflows, and scripts. IT automation tools are critical in achieving business agility —and it’s time we address the misconceptions that accompany it.
While the research on automation is prevalent and the benefits are proven, there are still many misconceptions surrounding the topic, the biggest of these being that all automation can provide the same value. This misconception stems from the idea that all automation is alike and results in the same benefits, an idea that can quickly turn your IT environment from average, to a tangled, complex, slow, mess.
The Elemental Approach to IT Automation
Automation that takes the shape of various scattered scripts, or siloed, application-specific scheduling tools often brings more trouble than existed originally. These silos lack governance, a centralized point of control, event-based scheduling capabilities, and much more. While the goal of automation is often to increase efficiency and productivity, taking this approach, an Elemental Approach, will only further increase complexity. This slows IT down and drives costs up.
Business requirements change every day, and an Elemental Approach to automation is not well suited for the long-term. This approach is not scalable, and it is difficult to manage. IT teams need to take an approach that is more systematic. IT environments are only becoming more complex, with more and more layers that need to be managed and maintained than ever before. IT teams need a way to automate these layers to increase efficiency without increasing complexity and costs.
All automation is not alike, and if you are taking an Elemental Approach to your automation, you will miss out on the time and cost saving benefits that an Architectural, Layered Approach can provide. An approach to automation that allows you to manage your Workload Automation, IT Process Automation, Managed File Transfer Automation, Big Data Automation, and more, can enable you to streamline processes, coordinate and consolidate silos of automation, and scale and adapt to changing organizational requirements.
Learn more about the dangers of an Elemental Approach, and Why IT Organizations Need to Take an Architectural, Layered Approach to Automation, in this white paper:
