Opinion: The Dawning of the IT Automation Era

In a recent survey of Oracle Applications User Group members, UC4 found that the majority of respondents see IT process automation as a cost-saving measure, but budget restrictions in the tightening economy remain the biggest obstacle to wider adoption. More than 60 percent of respondents indicate they simply do not have the budget for automated solutions or tools.
 
Complex IT Environments

The most compelling reason for the rise in automation is that IT environments are becoming more complex. Enterprise systems are becoming increasingly diverse, with companies employing a range of financial, enterprise resource planning, customer relationship management and sales force automation solutions from a range of vendors. On top of that, IT environments are changing, with consolidation toward virtualised platforms and utilisation of external cloud-based technologies to deliver a business service. Not only are infrastructures becoming more complex, but also the IT processes, as they typically span more than one application.
 
In the OAUG survey cited above, we also found that 75 percent of respondents report difficulties monitoring and managing processes that span more than one application. As a result, 57 percent of respondents report that these struggles have resulted in delays for the business, either in time-to-market or ability to integrate applications and processes.
 
It is easy to see in this context how administrative and management tasks would consume valuable resources just to ensure systems are up and running, let alone meeting service level requirements. Traditional job scheduling automation technology can’t address this level of complexity. The days of rigid, highly structured scheduling are gone. We are operating in a world where thousands of streaming, interdependent events must be understood in the context of how they impact the ability of IT infrastructure to meet business requirements. What is required today in automation technology is real-time intelligence and just-in-time execution. This enables real-time monitoring and analysis of IT processes and allows companies to automate and connect between hybrid environments for a seamless integration, bringing visibility across processes and improved management and control over the success of transactions. Without this real-time integration, existing staff is blind to the business process impact across the greater organisation.
 
The call to action is clear — as IT departments continue to do more with less and IT environments become more complex, the need to automate will be paramount. We are already seeing many vendors start to heavily market automation software and company adoption is increasing. The IT automation era is upon us and those companies that recognise it and adopt these technologies will have the competitive edge. Will you be one?