Enterprise IT infrastructure management has gone through a transformative shift over the past few years. Traditionally, enterprise IT was dependent on manual processes and techniques such as manual server provisioning, system administration tasks, etc.

However, in recent times, this approach has been challenged by changing demands from business units due to digital transformation initiatives as well as the need for agility in response to emerging threats and market conditions. According to a recent survey by Gartner, infrastructure automation will be leveraged by 70% of firms by 2025 to bring flexibility and efficiency, up from 20% in 2021.

The Automation Revolution: A Breakthrough in Enterprise IT Management

A 2022 study revealed that organizations, on average, spend around $480,000 annually on automation. Around 13% of the organizations even go beyond $1 million. Why’s that the case? Well, automation serves to complement the IT infrastructure management initiatives by:

Eliminating Human Errors

Automation ensures consistency, reduces human error, and tracks performance, setting a baseline for IT infrastructure. It enables businesses to put more time into core development than into repetitive tasks.

Optimizing Costs

Businesses can cut labor expenses by reducing the need for human interaction by automating repetitive and time-consuming processes. Additionally, automation improves accuracy and reduces errors, which lowers costs related to rework or unsatisfied customers.

Making Everything Faster

Automation greatly decreases the amount of time needed to install IT infrastructure by running repeated procedures on numerous devices independently. Thus, teams may create business-specific solution systems more quickly and shorten the time needed to bring outcomes to market.

Enhancing Workflows and Efficiency

When completing IT provisioning operations, infrastructure automation enables accuracy and repeatability. Automation solutions that automatically record and initiate user-defined activities have made IT infrastructure management quick and effective.

Challenges in the Automation of IT Infrastructure Management

While automation does accrue several benefits for effectively managing the IT infrastructure, there are challenges that organizations must be cognizant of.

IT Complexities

Automation may encounter resistance due to the complexity of IT infrastructures. Complex designs and historical systems can be challenging to integrate into automated processes, necessitating a lot of work to update or replace outdated technologies.

Change Management

This also brings us to the pertinent challenge of change management. As elucidated above, automated processes need to be compatible with existing systems, requiring different parties’ involvement and complex changes to the IT environment. Enterprises must map how exactly automation would happen in the management of infrastructure. This is where their focus on leadership alignment, stakeholder engagement, pilot testing, continuous training and support, and employee buy-in is key — all of which require impeccable coordination and planning.

Risk of Security

Automation may increase the attack surface and create new vulnerabilities, which pose security threats. Malicious actors may take advantage of poorly configured or unprotected automated systems, resulting in illegal access, data breaches, and interruption of vital services.

Organizational Culture

If the team’s collective perspective is not the same when optimizing infrastructures, this can slow down both operational processes and development. This implies that individuals lacking the necessary technical experience and mindset will have difficulty adjusting to new and advanced technology.

Budgeting Issues

Capital and operating costs are always linked in any firm. While automation serves to propel enterprises towards economies of scale, it also creates a scenario where scaling up the infrastructure could significantly add to the existing infrastructure cost.

Practices to Implement Successful Automation for Enterprise IT Infrastructure Management

Define Automation Goals

Businesses must establish precise automation objectives. By establishing clear results and targets, organizations can ensure that automation programs directly achieve strategic goals like reducing manual errors, lowering machine downtime, increasing revenue, reducing maintenance costs, etc.

Overall, these goals could generally be aimed at reducing manual labor for redundant operations, boosting productivity, and improving system dependability. With them, organizations can effectively oversee resource distribution, promote team motivation and engagement, and sync automation programs with overarching goals. However, for this, the firm must include these goals in its overall enterprise IT strategy.

Select Apt Automation Tools

Each firm has its own processes, infrastructure, and goals, and selecting the right technologies helps automation programs fit more naturally and improve productivity in the long run.

Businesses must thoroughly evaluate the features and capabilities of each tool or technology. They should take into account whether it has the requisite capability to serve the defined use case. Workflow management, integration capabilities, reporting and analytics, security features, and extensibility are a few important features to consider.

Additionally, when integrating with older systems, aspects like compatibility with current systems, simplicity of integration, and the learning curve for the IT personnel must be taken into account.

Create Detailed Workflows

Comprehensive visibility into the current processes and their interdependencies is made possible by creating detailed workflows. Teams obtain a thorough understanding of how activities are now carried out by documenting every step and decision point in the process.

Additionally, before automation, the creation of workflows offers the chance to optimize already-in-use procedures. Businesses can improve and streamline processes and make them more suitable for automation by discovering bottlenecks, inefficiencies, or places for improvement.

Consistent infrastructure provisioning workflows must be adopted by businesses. Overall, organizations need a uniform process that cuts down on redundant labor and has the right safeguards for security and operational consistency.

Set up a Valid Testing Environment

Businesses must set up a testing environment where they can execute automation. To execute the automation testing for the same, they can set up a specialized environment apart from the production environment. This enables controlled testing scenarios and helps prevent any influence on live systems.

They should replicate the essential elements of the production environment, such as the hardware, software, network setups, and databases. This way, the testing environment will be made to closely mimic the actual production environment.

The next step is to create or duplicate representative test data that mimics real-world events. This aids in testing the effectiveness and performance of automation in various circumstances.

Provision and Deploy IT Resources

IT infrastructure provisioning and deployment automation enable businesses to speed up the installation of new servers, virtual machines, or cloud resources. Automated workflows enable the elimination of repetitive and error-prone tasks, resulting in more consistent setups and quicker deployment timeframes.

One of the viable approaches to go about introducing extensive automation in infrastructure management is Infrastructure as Code (IaC). This approach makes use of scripting to define and provision IT resources instead of manually executing infrastructure provisioning. Of course, the possibility of human errors seeping in is toned down, and enterprises are able to lay the foundation for more sophisticated IT operations.

Monitor and Iterate

The automation setup would occasionally need adjustments after a thorough testing phase. So, organizations must implement monitoring systems that track the functionality, availability, and general condition of the IT infrastructure. This includes keeping an eye on networks, vital services, hardware, and software.

In essence, automated systems can be improved based on monitoring data, test results, and user feedback. Ideally, to increase the effectiveness, dependability, and efficiency of automated processes, these systems should drive the implementation of modifications, optimizations, or adjustments. They must entail upgrading automation scripts, fine-tuning setups, or improving workflows.

Partner with an Expert

Implementing IT infrastructure automation can be a tedious process. So, businesses should enlist the help of an IT services provider to aid them in their automation journey. From planning and implementation to facilitating ongoing maintenance tasks, an expert technology partner can assist businesses in evaluating the feasibility of automation as well as establishing a complete automation plan.

What Does This Automation of IT Infrastructure Management Look Like?

What Is the Result of Automating IT Infrastructure Management?
Once an enterprise sets up the framework for automating IT infrastructure management, the overall complexity of management is reduced since automation takes over redundant, well-defined, and otherwise arduous tasks.
How does this happen? Robust automation initiatives help:

Wrapping Up

As machines and software programs have become more sophisticated and capable of performing tasks once thought to require manual expertise, organizations are considering ways to manage their IT infrastructure via automation. At i-Source Infosystems, we help our clients attain complete automation of IT infrastructure management procedures. Connect with us to learn more.

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