IT automation is an important feature of any successful business, especially one that’s undergoing digital transformation. Orchestrating IT automation leads to greater efficiency and can lend itself to a hyper automation business model where automation exists in every part of the business.

If you’re considering IT automation, let this article be your guide. Here we will:

• Define IT automation
• Look at beginner use cases
• Explore the benefits
• Share tips for getting started

So, stay tuned for everything you need to know about IT automation!

What is IT automation?

IT automation is the process that sets rules for IT tasks so that they can be completed, automatically or upon trigger, by a machine.

Automation leaves humans people to work in areas of IT where their efforts are better spent, like strategizing or developing (and not on rote tasks like password resets). In practice, IT automation replaces manual tasks with automatic ones in important areas like:

• Data centers
• Cloud deployments
• Service desk
• Development

When it comes to automating IT tasks, there is a broad scope to consider. Automation could be as minimal as automating individual one-off tasks or as intensive as automatic full deployments. IT automation and orchestration are related but different:

• IT automation implies making a routine task automatically repeatable.
• Orchestration is the process of doing this across an entire process or practice so that operations, as a whole, are performed better and more securely.

(Go deeper into the automation vs orchestration comparison.)

How to apply IT automation in your business

There are several uses for IT automation. In your digital enterprise, count on automating the following areas for greater efficiency in your organization:

Cloud processes

With businesses running multi-cloud and hybrid cloud environments, it’s never been more important to automate routine cloud processes. By including IT automation in your cloud operations, you get closer to full orchestration and, ultimately, running at peak effectiveness.

To get started with cloud automation, single-out individual and clusters of cloud processes to automate. These clouds might not be your most important ones yet. Start small, and as you build on success, you can expand to automating more vital clouds.

The help/service desk

The service desk is one area that every company has (or should have!) that is ripe for automation. There are plenty of areas where uncomplicated task automation can have an immediate impact, as ITSM expert Kirstie Magowan points out:

(See tips for beginning to automate the service desk.)

DevOps & software development

Automation is a key principle of DevOps. Without automation in your software development practice, you likely aren’t fully embracing DevOps. DevOps automation can apply across the software development lifecycle (SDLC), especially in:

• Deployment automation (CI/CD)
• Test automation
• Monitoring
• Log management

(Explore the close roles of automation and DevOps practices.)

Business processes

Automating business processes is something Gartner defines as:

The automation of complex business processes and functions beyond conventional data manipulation and record-keeping activities, usually through the use of advanced technologies.

Enhancements to process automation are currently being led by these cognitive technologies, including:

• Robotic process automation (RPA)
• Machine learning (ML)
• Natural language processing (NLP)
• Predictive analytics

The business process automation (BPA) market is estimated to be worth $232 billion USD by the year 2025.

Configuration

Configuration is one of those necessary functions when you run a digital business. With multiple cloud services, servers, networks, and environments, there is no shortage of things to configure. By automating configuration, you can:

• Ensure environments are configured correctly
• Reducing errors
• Increase overall productivity

Resource provisioning

When working within a digital business, provisioning resources is essential. This refers to sharing and allocating space and user access to servers, programs and cloud processes required to do your job effectively. And it’s a great place to automate.

(Learn more about infrastructure automation platforms.)

Monitoring & response

Security process automation, like monitoring and response, can help IT professionals offload routine security processes so they can focus on things like bug fixes, testing and infrastructure issues.