IT Automation, explained.

No one likes repetitive tasks and every day it seems that IT operations managers have to complete more work with fewer people.

The answer is to start automating the drudgery from daily tasks and free team resources to focus on efforts that help deliver more value to the business by speeding time-to-application delivery and building on a culture of success. By replacing manual work in data centres and cloud environments, IT automation tools, frameworks and appliances streamline IT operations and give teams the one thing that they can’t get enough of – time.

An illustration of a robot automating iT

A Trusted Partner in IT Automation

Red Hat

Is IT Automation the Answer?

For its recently published “AI Service Automation” research report, Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) surveyed over 400 IT professionals in North America, EMEA, and APAC to look at the adoption and impact of AI-enabled IT automation. A key finding was that IT automation is either a competitive advantage or a gap. If one company can operate faster and more efficiently than another, they have an advantage in execution and margin.

At an executive level IT automation is a no-brainer – it cuts costs, speeds up processes and introduces innovation. EMA found that in 45% of cases, the drive for IT automation came from the C-suite – IT operations staff were the driving force in only 16% of companies.

“IT automation is either a competitive advantage or a gap.”

Additionally, the research showed that when it came to allowing true automation action, 47% of companies choose to enable automated actions only with human oversight or approval.

Addressing Modern Challenges with Automation.

Automation also plays a critical role in simplifying infrastructure compliance.

The levels of compliance required today are just too complex for manual processes – the CIS Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 Benchmark 816 pages long – even if a server is initially built to a standard, configuration drift is natural and manually checking every server is impossible.

Following an Infrastructure as Code approach, automation enables daily configuration checks with no manual intervention and any unauthorised changes can be corrected by re-applying the relevant IaC template. CSI uses Terraform and Red Hat Ansible to maintain IT estates – improving time to build, cutting costs, reducing security risk and ensuring compliance to standards.

Key IT Automation Partners

 

Red Hat OpenShift Partner

 

Discover the RedHat Ansible Automation Platform.

Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform is a powerful tool for the orchestration of enterprise environments. Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform manages the Ansible technology used by thousands of organisations globally to help them automate IT tasks, such as:

  • configuration management
  • provisioning
  • workflow orchestration
  • application deployment
  • and lifecycle management

Ansible works by connecting to the components that requires attention and pushing programs that execute instructions that would have been done manually. These programs leverage Ansible modules that are pre-written in YAML syntax based on the specific expectations of the endpoint’s connectivity, interface, and commands.

Ansible modules execute tasks. One or more Ansible tasks can be combined to make a play. Two or more plays can be combined to create an Ansible Playbook. Ansible Playbooks – essentially automation blueprints – help IT staff program applications, services, server nodes, or other devices without the manual overhead of creating everything from scratch.

automation

Design an IT Automation Strategy First.

IT modernisation is all about finding smarter ways to do business, no matter the complexity of your environment or where you are on the modernisation journey. An IT operations automation strategy can help you improve existing processes. With automation, your business can:

  • save time
  • increase quality
  • improve employee satisfaction
  • reduce costs throughout your organisation.

CSI’s Approach to IT Automation

IT Automation isn’t Bold. What You Do With It Is.

Automation is a window into your application landscape. There are a multitude of business benefits, but CSI’s conversation is happening on a much larger scale. We want to help you carve a healthier, more sustainable footprint, leading the right legacy with your IT.

Amar Bilas, CSI’S Public Cloud Leader, shares his insights about using IT Automation and Infrastructure as Code to support client goals, where reducing carbon emission and sustainability initiatives are on their agenda.

Is you want to have a different conversation about your IT goals, get in touch to speak with one of our experts today.

Browse Our Enterprise Modernisation Services

We’re here to Help.

If you’re burdened by repetitive tasks and think that IT automation might make your business operate smarter than before, get in touch with one of our experts and we can help you put automation on the agenda. Speak with one of our experts today to find out the best way to deploy IT automation within your organisation.

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