What is IT automation?

IT automation uses software to create repeatable instructions and processes that can replace or reduce human interaction with IT systems. This revolutionary approach has been evolving for years, transforming the way organizations manage IT infrastructure, streamline operations, and enhance efficiency.

Here we’ll explore IT automation’s latest advancements—advancements that are key for organizations striving to reduce costs, accelerate innovation, and stay competitive.

Why is IT automation important for your IT operations strategy?

IT automation is a modern business imperative for five reasons:

1. Greater efficiency: By automating routine, repetitive tasks, IT teams can respond faster, accelerate execution, and improve service delivery. Free from manual work, they can now focus on strategic initiatives that drive growth and innovation.
2. Cost reduction: While there may be initial investments in automation tools and technologies, the long-term benefits far offset the upfront costs and drive significant savings. Reduced manual labor and fewer errors contribute to a healthier bottom line.
3. Enhanced accuracy and consistency: Human errors can be costly and time-consuming to rectify. Automation ensures that tasks are performed consistently and accurately every time, reducing the risk of mistakes and improving overall service reliability.
4. Scalability: As businesses grow, their IT needs become more complex. Automation can scale operations with ease, handling increased workloads without requiring a proportional increase in staff or resources.
5. Improved security and compliance: Automated systems can consistently apply security patches, monitor for threats, and ensure compliance with regulatory requirements—reducing the risk of breaches and noncompliance penalties.

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How does IT automation simplify and accelerate IT operations?

IT automation simplifies and accelerates various aspects of IT operations:

Infrastructure provisioning

Automated provisioning allows IT teams to quickly and efficiently deploy new bare metal servers, applications, and infrastructure. This process often employs Infrastructure as Code (IaC), along with automation methods like scripting, low-code/no-code GUI-based authoring, and self-service catalogs. Automation enables rapid resource scaling to meet changing business needs—reducing environment provisioning time from days or weeks to just hours or minutes.

Configuration management

Configuration management tracks and manages system and application configurations across the IT infrastructure, ensuring consistency and accuracy. It reduces the risk of configuration drift and makes it easier to maintain a desired state across all systems.

Patch roll-out

Patch management is a critical but time-consuming task . Automation can streamline the process by identifying systems that need updates, testing patches in a controlled environment, and deploying them across the infrastructure with minimal human intervention. Systems are always up-to-date and protected from known vulnerabilities.

Vulnerability remediation

Automated vulnerability management systems can continuously scan for security weaknesses, prioritize them based on risk, and apply patches or other fixes automatically. This proactive approach significantly reduces the window of opportunity for potential attackers and helps maintain a strong security posture.

Streamlining compliance

Maintaining compliance with various regulatory standards can be complex and resource-intensive. Automation helps by continuously monitoring systems for compliance, generating required reports, and even automatically remedying noncompliant configurations. It reduces staff workloads and minimizes the risk of compliance-related penalties.

Incident and change management

Incidents disrupt operations and hurt productivity. Automation can reduce mean time to repair (MTTR) by leveraging event-driven processes and advanced correlation to quickly identify root causes and trigger remedial actions. You can also coordinate and speed change management by automating assignments, approvals, notifications, and scheduling. You’ll prevent conflicts and interruptions and experience smoother, more efficient operations.

Robotic Process Automation (RPA)

RPA plays an important role in IT automation with regard to tasks at the UI level—particularly when backend integrations are complex, unavailable, or prohibitively expensive to develop. For example, when legacy systems lack APIs, RPA can mimic user actions for data entry, saving hours of manual time. It can also enable data transfers across disparate applications, read and extract data from structured documents, and more.

IT orchestration

IT orchestration, often called IT automation and orchestration, is the process of coordinating and managing multiple automated tasks across different systems and applications. It ensures that tasks are executed in the correct sequence, with dependencies properly handled, to create smooth and unified workflows.

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How does IT automation enhance communication and customer experiences?

Beyond improving internal operations, IT automation transforms communication and the customer experience:

1. Automated customer support: Chatbots and virtual assistants can handle common customer queries 24/7, providing instant responses and freeing up human agents to deal with more complex issues.
2. Personalized experiences: Automation enables the collection and analysis of vast amounts of customer data, allowing businesses to deliver highly personalized experiences across various touchpoints.
3. Proactive issue resolution: Automated monitoring systems can detect and often resolve issues before they impact customers, improving overall service quality and customer satisfaction.
4. Streamlined internal communication: Automation tools can facilitate better collaboration between IT teams and other business units, ensuring that everyone has access to the information they need, when they need it.

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How OpenText software solutions deliver IT automation

OpenText is a leader in information management and offers powerful solutions for IT automation:

1. OpenText™ Automation Platform: This comprehensive platform helps organizations move automation forward across teams, tools, and technologies. By ensuring seamless execution and control, it allows organizations to:
• Automate complex workflows across multiple systems and applications.
• Integrate disparate technologies and data sources.
• Provide real-time visibility into automated processes.
• Scale automation initiatives across the enterprise.
2. Process orchestration: OpenText's solutions enable businesses to design, automate, and optimize end-to-end business processes, reducing manual intervention and improving efficiency.
3. AI and analytics integration: OpenText's automation solutions leverage artificial intelligence and advanced analytics to provide intelligent automation capabilities that enable sophisticated decision-making and predictive maintenance.
4. Cloud-native architecture: OpenText's automation solutions are built for the cloud to support greater flexibility, scalability, and integration with existing cloud infrastructures.

IT automation is no longer a luxury but a necessity for businesses aiming to stay competitive in the digital age. By automating critical IT processes with OpenText's IT automation software, organizations can accelerate their digital transformation initiatives, improve operational efficiency, and deliver superior customer experiences. The ability of OpenText Automation Platform to seamlessly integrate with existing systems and scale as needed makes it an ideal choice for organizations looking to harness the full power of IT automation.