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The Road to Automation in IT Operations-Part 1

Anirban Chatterjee

The buzz around automation continues to grow, in every industry, sector and vertical — and for good reason. In IT Ops, the impact can be instant and huge, with improvement measured in the tens or even hundreds of percent as automation enables even a very lean team to operate at an outsized level. Automation can facilitate faster production, the creation of new products and the delivery of more services — and all in a stable, predictable, scalable way. And today, with AI and Machine Learning in the mix (aka AIOps), the possibilities and potential for automation are almost limitless.

So, how do you ensure your journey to automated IT Ops is streamlined and effective, and not just a buzzword?


Here are 4 golden rules to help you do just that:

1. Set good standards

2. Reduce complexity

3. Define and simplify processes

4. Automate wisely

1. Set good standards — powerful and specific

In general, standards can be thought of as specifications and procedures that have been designed to make sure the materials, products, methods, or services people use every day are reliable. Standardization is particularly relevant to IT automation, which is itself a computerized implementation of a standardized process. Put bluntly, computers are dumb and lack creativity. They do only what they're told, so we have to know exactly what we want them to do before they can do it. This is why only standardized processes can be automated successfully.

The key to optimizing automation is to create powerful standards that enable you to get the most out of your systems. These standards define how your systems communicate with each other, transfer information, look at and analyze data, etc.

A good example is the standardization of naming conventions, which, in the enterprise IT world, is always something of a challenge. If there is no standard in place regarding what one system is sending across, then the receiving system will just be guessing what to do with information it is getting. And, if it can't get the information it needs out of the data stream it receives, then a separate, manually-updated lookup table may be required, compromising the efficacy of the automation you wish to set up.


Consider, for example, the host naming standards illustrated in the image above. The more the naming standard is designed with your needs in mind, the easier it is for your systems to analyze the data, and pull out the critical information needed, such as the affected frame, geographical location, application served, etc. If used consistently across the organization, this standard becomes a solid bedrock for the assumptions that tools downstream can make about the data, and for the automation processes you put in place on top — for example, to issue automated alerts, response and remediation actions when a server has an issue.

2. Reduce complexity - keep only what you need

A useful rule of thumb is that you should be able to sketch out or explain what your IT environment does and how it functions in around a minute

Complexity is inherent in the dynamic modern-day IT environments in which businesses operate, but that doesn't mean that we should not try to reduce it wherever possible. A useful rule of thumb is that you should be able to sketch out or explain what your IT environment does and how it functions in around a minute. If you can't, automation may just exacerbate complexity. So, when you contemplate automation, you should see it as an opportunity to take a step back, recognize areas of unnecessary complexity and identify what can be done to reduce it. To do this properly, you need to make sure you talk to the people that are doing the work on the ground to find out about their actual experience.

In the diagram below, we see an example of how complexity can be dealt with by moving to a SaaS environment. Operating many systems on-premise that need to be managed and maintained comes at a huge cost — both financially and in terms of efficiency. By moving to a SaaS environment, rather than having to maintain hardware, the operating system, bug fixes and patches, network bandwidth, firewalls, load balancers and the on-prem application software itself, you just need to take care of one thing only: the configuration of your SaaS apps!


Tool rationalization is another good example. By reducing the number of tools you work with, you reduce the complexity of your operations.

Now, you can focus your automation efforts on taking care of simplified tasks, saving time and reducing overhead in the long term.

Go to: The Road to Automation in IT Operations - Part 2

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The Road to Automation in IT Operations-Part 1

Anirban Chatterjee

The buzz around automation continues to grow, in every industry, sector and vertical — and for good reason. In IT Ops, the impact can be instant and huge, with improvement measured in the tens or even hundreds of percent as automation enables even a very lean team to operate at an outsized level. Automation can facilitate faster production, the creation of new products and the delivery of more services — and all in a stable, predictable, scalable way. And today, with AI and Machine Learning in the mix (aka AIOps), the possibilities and potential for automation are almost limitless.

So, how do you ensure your journey to automated IT Ops is streamlined and effective, and not just a buzzword?


Here are 4 golden rules to help you do just that:

1. Set good standards

2. Reduce complexity

3. Define and simplify processes

4. Automate wisely

1. Set good standards — powerful and specific

In general, standards can be thought of as specifications and procedures that have been designed to make sure the materials, products, methods, or services people use every day are reliable. Standardization is particularly relevant to IT automation, which is itself a computerized implementation of a standardized process. Put bluntly, computers are dumb and lack creativity. They do only what they're told, so we have to know exactly what we want them to do before they can do it. This is why only standardized processes can be automated successfully.

The key to optimizing automation is to create powerful standards that enable you to get the most out of your systems. These standards define how your systems communicate with each other, transfer information, look at and analyze data, etc.

A good example is the standardization of naming conventions, which, in the enterprise IT world, is always something of a challenge. If there is no standard in place regarding what one system is sending across, then the receiving system will just be guessing what to do with information it is getting. And, if it can't get the information it needs out of the data stream it receives, then a separate, manually-updated lookup table may be required, compromising the efficacy of the automation you wish to set up.


Consider, for example, the host naming standards illustrated in the image above. The more the naming standard is designed with your needs in mind, the easier it is for your systems to analyze the data, and pull out the critical information needed, such as the affected frame, geographical location, application served, etc. If used consistently across the organization, this standard becomes a solid bedrock for the assumptions that tools downstream can make about the data, and for the automation processes you put in place on top — for example, to issue automated alerts, response and remediation actions when a server has an issue.

2. Reduce complexity - keep only what you need

A useful rule of thumb is that you should be able to sketch out or explain what your IT environment does and how it functions in around a minute

Complexity is inherent in the dynamic modern-day IT environments in which businesses operate, but that doesn't mean that we should not try to reduce it wherever possible. A useful rule of thumb is that you should be able to sketch out or explain what your IT environment does and how it functions in around a minute. If you can't, automation may just exacerbate complexity. So, when you contemplate automation, you should see it as an opportunity to take a step back, recognize areas of unnecessary complexity and identify what can be done to reduce it. To do this properly, you need to make sure you talk to the people that are doing the work on the ground to find out about their actual experience.

In the diagram below, we see an example of how complexity can be dealt with by moving to a SaaS environment. Operating many systems on-premise that need to be managed and maintained comes at a huge cost — both financially and in terms of efficiency. By moving to a SaaS environment, rather than having to maintain hardware, the operating system, bug fixes and patches, network bandwidth, firewalls, load balancers and the on-prem application software itself, you just need to take care of one thing only: the configuration of your SaaS apps!


Tool rationalization is another good example. By reducing the number of tools you work with, you reduce the complexity of your operations.

Now, you can focus your automation efforts on taking care of simplified tasks, saving time and reducing overhead in the long term.

Go to: The Road to Automation in IT Operations - Part 2

Hot Topics

The Latest

According to Auvik's 2025 IT Trends Report, 60% of IT professionals feel at least moderately burned out on the job, with 43% stating that their workload is contributing to work stress. At the same time, many IT professionals are naming AI and machine learning as key areas they'd most like to upskill ...

Businesses that face downtime or outages risk financial and reputational damage, as well as reducing partner, shareholder, and customer trust. One of the major challenges that enterprises face is implementing a robust business continuity plan. What's the solution? The answer may lie in disaster recovery tactics such as truly immutable storage and regular disaster recovery testing ...

IT spending is expected to jump nearly 10% in 2025, and organizations are now facing pressure to manage costs without slowing down critical functions like observability. To meet the challenge, leaders are turning to smarter, more cost effective business strategies. Enter stage right: OpenTelemetry, the missing piece of the puzzle that is no longer just an option but rather a strategic advantage ...

Amidst the threat of cyberhacks and data breaches, companies install several security measures to keep their business safely afloat. These measures aim to protect businesses, employees, and crucial data. Yet, employees perceive them as burdensome. Frustrated with complex logins, slow access, and constant security checks, workers decide to completely bypass all security set-ups ...

Image
Cloudbrink's Personal SASE services provide last-mile acceleration and reduction in latency

In MEAN TIME TO INSIGHT Episode 13, Shamus McGillicuddy, VP of Research, Network Infrastructure and Operations, at EMA discusses hybrid multi-cloud networking strategy ... 

In high-traffic environments, the sheer volume and unpredictable nature of network incidents can quickly overwhelm even the most skilled teams, hindering their ability to react swiftly and effectively, potentially impacting service availability and overall business performance. This is where closed-loop remediation comes into the picture: an IT management concept designed to address the escalating complexity of modern networks ...

In 2025, enterprise workflows are undergoing a seismic shift. Propelled by breakthroughs in generative AI (GenAI), large language models (LLMs), and natural language processing (NLP), a new paradigm is emerging — agentic AI. This technology is not just automating tasks; it's reimagining how organizations make decisions, engage customers, and operate at scale ...

In the early days of the cloud revolution, business leaders perceived cloud services as a means of sidelining IT organizations. IT was too slow, too expensive, or incapable of supporting new technologies. With a team of developers, line of business managers could deploy new applications and services in the cloud. IT has been fighting to retake control ever since. Today, IT is back in the driver's seat, according to new research by Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) ...

In today's fast-paced and increasingly complex network environments, Network Operations Centers (NOCs) are the backbone of ensuring continuous uptime, smooth service delivery, and rapid issue resolution. However, the challenges faced by NOC teams are only growing. In a recent study, 78% state network complexity has grown significantly over the last few years while 84% regularly learn about network issues from users. It is imperative we adopt a new approach to managing today's network experiences ...

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From growing reliance on FinOps teams to the increasing attention on artificial intelligence (AI), and software licensing, the Flexera 2025 State of the Cloud Report digs into how organizations are improving cloud spend efficiency, while tackling the complexities of emerging technologies ...