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Automation Starts with Testing

Dennis Damen
Login VSI

There is no doubt that automation has become the key aspect of modern IT management.

The end-user computing market is no exception. With a large and complex technology stack and a huge number of applications, EUC specialists need to handle an ever-increasing number of changes at an ever-increasing rate.

Many IT organizations are starting to realize that they can no longer control the flow of changes. It is time to think about how to facilitate change.

Speeding Up Change

Automation is essential in speeding up the delivery of change in more than one way. I frequently hear people talking about how they wish they could reduce the number of repetitive tasks or speed up their ability to deploy. While these are most assuredly benefits of automation, they are certainly not the only ones.

My personal favorite is the consistency with which you can maintain your systems and repeatedly generate the same results. Having a consistent environment makes testing, troubleshooting, and even root cause analysis much more effective.

It feels liberating when you are confident that you can build consistent virtual desktop platforms and golden images with the press of a button. You can now direct your full focus on preparing, testing, and deploying changes.

Fail Faster

As any software engineer will tell you; if you want to speed up your development and get your number of support calls down, you need to get your testing in order. "Test-Driven Development" even states that you should write tests before you write your code.

I remember learning the hard way. We did not think we would need to test a simple Microsoft security fix before automatically deploying it to production. What could go wrong? Surely Microsoft would test their hotfixes … right? This simple security fix brought down a 5,000 user Citrix XenApp Farm. And, as I am sure you realize, restoring it felt like it took forever.

The point is that the sooner you find out a change is going to cause you (performance) issues, the faster you can fix them and prevent time-consuming repairs afterwards.

There's a solution for end-user computing experts who are serious about speeding up their change process while delivering exceptional end-user experience: testing the impact of planned changes on performance and compatibility in pre-production and catching disruptions due to unplanned changes early in production.

We want to hear your experiences with change — the good, the bad AND the ugly. What were your worst problems and how did you solve them? Don't hesitate to get in touch with us!

Dennis Damen is Sr. Product Manager at Login VSI

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Automation Starts with Testing

Dennis Damen
Login VSI

There is no doubt that automation has become the key aspect of modern IT management.

The end-user computing market is no exception. With a large and complex technology stack and a huge number of applications, EUC specialists need to handle an ever-increasing number of changes at an ever-increasing rate.

Many IT organizations are starting to realize that they can no longer control the flow of changes. It is time to think about how to facilitate change.

Speeding Up Change

Automation is essential in speeding up the delivery of change in more than one way. I frequently hear people talking about how they wish they could reduce the number of repetitive tasks or speed up their ability to deploy. While these are most assuredly benefits of automation, they are certainly not the only ones.

My personal favorite is the consistency with which you can maintain your systems and repeatedly generate the same results. Having a consistent environment makes testing, troubleshooting, and even root cause analysis much more effective.

It feels liberating when you are confident that you can build consistent virtual desktop platforms and golden images with the press of a button. You can now direct your full focus on preparing, testing, and deploying changes.

Fail Faster

As any software engineer will tell you; if you want to speed up your development and get your number of support calls down, you need to get your testing in order. "Test-Driven Development" even states that you should write tests before you write your code.

I remember learning the hard way. We did not think we would need to test a simple Microsoft security fix before automatically deploying it to production. What could go wrong? Surely Microsoft would test their hotfixes … right? This simple security fix brought down a 5,000 user Citrix XenApp Farm. And, as I am sure you realize, restoring it felt like it took forever.

The point is that the sooner you find out a change is going to cause you (performance) issues, the faster you can fix them and prevent time-consuming repairs afterwards.

There's a solution for end-user computing experts who are serious about speeding up their change process while delivering exceptional end-user experience: testing the impact of planned changes on performance and compatibility in pre-production and catching disruptions due to unplanned changes early in production.

We want to hear your experiences with change — the good, the bad AND the ugly. What were your worst problems and how did you solve them? Don't hesitate to get in touch with us!

Dennis Damen is Sr. Product Manager at Login VSI

The Latest

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 ...

Image
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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 ...

Today, organizations are generating and processing more data than ever before. From training AI models to running complex analytics, massive datasets have become the backbone of innovation. However, as businesses embrace the cloud for its scalability and flexibility, a new challenge arises: managing the soaring costs of storing and processing this data ...