Today’s fast-paced business environment demands real-time decision-making skills. The decision-maker who does not commit to the change in record time loses the opportunity.

More and more enterprises find automation as a powerful tool for success. Automation delivers critical services to business users with speed and accuracy. It reduces the effort IT spends, improving efficiency. It provides decision-makers with real-time information, facilitating timely and informed decisions. 

The benefits of automation are realized only when implemented in the right way. Do not fall into the trap of implementing piecemeal automation tools. Such an approach increases both the asset and IT management costs. Infrastructure and Operations (I&O) leaders seeking automated solutions need a strategic roadmap. Automating for the sake of it only creates solutions in search of a problem.

1. Decide the Objectives

Decide on the automation objectives upfront. Reactive automation, with unclear objectives, fritters away the hard work.

Often, the need for automation arises because I&O does not respond to stakeholder demands. Many critical processes such as security require instant responses. Incumbent I&O systems may fail to provide it.

I&O automation delivers several benefits. It does away with routine manual tasks and boosts operational efficiency. It frees up competent HR from routine tasks, allowing them to focus on value tasks. It enables a quick response to the customer, improving customer satisfaction. It delivers improved process accuracy to increase reliability and mitigate risks. The enhanced process speed on offer decreases time to market and cut costs.

Effective automation goes beyond process improvements. It responds to business and market demands.

2. Assess the Existing State

Identify potential processes for automation. Target areas such as IaaS, PaaS, and Capacity Monitoring. Evaluate and prioritize the processes for impact and readiness. 

Evaluate the gap between the existing state and the ideal state. Probe the underlying reasons behind the gap, such as:

Lack of IT process understanding:

Often the gap exists due to conceptual deficiencies. Decision-makers engrossed in day-to-day exigencies do not realize the benefits of automation.

Make business leaders understand the I&O processes marked for change. Document related processes such as service definition, request fulfilment and release management. Make explicit the changes on offer.

Resistance to Change:

Cultural challenges result in low automation maturity, in many enterprises. Automation entails dismantling of entrenched status-quo. Such dismantling meets resistance. The enterprise has to invest in change management and promote a culture that rewards people who advance the automation state. 

Skill-deficiency:

Skilled talent is in high demand in today’s age of knowledge workers. Automating I&O processes requires specific skills and roles. Service Architects and Infrastructure Developers become key partners of the change process. Document these roles, and seek out human resources with the right skill-set. 

Lack of investment in automation capabilities:

I&O automation makes changes to computing technology. Key areas of impact include virtualization, self-service, and orchestration. 

Assess the technologies available and required. Enterprises faced with competing priorities often give short-shrift to IT investments. Chalk out a clear cost-benefit analysis, with the ROI explicit. The onus is on the top management to make automation a priority.

3. Devise a Migration Plan

Devise a solid migration plan to bridge the gap. There is no one-size-fits-all action plan. Customize the migration plan for the enterprise, for best results. 

The automation roadmap depends on the selected priorities. The tools, skills and services required to implement automation likewise depend on the objective. Deploy Artificial Intelligence-based automation tools wherever possible, for maximum effect.

The following are the key components of any well-structured migration plan:

• Top management buy-in: Secure top management buy-in. Top management support is essential to secure funding, enforce changes, and assuage customers. The top management can also lead from the front in managing resistance to change.
• Staff roles: Assign a clear cut role to each member of the team. Assign relevant personnel as an architect, engineer, influencer, troubleshooter, and more. 
• Documentation: Document and diagram the business-valued processes. Undertaking the exercise on the entire process may be overwhelming. Give priority to the most valued ones.
• Creating a map: Develop a time-line illustrating the position of the enterprise and the desired state. Factor in the time required to arrange the necessary resources, install the tools, and test it to perfection.
• Apply specific interventions: Install the selected automation tool. Tailor the implementation with least disruption to routine operations. Run the old and new system for a while, to resolve glitches. 
• Manage change: Take proactive interventions to overcome resistance to change. Communicate what is happening and the benefits on offer. Assure each individual of their role in the new automated state. Offer training to reduce the learning curve with the new automated systems.

Successful automation requires proper interaction procedures, between groups, service providers, and other stakeholders. 

Consider Mindtree’s automated eyeball/peak hour load monitoring system. A new Robotic Process Automation (RPA) system replaced the manual task performed by dedicated teams. These teams worked 225 hours a month, monitoring system availability and performance. The automated system monitors 15 sessions effortlessly. It also tracks KPIs such as CPU utilization, queue performance, HTTPS response time, system load, and more. It raises alerts on occurrence of threshold breaches and other critical events. The system, built on Mindtree’s RAPID methodology, uses standard operating procedure and Automation Anywhere tool. It achieved 90% savings on manual effect, with 100% data accuracy.

A well thought out automation strategy may extend over many years. Automation takes place in stages, one process at a time. A multi-year automation strategy allows optimal deployment of available tools and skillsets. The benefits include process efficiency, customer satisfaction, and a higher return on investment.