OREANDA-NEWS. March 31, 2016. “While it is increasingly clear that businesses can no longer function as effectively without automating their IT infrastructure, they often struggle with how and what to automate and where to begin,” says Venu Lambu. Excerpts:

“The key is to ensure that automation of infrastructure management is closely aligned to and integrated with a company’s strategic objectives; without a clear path, businesses can fall into the trap of automating for the sake of automation, without taking actual business objectives into consideration.

To avoid the pitfalls many companies encounter when automating certain processes, businesses should be clear on their current state coupled with desired business outcomes and objectives.

There are three ways to view automation: ‘systems that do, systems that think and systems that learn’.

‘Systems that do’ work by automating the actions through scripts or a set of instructions; ‘systems that think’ look at the output of one action and then decide what to do in terms of planning; ‘systems that learn’ offer the best possible solution by automating the process of diagnosis.

There are some initial steps businesses should take to introduce automation of existing IT infrastructures to help deal with digital transformation and new, third party competitors, the need for businesses to be constantly-ready, a wider value proposition and a seamless customer experience.

By joining forces with trusted business and IT partners, the company can be helped through the automation journey. A competent partner allows the company to focus on its core business and keep a close eye on market changes to ensure it adapts in time.

This innovation factor is by no means to be underestimated: IT departments that find themselves in the process of transformation towards automation may not always have the resources to also pursue an advanced innovation agenda. Thus, choosing the right partner who adds innovative thinking to the process ensures that the company will not fall behind an industry’s status quo.”