Automation in Information Technology (IT)
Automation seems to be a buzzword these days. And when we talk about automation, we are talking about Information Technology. How can things be automated if it is not IT?
IT Automation
Of course, we can automate a few things mechanically, but not for processes. And the processes run businesses, not the machines. What then? Machines help us, but we, as human beings, survive because of businesses.
Therefore, IT automation is very crucial because it affects our lives directly, even though, for a layman, it may seem like an indirect effect.
The concept of automation was first introduced with the advent of the Industrial Revolution during the 18th century.
The automation process has undoubtedly come a long way from the first moving assembly line created by Henry Ford. Automation technologies have helped companies scale their operations, cut business costs, and improve efficiency.
Investing in automation is a brilliant idea because its benefits will keep compounding. However, given its prevalence, gaining a fundamental understanding of automation is needed.
What Is Automation?
Any technology that enables the occurrence of processes without human intervention is termed automation. A rudimentary understanding of automating a task is to create a situation wherein either the entire system or a part of it is self-sufficient and can run by itself. Initially, automation primarily referred to physical machinery carrying out laborious tasks such as manufacturing automobiles or even text printing.
This definition has undergone a drastic overhaul in the modern age that we live in. Individuals and enterprises alike are opting for software solutions to automate their tasks. Automation can be as simple as ensuring emails are sent at a specific time or as sophisticated as preventing a global cyberattack. When it comes to digital transformation, automation is the key driver.
Why Is Automation Needed?
Wrong question!
Automation is NOT required, as such. The correct question is, “How does automation help?”, “What is the value addition of automation?”
Businesses worldwide are opting for process automation as one of the key strategies to ensure they are ahead in their game.
Automation is ideal for big and small enterprises alike. The elegance of automation lies in its ability to simplify processes in general. From retail businesses to healthcare and life sciences, banking and finance solutions, and HR, automation is prevalent across all fields and industries. Here are the most important benefits of automating business processes.
Saves A Valuable Resource — Time
Automated business processes are all about simplifying daily and recurring activities. Different machines and software help achieve this objective. For instance, testing and application performance and generating reports from it takes several human hours.
Using automated testing only takes a couple of minutes to execute a test case. This automatically reduces the time and effort involved. By automation, we can process voluminous tasks quickly to reduce the turnaround timelines.
Promotes Cost-Effectiveness
Automation is a strategic investment and not an expenditure. Once an organization foots the initial implementation costs, automation of the business processes will prove to be a worthy investment whose benefits keep compounding. From reducing the requirement for extensive labor to reducing paperwork expenses and maintenance costs, we can not overlook the cost-cutting benefits of automation. After all, money saved is money earned, and this is a great way for organizations and businesses alike to cut down on their daily expenses.
Automation for Accuracy and Consistency
To err is human. We can not overlook the risk of humans making mistakes and errors. This is a significant drawback associated with manual processing. These errors can prove extremely expensive when we have massive volumes of tasks and data. However, automation is not only critical with massive volumes; it is also important with low-volume repetitive tasks.
Another drawback of manual processing is inconsistency. Whether it is missing a step in the process or making errors, automation eliminates the chances of all this. By improving the overall accuracy of the results generated, the efficiency of operations increases. Automation also ensures consistency at all times due to the standardization of processes.
Automation for Better Workflow Efficiency
When all the benefits mentioned until now are put together, workflow efficiency increases. By helping enterprises cut costs and reducing the time involved in executing any operational activity, the overall efficiency of a business increases.
Automation also comes in handy to perform monotonous and recurrent tasks. This, in turn, means businesses can better utilize the human resources available.
Employees can dedicate their attention to core business processes and other activities, resulting in revenue generation. Therefore, we can ensure more efficient and consistent results with minimized efforts.
Automation Promotes Scalability
The scope of work, processes, and human resources increase when an organization’s portfolio expands.
The scalability of a business or an organization in general increases with automation. Whether addressing shifting business needs or changing regulatory requirements, all these processes become easier with automation. It improves scalability performance. This, coupled with reduced employee turnover, creates more revenue-earning opportunities.
Automation Is Everywhere
One of the most important tenets of automation is to embrace the idea that technology is a part of a business function that goes hand in hand with humans instead of using it as their replacement. Instead, we must use it to improve their overall performance and efficiency.
Automation is closely associated with the concept of hyper-automation. This refers to automation that extends beyond the scope of replacement of mundane tasks. It dwells in the realm of complex work programs by using robotic process automation (RPA), artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and other higher-function technologies. Here are some practical uses of automation for businesses.
File Transfer Automation
The operation of a shared service for partners as well as lines of business (LOBs) based on an externally managed file transfer (MFT) platform ensures better coordinated, automated, and streamlined processes that are not only mission-critical but highly visible as well.
Cloud Automation
Cloud computing automation ensures complex workflows on-premises, along with multi-cloud infrastructures, can be Integrated, automated, and orchestrated. This reduces the burden on the management while promoting the acceleration of application delivery and cloud adaptation.
Intelligent Service Desk
Agent efficiency, along with their knowledge and the experience of the end-user, can all be significantly improved upon by using automation, ML, and AI. This is a significant improvement considering all this previously used to be inaccurate, manual, and disjointed, not to mention the slow speed involved.
Mainframe Automation
By automating and orchestrating all IT environments, a consistent, reliable, and scalable mainframe can be created. Its resistance to risks can also be significantly improved. This process involves everything ranging from on-premises workflows to private and public clouds used along with end-to-end workflows.
Multi-Cloud Visibility
Integrating public and private cloud environments, when fully automated coupled with legacy software and infrastructure, creates more efficient processes. It also ensures the optimization of storage while reducing security threats and reclaiming any previously unused resources.
Enterprise Capacity Management
By automating the processes of collecting, analyzing, and reporting data, a company’s ability to improve its IT capacity increases. This, in turn, means they have a better chance of achieving improved performances along with enhancing their service quality while reducing the IT costs involved.
Service Resolution
Using automation ensures detection and responses are both proactive and automated, respectively. It also promotes better remediation of events. This reduces the costs with an improvement in the overall efficiency. It also speeds up the restoration of services.
If businesses embrace and implement the concepts of automation, it will prove profitable in terms of the costs involved along with the efficiency of human resources. This powerful tool that can scale any business answers fundamental dilemmas humans have faced throughout history — getting more done while reducing the efforts involved.
Nisha Arya is a Data Scientist and Technical writer from London.
Having worked in the world of Data Science, she is particularly interested in providing Data Science career advice or tutorials and theory-based knowledge around Data Science. She is a keen learner seeking to broaden her tech knowledge and writing skills while helping guide others.