After virtualization and cloud computing, automation is the next significant level of the software-defined data center. After virtualization and cloud computing, automation is the next significant level of the software-defined data center. Although automation helps to manage the increasingly complex networks faster and easier, it meets with resistance in many companies. To convince the workforce of the benefits of automation for them and the company, executives need the right strategy.
Automation: Corporate IT Is More Powerful Than Ever
The IT of many companies has never been as efficient as it is today. Technologies such as virtualization, cloud computing, IoT, big data, and machine learning already make companies more powerful and efficient and give an idea of the influence of future technologies such as artificial intelligence. A side effect of all these technologies is that their use has increased the complexity of the networks required for them in recent years. At the same time, organizations are constantly confronted with making important decisions in a very competitive environment. One approach to being able to process data quickly and precisely in very complex networks is automation.
What Automation Means In IT
Automation in IT is not a technology or a solution that you buy and install. Instead, it is a culture built on the fact that repetitive data processes in the data center are automated. Automation helps to evaluate and process data in the shortest possible time. This means that the processes for data processing run automatically in the background without manual intervention. This is no longer an option in many organizations because in times of big data, countless data sources, and an acute shortage of skilled workers, it is practically impossible to process all data manually.
For example, in the stock markets, commodities and companies are valued within milliseconds, and it would not be possible for humans to process data that quickly. But even outside of these extreme industries, organizations of all kinds need the correct information as early as possible to make precise decisions.
Focus On Optimizing Data Processes
To better master the challenge of processing data faster and making better decisions, many companies have already started to optimize their data processes. As a first step, organizational changes have already been made in many organizations, and a new, data-centric position was created, such as that of Chief Data Officer (CDO). But the new CDOs of many companies encounter resistance from unexpected quarters in their efforts to streamline and automate data processes because many employees in IT fear for their jobs.
The Consequences Of Automation For Jobs
One would assume that IT employees would receive the help of new solutions and approaches such as automation, machine learning, and automation with open arms. However, the belief persists in many places that the new, clever helpers endanger workers and replace people sooner or later.
History teaches us that this simplification is not valid. For example, the industrial revolution of the late 19th century replaced many traditional jobs with machines, but unemployment before the corona crisis was almost identical to that in the 1920s. And that on the assumption that organizations now have more machines and automation than they did then.
Automation and machine learning are used more and more frequently in IT and are viewed critically by IT employees exposed to the risk of being replaced by clever algorithms sooner or later. So that this perception does not become a blockade for more automation, executives must convince the IT workforce of automation and machine learning advantages.
What Speaks For Automation In IT
Analysts from various think tanks have analyzed the benefits of automation in IT over the past few years. They predict that automation will increase global GDP by up to $ 15.7 trillion by 2030. Concerning the work of the on-site IT teams, the analysts concluded that automation does not replace their IT teams but merely expands the tasks of existing teams.
In particular, automation helps IT teams replace their manual, repetitive, and, frankly, tedious tasks with strategically more valuable projects to the company. In the end, the staffing level remains the same, with its members having to do fewer simple tasks instead of concentrating on more exciting aspects of their work.
Strategic Management Of IT In The Age Of Automation
The first step in making your business more automated is understanding that automation is not a solution that you buy and use. Instead, automation is a culture of the IT organization to automate all processes – as far as possible. To establish this culture, the management has to lead the way and convince the IT department of the importance and actively support them. Significant support for IT would be to develop the skills to implement automation projects. Many IT departments are not doing very well with these skills.
Many IT professionals believe that they do not have the skills necessary to implement the latest technologies in the business. Even worse: In many companies, IT people are so stressed that their work takes away the allotted time for training. However, without training in new technologies, the problem only gets worse. So the right strategy is to invest in appropriate IT training. Training employees to implement and work with automation-based systems will be beneficial to employees personally, to the IT team, and ultimately to the organization.
Bring Everyone Involved To One Table For Automation Projects
Automation is not a task that only affects part of IT. Instead, different employees have to be won over to the topic. At the beginning of every automation project, everyone should be brought together around the table. CTO, CDO, and CIOs should sit down and discuss how automation can be incorporated into existing business modernization plans. What do you have to pay attention to, and what resources are required? Which individual stages of the project are to be taken to keep possible interruptions in operation as low as possible.
Executives who understand the value of automation to their business need the right strategy to anchor it properly. Without the right strategy that convinces, empowers, and actively supports the IT workforce, the project runs the risk of being implemented only half-heartedly or failure. In addition to establishing a culture of automation, managers must, above all, invest in the training of their IT teams and be involved as an active part of the project.
