In today’s fast-paced business environment, leaders are constantly juggling competing priorities. Whether it’s maximising revenues, improving customer satisfaction, or capitalising on new market opportunities, the success of a company’s IT operations is crucial.
Gone are the days when IT could afford to be reactive, putting out fires as they emerged. The advent of automation has shifted this paradigm, empowering businesses to be proactive in addressing issues, preventing bottlenecks, and optimising performance. By embracing automation in their IT strategies, companies can mitigate risks, streamline workflows, and unleash the true potential of their workforce.
However, trying to achieve these goals while maintaining or reducing IT spend can limit opportunities for growth. It’s no surprise, then, that companies are investing more heavily in automation and artificial intelligence for IT operations (AIOps).
A recent IDC study, commissioned by Kyndryl and Red Hat, found that despite overall IT budgets being maintained or reduced, there is an anticipated increase in spending on automation and AIOps over the next two years. Furthermore, our collaboration with Ecosystm found that organisations in the region intend to expand the deployment of data and AI across various business units in the next two years. This includes investments in Customer Experience (CX) (77%), Human Resources (HR) (75%), marketing (72%), and others.
Moreover, integrating AI into large-scale operational security and productivity is breaking down siloed processes and fostering agile operations. This AI-driven method enhances the safety, reliability, and predictability of business operations, propelling growth and improving service delivery for customers.
What lessons can we draw from this? Let’s explore the reasons why companies are prioritising automation:
- Automation can proactively identify potential issues and opportunities for improvement within IT infrastructure with AIOps.
Automation, particularly with the application of artificial intelligence for IT operations, has emerged as a pivotal asset in today’s dynamic technological landscape. It allows companies to anticipate and address potential issues before they even occur, eliminating the need to put out fires that never ignite. This proactive stance not only saves time and resources but also instils confidence among IT leaders that their infrastructure is protected against threats.
The adoption and integration of AIOps across various industries signify a paradigm shift towards proactive IT management. This approach has been shown to conserve valuable time and resources, fostering a sense of security and confidence among IT leaders. It’s been observed that early adopters of this proactive approach have successfully avoided significant costs, with some reporting over US$1 billion in annual savings. - Companies can automatically resolve issues that are occurring in their environments without human intervention with AIOps.
The greater the volume of automated-led interactions with the IT environment, the better the prospects for results. Whether it’s use cases like fulfilling a service request, implementing a change or responding to an incident, or automatically initiating resiliency protocols when natural events happen — automation can deliver the best outcomes.
End-of-life and end-of-service devices within an IT estate pose significant risks and are frequently major contributors to problems in IT environments. The application of AIOps technology in these scenarios enables real-time reporting and forecasting for hardware and software nearing the end of its life. Such proactive identification aids in better capital allocation, prioritisation of cloud migration projects, and identification of investment targets for additional resiliency expenses. - Implementing policy-based automation and orchestration helps establish guardrails and standards across traditional and hybrid cloud environments.
In the realm of policy-based automation and orchestration, it’s essential for companies to establish robust guardrails and standards, especially in complex IT environments that span across traditional and hybrid cloud infrastructures. The key to successful implementation lies in not just the technological tools themselves, but in fostering an organisation-wide acceptance and understanding of these technologies. In these diverse ecosystems, maintaining a unified approach to operations is crucial for ensuring the integrity and efficiency of critical IT and application environments.
Automation is a strategic imperative for business leaders aiming to thrive in dynamic and competitive markets. By embracing automation and AIOps, companies can unleash their workforce’s potential, be proactive in addressing IT issues, and achieve sustainable growth.
So, let this be a call to action: As a business leader, it’s time to move away from the reactive approach and embrace the power of automation for a better and more secure future.
