Delving into the specifics of automating various facets of your IT operations can yield numerous advantages, making it a topic worthy of in-depth exploration. Moreover, it is valuable to gain insight into different IT operations models like DevOps, AIOps, and NoOps. 

These terms may already be well within your comprehension or fall under the purview of your IT specialists. Nevertheless, having a high-level understanding of these concepts and grasping how to integrate automation can significantly enhance your strategic planning.

What is IT operations automation? 

IT operations automation involves the integration of automation into an organization’s systems and applications, enabling the execution and supervision of crucial processes without the need for manual intervention by staff. This, in turn, allows your IT team to redirect their attention to more significant tasks. 

Previously, we’ve explored the benefits of workflow automation for IT teams. Similar to automation in other business areas, the primary objective is to target repetitive tasks that tend to divert your IT team from more pressing responsibilities. For instance, you can implement automation to facilitate data extraction from your ETL layer.

Furthermore, IT operations automation has the potential to streamline troubleshooting procedures and minimize the risk of human errors. The specifics of IT operations automation may differ from one business to another, depending on each organization’s unique processes and systems.

How does IT automation work?

You can use different software tools to understand and perform any required actions. In some cases, you can schedule these actions or manually trigger them. In other cases, such as when there is an increased demand on your IT capacity, actions can be automatically activated.

Automation can reduce the workload of IT staff by “taking over” actions and responses typically occurring when an IT team member manually executes them. Your IT admin can build better IT automation by combining several execution scripts into a series. 

When planning automation, consider the size of your business and the scope of your current IT operations. You may choose enterprise-level automation tools that track different processes and trigger actions when a certain threshold is reached. 

With more advanced IT automation tools, you can delegate tasks such as system configuration, software use, and even which servers run processes.  

Remember that adopting automation shouldn’t be a hasty, all-encompassing decision. In other words, avoid automating every single process within your organization simply for the sake of it. It’s essential to clearly understand the precise enhancements that automation can bring to each task. To begin, pinpoint the manual and repetitive processes that consume a significant amount of your team’s time and evaluate which departments could benefit from increased efficiency.

Where you can apply IT operations automation

Knowing how to use IT automation allows you to make more informed decisions. But how can it benefit your business? And where can automation be the most useful?

1. Security/compliance

Security and compliance are essential for nearly every business today. Just think about how much data you handle daily and the strict regulations around sensitive information.

You can use automation to run your compliance, security, and risk management policies across your infrastructure. Automation can also help mitigate issues quickly by building automated steps if or when a problem occurs. Automation can also help make security/compliance audits easier. 

2. Incident management

How quickly any organization responds to an incident is crucial. Automated systems can restore services quicker and reduce errors. 

One of the advantages of IT operations automation is that it can help reduce the cost and duration of incidents. If an incident occurs, your automated system can quickly identify the issue and who will remedy it. 

3. Deploying applications

It doesn’t matter what approach you use when deploying applications. Automating the process can improve the results. 

Consider automating essential tasks in app deployment, especially during the testing period. By streamlining the process, you can deploy applications more efficiently and successfully. 
It can give you a more integrated workflow from building stages through testing and deployment. Looking at how workflow automation benefits businesses could offer your organization fundamental ideas.

What are the benefits of automation?

When any business considers change, one of the first things they consider is the benefits of the new process. Knowing what benefits IT operations automation offers makes it easier to ensure your entire C-suite is on board with the changes. 

Consider the following:

• Lower costs: Your IT overheads can be significant, particularly for larger organizations. Automating certain areas of your IT operations, such as application deployment or patch management, can reduce overhead by making IT operations more efficient and reducing errors. 
• More uptime: Downtime can cost your business money. Automation reduces downtime by monitoring your systems and responding more quickly with automated recovery and backup processes. 
• Increased productivity: Automation focuses on repetitive and manual tasks like application testing. This allows your IT teams to focus on more critical tasks. In turn, this boosts their productivity levels. 
• Higher performance levels: The digital era means more demands are placed on your IT and operations teams than ever. Automation means you can streamline various processes and achieve higher levels of performance without growing your IT teams. 
• More reliability: Human errors can be costly and frequent, especially regarding repetitive tasks. Automating those tasks can lead to significant improvements in reliability. It also vastly reduces the incidences of human error. A good example is the use of automation in call center systems technology. Queue management, interactive voice control, and automated call center dialers can improve metrics across the board. 
• Better governance: Your IT admins can perform tasks differently with automation. You can implement policies that provide consistency in how specific tasks are carried out. This can be especially useful when it comes to security and compliance. 
• Not just better but faster: Manual processes and tasks take time that could be better spent elsewhere. With automation, you can streamline and speed up those tasks — regardless of the size and complexity of your infrastructure. Automation allows for swifter workloads across your system, allowing administrators to focus their attention on other tasks.
• More flexibility: By implementing IT operations automation, you ensure you are more flexible and adaptable. This is useful especially when there are changes to your IT infrastructure or new technologies and practices. It means you can change your processes with less work than if you did so manually. 
• Better integration capability: An automated system — with high integration and interoperability capability — can help you implement and make the best use of new tools and software faster.
• Improved communications: There are various ways that automation can benefit your communications. One example is automating document workflow to improve career development and training.

Which IT operations models can benefit from automation? 

Different types of businesses may use different business models. Similarly, your IT teams and IT infrastructure will use different operation models that recognize your business needs. You should look at what those needs are and where automation can bring some of the benefits already listed. 

1. DevOps

DevOps refers to the part of your business — and relevant teams — that combine various practices and tools to deliver services and applications efficiently. Its purpose is to build and deploy products faster than a business that uses traditional development and management processes. A lot of this speed and efficiency can be credited to using automation. 

DevOps teams seek to collaborate with anyone relevant to the process to ensure that development is more streamlined from initial concept to deployment. 

Automating elements of the overall process, such as testing, can ensure that new products are built, tested, and deployed quicker than before. Simply put, automation can be a game-changer for your DevOps teams.

2. AIOps

If automation is topical, AI (artificial intelligence) is even more trending. 

AIOps is Artificial Intelligence for IT operations. It refers to using and applying AI technology, such as GPT-4 or Deep Convolutional Neural Networks, within the broader scope of your IT infrastructure. 

AI can optimize your systems and lead to better operational ability and improvements to your delivery systems.

Consider utilizing AI and related tools such as machine learning (ML), natural language processing (NLP), and predictive analytics. This way, you can better manage any size and complexity of infrastructure. 

An excellent example of this is ACD automatic call distribution. Here, AI automation routes calls to the correct agent. This removes the need for call center staff to do so manually, allowing teams to detect and solve customer problems more quickly. 

3. NoOps

NoOps stands for “no operations,” which refers to completely automating your IT operations and infrastructure and removing the need for any IT staff. 

There is some debate that this is aspirational. It aims for an IT operations model that is fully automated and requires no human intervention. 

A NoOps model would need multiple technologies that would be fully integrated and interoperable. It would manage all IT-related tasks from the most simple to the most complex. It is seen as an evolution from AIOps models, which still involve a high degree of human input for more complex processes. 

Final thoughts

There is little doubt that automation will continue to grow and expand. 

Better AI technologies will continue to emerge. At the same time, automated systems’ ability to handle more complex tasks will also expand. 

Of course, there is much debate about how much automation and AI will impact human jobs. But, apart from the NoOps model, the likely reality is that systems will still need human interaction. 

Focus your automation efforts in areas where there are tedious and repetitive tasks that often see a degree of human error. Automation is another tool that can help streamline your workflows, cut operational costs, and vastly reduce the amount of human errors.

The post What is IT operations automation? Understanding DevOps, AIOps, and NoOps operation models appeared first on airSlate Blog | Business automation.

A disquieting economic outlook, a super-competitive field, cybersecurity dangers, and remote working – your business faces many challenges in today’s landscape. However, an informed and proactive approach to workflow automation can help you navigate this tumultuous time.

Previously, we’ve explored the benefits of IT workflow automation. In this article we will make a deep dive into automation in operations management and what it looks like in practice. We’ll look into the potential benefits of automating operations and how you can implement automated operations workflows in your organization. Finally, we’ll identify the tasks that are particularly well-suited for automation.

What is operations automation?

Although critical, business operations are often overlooked or taken for granted. If you think about your business as a human body, operations are like the critical bodily systems that keep the whole show running smoothly.

We don’t often consider our body’s inner workings throughout the day. We’re busy getting on with our lives while, in the background, our lungs continue to breathe and our hearts pump blood. But the more efficient these systems are, the healthier and fitter we are, the more we can achieve. This analogy applies to business operations. 

Business operations include the wide range of activities and workflows necessary for a business to produce and deliver its product or service. Operations can vary enormously and depend on the nature of your business, including:

• Scheduling appointments
• Managing inventory
• Logging customer details
• Approving staff leave requests
• Order fulfillment
• Contract creation and approval
• Assigning tasks to team members

It’s more than operations themselves that are diverse. Recent years have seen our workplace become ever more disparate and dispersed, forcing Operations Managers and teams to consider all possible locations employees use to do their jobs – from call centers to offices or homes.

In short, getting all these operations right is complicated!

Yet, the more efficient such processes become, the better the business can perform. Repetitive workflows can be labor-intensive – often pulling people away from where they can add value to your business.  

Operations automation addresses that issue by leveraging technology to automate certain aspects of work, removing the need for human involvement. The routine work happens automatically and efficiently, freeing your team for higher performance in other ways. Automation makes these repetitive, manual tasks as effortless as breathing.

The benefits of operations automation

Operational automation can streamline workflows and processes to optimize performance, offering numerous benefits:

1. Increased efficiency

Laborious, tedious tasks are removed from your team’s to-do list, freeing them to focus on higher-value aspects of their work. 

For example, call center cloud systems use automated technology like interactive voice response and call routing, which is particularly beneficial for larger companies receiving high calls. Automating these tasks frees agents at the call center to focus on customer care. 

Moreover, automating tasks nearly always means completing them more quickly. That can result in significant time savings where multiple elements in a process are automated. There is also less potential for bottlenecks.

Automating operations workflows can make your business quicker, slicker, and more agile, all of which can also boost productivity.

2. Standardized workflows

However much your business may try to enforce consistency and standardization, it becomes more challenging as it grows. The challenges of today’s business landscape only deepen the issue. Consider the following:

• The shift to remote working makes it hard to ensure everyone follows policies
• An unpredictable economic environment means operations teams must achieve even more with fewer resources
• Colleagues sometimes see efforts to enforce consistency as an unnecessary restriction, a barrier rather than a support

A recent airSlate report of IT and Ops teams rammed this picture home: the number one concern was about being forced into a reactive role, forever bogged down fixing mistakes rather than focusing on strategic, operational improvements. Moreover, 85% were particularly alarmed by the danger of shadow IT in their business as a source of crises.

Automation enables a highly standardized and consistent approach to workflows. With automated systems in place, it’s harder for employees to go off-track and do their own thing. And, if the automation is supportive and time-saving, why would they even want to? 

Along with consistency and standardization, automation enables greater visibility and transparency of your workflows, such as KPIs monitoring, etc., serving as a powerful tool for overall business management.

3. Improved accuracy

However careful they may be, people make mistakes – whether entering the wrong number on a spreadsheet, forgetting to complete a particular task, or making an erroneous decision because of misreading something.

By their very nature, automated systems are not prone to human error. They can be relied on to deliver consistent and accurate performance (assuming they are set up appropriately). That further increases efficiency and makes life simpler for your teams.

4. Better team support and empowerment 

Citizen development has become popular among IT and Operations specialists, empowering teams across the business to automate tasks for themselves.

In the past, this was unthinkable. However, the new generation of low-code and no-code automation tools facilitates this. Employees can now develop automation processes within a user-friendly interface without writing a single line of code themselves.

In the survey mentioned above, 92% of IT and operations respondents supported this trend, confident that their teams have the skills needed to implement automation solutions in this way successfully.

Of course, success here depends on close oversight by the operations and IT teams. It is about empowerment rather than an abdication of responsibility.

Such an approach has significant advantages, though. An intimate understanding of the task can help get to the best solution. Plus, your staff are more likely to feel empowered rather than imposed upon by an arbitrary system, which helps boost morale and employee retention.

5. Enhanced security and compliance

Adopting a standardized, automation-led approach can boost your cybersecurity. Rather than trying to monitor a potentially disparate web of practices that vary from team to team, automation brings an opportunity to consolidate and embed robust security practices.

6. Improved customer experience

A sleeker, more agile business is more likely to deliver better customer care than one wedded to inefficient, laborious processes.

In addition, automation can support customer care directly. For example, it can streamline the sales and order fulfillment experience. It can also improve customer communication through email or hosted call centers, speeding it up and adapting to the needs of different customer segments.

7. Competitive edge and improved bottom line 

Ultimately, the above is about enabling your business to perform more competitively. It is not just about saving time and money. It also means doing things better. Your team can be more productive and efficient – in a more rounded sense, giving your organization a competitive edge.

How to implement operations automation

Automating business operations is achievable, even for small businesses. Here are the steps to follow: 

1) Identify workflows to automate

First, you need to consider which workflows automation could support. There are likely to be many of these. It is a good idea to liaise with each department to explore possibilities.

Look for easy wins: laborious, menial tasks soaking up your team’s energy. For example, contracts can be a pain to keep track of. But document workflow automation systems like airSlate allow you to automate much of this.

Be aware of the complexity involved in the automation. Start with simple cases (e.g., where the rules or logic are straightforward). Starting this way will yield more manageable costs and employee morale returns.

2) Specify automation goals 

Next, specify a goal or set of goals that you hope the automation will deliver. What do you wish to achieve?

Be specific and concrete – saying “to improve efficiency” just won’t cut it. Instead, you might specify how much time you expect your team to save through automation. Or link it to an aspect of customer experience, such as achieving a particular order fulfillment time.

3) Select the right workflow automation tools

There are various approaches to introducing automation into your business. One that has grown massively in recent years is using low-code and no-code business automation tools, such as airSlate.

These tools make workflow automation accessible for all businesses, even small ones with little IT expertise. True, some IT knowledge is still required (to set the system up, for example). But beyond that, they enable your team to become citizen developers.

Automating a process can feel like a simple drag-and-drop exercise to the user, sometimes taking just minutes. The code is still there – and is crucial, but software acts as a mediator, hiding it behind the tool’s user-friendly interface. 

4) Roll out the workflow automation solution

Identifying potential workflows for automation, your desired goals, and the best tools for supporting this in your business is a great start. Next, you need to roll this out across your business.

Whatever tools you have selected must be incorporated into your IT ecosystem. And your teams will need training on how to leverage it. Remember that the low-code/no-code approach is about using the skills and insights of your team to embed automation.

You’ll find a motivated audience here. For example, a recent report has found that 90% of HR professionals are already looking for cost-effective workflow automation tools to support workforce management. The appetite is there.

Nevertheless, continual oversight and guidance are crucial to ensure the business uses it consistently and beneficially.

Which operations workflows can be automated?

A handful of areas particularly lend themselves to automation: 

1. Data management: This encompasses a wide range of tasks, from straightforward data entry to advanced automation using technologies like Spark Streaming. Learn what is Spark Streaming to discover how it can optimize your data workflows.

2. Notifications and alerts: Whether it’s stock alerts or notifying when specific actions are needed, this category ensures timely communication.

3. Communication automation: This involves automating various communication tasks, such as sending automated customer emails to enhance customer engagement.

4. Report and document preparation: This category focuses on automating the creation of reports and documents, whether it’s generating analytics reports or breaking down customer data for analysis.

5. Approvals and authorization workflows: Streamline approval processes for various tasks, including contract approvals, eSignatures, and managing holiday requests with efficient workflows.
Learn more in our recent blog on how to automate eSignature and document workflows for purchase orders using API.

The possible applications are, in fact, vast and will vary from business to business. As a rule of thumb, always start by looking for tasks that are:

• Time-sensitive
• Labour-intensive
• Potentially menial (e.g., a drain on your team’s expertise or morale)
• Security or compliance sensitive (e.g., where accuracy and standardization are crucial)

Of course, such criteria do not restrict the limits of automation. Far from it, the rise of more advanced artificial intelligence pushes the potential scope of automation even further.

Generative AI, such as GPT-4, is already helping many businesses write their emails as well as distribute them. However, this is consistent with the logic of starting with the quick wins. 

Automate for a more robust and agile business 

Thanks to the development of more user-friendly, low-code tools, workflow automation is possible for businesses of all sizes. The benefits are compelling, too. It can improve your team’s productivity, speed up processes, and embed a more secure, standardized culture. 

Crucially, it is about more than just doing things quicker or cheaper. Look at automation as a way to build a more agile, robust, and motivated business.

The post What is operations automation? Which operations workflows can be automated? appeared first on airSlate Blog | Business automation.