Automation, more specifically IT Automation. What is it, who's using it, why is it important?
Lets start with what it is. . . IT Automation is the use of software to create repeatable instructions and processes, also known as a playbook, with the intention of replacing or reducing the amount of human interaction required with IT systems.
But wait. . . Doesn't that mean they're coming for our jobs?!?! No, but it does mean that instead of running around your environment putting out fires, you can spend more time focusing on big picture items and other processes.
Let's move on to why it is important. Yes, I know we skipped who's using it, we'll circle back. . .
Automation is a key piece of technology when an organization is ready to scale. Imagine you are a developer for an organization that builds games for mobile devices. You have just launched a new driving simulator, designed to pit users against other users in tournament style races. During the original build, the systems were designed to support hundreds of thousands of users. Then, get home one evening and see your game being played on Late Night with Conan O'Brien and jump for joy over the free exposure your platform just got. Until you wake up the next morning and see that you now have millions of users downloading the game.
You're now in panic mode, because you know that your system is not prepared to handle this influx of additional users. So you sprint into the office to re-allocate resources, start launching additional VM's, turn on the back-up to the back-up server, dial AWS to get additional cloud storage, and pray that your system doesn't explode.
Now, imagine that same situation, but you have automated the apps ability to scale via an Automation platform. You are no longer running into the office to scale the systems yourself, you are enjoying your coffee and watching the active user number grow and your stock price increase. Instead of scaling your enterprise manually, you are now focused on the next version of the game which adds a ranked tournament feature, new vehicles, a communications engine so users can talk to each-other. This is what Automation is for. Allowing your team to focus on what matters, making improvements.
That was a fun example of what Automation can do for you, but lets really dig in. Why Automation is important, is what it can enable you to do. At a high level IT Automation can assist customers with flexibility, agility, control, efficiency, interoperability, and cloud cost management. IT Automation increases flexibility by allocating, managing, and scaling resource pools even if they span multiple types of hybrid infrastructure. It increases agility by orchestrating operations and automating complex tasks.
IT Automation increases control by allowing your team to easily discover, monitor, measure, report, govern, and automate all workloads and resources regardless of whether your running cloud, virtualization, and/or container-based infrastructure. It can increase efficiency by speeding up resource and service delivery timelines. Additionally it will free up your IT staff from all of the tedious day-to-day operations so that they can focus on strategic projects, innovations, and value-adds.
IT Automation increases interoperability by integrating with existing infrastructure and management systems. Allowing you to use your preferred software tools while improving operations. Lastly, IT Automation helps manage cloud costs by optimizing resources, chargeback use, and improves capacity planning with comprehensive visibility into your cloud environment.
Lets circle back to who is using IT Automation. Short answer, IT Automation is being adopted by all types of organizations both public and private. You see IT Automation in the Commercial Space, DoD Agencies, Civilian Agencies, and at the State and Local level as well. NASA has spoken very highly of the Ansible Automation platform Anisble Tower. "Ansible Tower has allowed us to provide better operations and security to our clients. It has also increased our efficiency as a team."
There is one question that we have not yet addressed. How do you Automate your Enterprise? Red Hat Ansible Automation.
The graphic to the left overviews the key benefits of implementing the Red Hat Ansible Automation.
Some of the biggest benefits of Red Hats offering, is that it is Agentless. That meas it is one less thing that you need to keep secure.
Ansible playbooks are expressed in YAML format which is a human-readable coding language. This means that anyone in your organization, with a little practice, can create and manage playbooks using Red Hat Ansible Automation
Long-story short, IT Automation is the process to help your organization scale and increase efficiency. Red Hat Ansible Automation is the best product out there to help you with the IT Automation process.
Here at DLT Solutions we have a dedicated team of Engineers that can help to architect your Automation solution, and get you on the right path toward an Automated IT Enterprise.
#DLTSolutions #RedHatAnsibleAutomation #ITAutomation #Automate #Ansible #DLTEngineering
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