An automated IT environment is a mature environment
IT sophistication in an organisation progresses through different levels as technology, people and process mature.
The end goal of a mature IT operations organisation is managing an environment where platforms are standardised, applications and services are consolidated and rationalised and as many processes are as automated as possible.
There are many business benefits to automating IT. These include an inherent competitive advantage, the ability to scale rapidly, cost savings, reliability and compliance.
Automation = Competitive Advantage
In today’s world, an organisation’s competitive advantage is directly related to the rate of digital transformation in that organisation.
There are multiple real-world examples which show businesses that drive internal innovation around IT operations management are more responsive to their customers, more aligned with customer needs and more successful in their markets than their competitors.
Automation is the key enabling factor in an organisation’s ability to be responsive and innovative as automation allows organisations to respond rapidly and introduce new innovations in a shorter period of time.
Scale rapidly with automation
Events today occur at Internet speed and organisations need to be able to respond to these incidents in a rapid fashion. Businesses must have the ability to automatically scale up their services as demand increases. This is particularly true of online revenue generating systems where the ability to scale rapidly is critical for competitive advantage as the ability to capture revenue when the opportunity arises determines revenue and profitability.
Automation delivers cost efficiencies
Automation is a key element in IT cost savings. Automation of IT processes means that IT infrastructure is utilised more efficiently. For example, eliminating setup time for can result in major improvements in infrastructure utilisation by creating an increase in productivity during the same period of time.
Reliability achieved with automation
Automation provides consistency and with consistency comes reliability. The ability to accurately repeat actions in a predetermined order eliminates the risks associated with process deviation. That is the risk created when a standard process is not followed which is often the result of a manual operation and ultimately human error.
Meeting compliance needs with automation
Automation consistency also results in an improvement in compliance and security. Automated operations are not only consistent and repeatable but can also be audited. It is, therefore, possible to trace every action, the process or user responsible for that action and the end result of that action.
Automation within a cloud environment
Cloud automation
Automation within a cloud environment such as the Zettagrid platform is an important feature due to the complexity involved in the multiple infrastructure layers involved in delivering a cloud service.
As such, automation within a cloud environment involves the automation and orchestration of several important layers all working in unison. This is particularly true of the automation involved in provisioning an infrastructure service such as a virtual machine.
Server provisioning automation
One of the primary characteristics of a cloud service is the fundamental concept of on-demand self-service which states that an end user of a cloud service must be able to subscribe and configure the service without the aid of a systems administrator or outside party.
The creation of a cloud self-service environment would not be possible without automation as the orchestration involved in provisioning a server involves the automated configuration of multiple infrastructure components such as virtual machine hosts, virtual networks, storage platforms and software repositories.
Automation in Zettagrid
Zettagrid’s competitive advantage in the cloud platform provider market is the delivery of true cloud automation which provides total control to their customers.
Zettagrid’s primary goal when it comes to providing cloud services to their customers is to allow the Zettagrid end user community to control every aspect of their own cloud. This empowers the end user and improves efficiencies as the need to contact their support desk is reduced.
Zettagrid’s easy to use and intuitive user interface is built on a full automation engine. From the user interface, Zettagrid customers are able to automate the deployment, upgrade and downgrade of any Zettagrid service.
When a user initiates a disaster recovery from site to site, Zettagrid automatically provisions a full virtual data centre with all the supporting infrastructure without any user intervention.
Customers who move to Zettagrid’s fully automated cloud platform leverage the investments made by Zettagrid in delivering a world-class automated cloud platform which results in real business benefits for their own organisation.
Ready to benefit from automation?
At Zettagrid, we’re all about automation. Contact us to discover how your business can achieve real value from automation benefits.
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