{"id":1123,"date":"2018-02-15T14:35:36","date_gmt":"2018-02-15T19:35:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog2wrkdev.wpenginepowered.com\/itops-new-approach-automation\/"},"modified":"2026-09-18T14:10:25","modified_gmt":"2026-09-18T18:10:25","slug":"itops-new-approach-automation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.workato.com\/the-connector\/itops-new-approach-automation\/","title":{"rendered":"Why ITOps Needs A New Approach to Automation, Too"},"content":{"rendered":"\nIt\u2019s no surprise that automation has quickly become a crucial element of the future of work. From reducing manual effort to streamlining key processes, automation has benefits for every business, across every department.\n\nWith the explosion in the number of apps used throughout the enterprise, automations are required for fast and better decision-making, rapid product innovations, lower operational costs, and\u2014above all\u2014delightful customer experiences.\n\nTo build automations at scale, a larger part of the workforce must be empowered to create those automations. But traditional automation platforms require technical expertise that few employees possess. To create truly agile automations without relying on experts, lines-of-business staff like analysts and app admins need to be given new tools.\n\nSimilarly, the traditional approach to building automations is proving insufficient for ITOps as they try to keep pace with the growth of enterprise technology. How can you support reliability and agility in ITOps at a time of explosive growth in enterprise apps, IoT, and demanding business and customer expectations? With Gartner predicting that 50% of IT spending will go to shadow IT in the near future, ITOps can no longer afford to react at a\u00a0glacial pace. Here are four reasons why ITOps will benefit from a new approach to automation just as much as line-of-business users.\n\nRelated: 5 ServiceNow integrations that your colleagues in IT need<\/a><\/em>\n

1) Business demands on ITOps have grown. Staff and funding have not.<\/h2>\nIt\u2019s no secret that ITOps is responsible for keeping important business tools up and running. But as companies adopt more technologically advanced tools (like best-of-breed SaaS apps), ITOps have more to manage. Keeping pace with basic service level requirements is already challenging enough. When ITOps must also support for new initiatives\u2014such as IoT or digital customer engagement\u2014it\u2019s no surprise that over 75% of IT professionals say that pressure on their processes is increasing, according to a Freeform Dynamics study.\n\n\"\"\n\nITOps spending, however, has slowed year-over-year. In 2016, spending was expected to grow by almost 2.5%, according to Statista. The same study indicated that in 2018, ITOps spending would grow by only 2.37%. By 2020, the study predicts, ITOps spending will grow by only 2.1%.\n\n\"ITOps\n\nNot only does IT spending grow at a slower rate than spending for other departments\u2014digital marketing spend, in comparison, enjoys about an 11% compound annual growth rate\u2014but that spending growth is also quickly shrinking. ITOps teams simply do not have the resources they need to meet the growing demands placed on them.\n\nPablo Stern, general manager and vice president of ITOM for ServiceNow, explains that this lack of spending growth directly impacts how ITOps functions. \u201cThe biggest issue is that IT organizations and budgets haven’t grown at the pace of the technology they are servicing,\u201d he says. \u201cThe situation with IT isn\u2019t pretty right now\u2014more critical business services, more infrastructure, more silos, and increased complexity with less visibility […] The tools of yesterday require so much handholding and manual effort that IT is stuck being tactical. They want to be a strategic partner but are ill-equipped.\u201d\n\nBecause of this lack of resources, it\u2019s imperative for ITOps to solve inefficiencies within its own processes. Automation and integration would seem like the most obvious way to streamline ITOps, but it can take a lot of time and effort to create automations with traditional tools or custom code.\n\n\"\"\n\nMost ITOps teams simply don\u2019t have the resources to devote team members to building automated workflows with these methods. But another big problem is the lack of automation and integration specialists. There\u2019s a discrete skill set required to be able to build automations through custom code, and the learning curve for traditional integration platforms can be steep. Even if ITOps can afford to automate, they frequently just don’t have the human capital required to do so. They need a better approach.\n

2) As enterprise technology has grown, IT faces the same problems as other departments.<\/h2>\nIt\u2019s common to think of ITOps staff and lines-of-business staff as almost two different species. It\u2019s easy to assume that ITOps will be the exception to many trends that affect other departments as they adopt new technology. After all, ITOps staff are more technically skilled than other employees. They should be well-equipped to address the changing ITOps landscape.\n\n\"\"\n\nBut data shows that ITOps\u00a0do\u00a0<\/i>experience many of the same trends as other departments. For example, a Freeform Dynamics study demonstrates that when it comes to increasing productivity, ITOps faces the same barriers as teams like sales or customer support, such as:\n