Automation is no longer a buzzword, and spurred by the global pandemic, firms of all sizes are discovering the importance of moving away from manual, labor-intensive tasks.
Resiliency, speed, productivity, and agility are key drivers for decision-makers in support of near-term automation goals, according to Forrester in the 2022 report, “Hyperautomation Leads To Transformative Business Outcomes,” commissioned by ServiceNow. Forty-three percent of respondents ranked autonomous, self-guided, and dynamic processes that leverage AI as a top priority.
And, 75% of organizations either are or plan to use automation in all or most areas of their DevOps ecosystem, according to Enterprise Strategy Group.
But while IT professionals have played a more strategic role in helping firms stay competitive in recent years, they are still tasked with keeping the lights on and other administrative tasks. At the same time, demographics have shifted and the population is getting older, so labor shortages are affecting companies’ abilities to meet customer needs. Meanwhile, accelerating time to market and productivity remain key organizational goals.
This makes automating a logical solution.
Yet, for some decision-makers, automating processes can be daunting, which makes getting started a challenge.
Think Small
Identifying a manual, repeatable IT task is the first step. Even though these will likely differ by firm, most still have workflows that are manual and consume a lot of time. Some of these may be obvious, but there may also be blind spots in how IT is spending its time that are harder to pinpoint.
Considerations for Selecting the Right Platform
Visibility is paramount so that automation leaders can identify cost savings and productivity gains. This requires using a platform that can be integrated with the current infrastructure, including existing systems, apps and data.
A platform should also fit with the overall organizational strategy, including operating models and governance.
The ‘People’ Part of the Equation
Nearly two-thirds of automation leaders cited insufficient skills and expertise with emerging tools as the greatest barriers preventing them from developing a successful automation strategy, according to the Forrester report. Automation maturity in areas including tooling and transformation methods are other challenges.
Organizational silos and a lack of real-time insight into company processes were other roadblocks to success cited by the majority of decision-makers.
The MSP Automation Value Proposition
When time and resources are an issue for firms, MSPs are a viable solution. Fortified by their own internal transformations, MSPs can help with IT process automation, which uses software and systems to help eliminate time-consuming manual operations, reduce repetitive tasks, focus on critical decision-making and save significant effort and costs.
The benefit of an MSP is that it can scale more quickly, mitigate errors, and adapt to stakeholders’ needs, often at a lower cost. This lets internal IT spend more time on value-added, mission-critical activities for the business.
Thanks to tools in the MSP arsenal, like remote monitoring and management (RMM) professional services automation (PSA) and network discovery automation tools, it is even easier to implement automation in day-to-day tasks.
Looking Ahead
The global IT process automation market is projected to grow to $25.9 billion by 2027. As firms digitally expand and embrace technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), MSPs can perform business process analysis for organizations and identify the areas where businesses would benefit from a tech overhaul.
Not leveraging automation can cost you. Manual efforts can and do lead to human error, the inability to efficiently document and track support requests, as well as poor patch management. MSPs can deliver well-thought-out automation strategies designed to meet every client’s individual needs and help businesses gain—or maintain—a competitive edge. Those benefits add up well.