Why Automation-First Enterprises Are Propelling Themselves Into Future Success
By Stan Geiger, Idera
Born-in-the-cloud companies have achieved successful disruption and are now the future of agile, scalable business. Cloud-first organizations offer more flexibility with a lower cost to entry and simplified operations. These businesses have a firm basis to easily leverage new solutions without having to redesign entire on-premises systems.
Even though it would be hard-pressed to find a company that does not have at least part of its business systems or infrastructure in the cloud, there are smaller companies that are struggling to make the transition. If you are the owner of a startup it can be a struggle to digest how to get there.
Migration to the cloud means the transition from owning and operating systems to using a service like AWS or Google Cloud. However, designing a cloud-first business goes past designing for any one technology platform. Business owners need to design processes so they can leverage one or many cloud technologies with fluidity to adapt as your business needs evolve.
There needs to be a strategic approach to planning your move to the cloud. IT teams and business owners need to conduct a review of current and future usage needs and predicted pricing to avoid any surprises when the invoice arrives. After that, business leaders can select the best cloud technology for them based on their needs.
Automation Accelerates Cloud-First Businesses Growth
For businesses whose IT teams are used to “getting their hands dirty” and manually managing the entire system, moving to someone else managing the system is a bit of a culture shock. The approach to data management is completely different. In many ways, the culture of being cloud-first is the same as being automation-first.
The bottom line of adopting an automation-first approach is about preparing an organization for whatever the future may bring. Whether the challenge presents itself as the increasingly complex and expanding landscape of cloud environments or something that is not yet known, automation-first prepares IT teams to be ready to weather any storm.
Getting to this point of being automation-first will require care on the part of senior executives to facilitate the change. Many workers have a natural fear of their jobs being replaced by machines. But automation-first does not mean people-second. Instead, transitioning to an automation-first culture is about recognizing employee needs and then applying automation solutions in a collaborative way.
Succeeding with creating an automation-first culture that can adapt to change will mean senior executives liaising with their staff to uncover these kinds of pain points and contradictions and then finding the right solutions that utilize automation. With the right training, and with the knowledge of how automation can be supportive rather than destructive to their roles, employees will feel much more comfortable with embracing automation throughout the organization. Humans always have looked to machines to find a way to lighten the physical work required, and automation can take on the weight of manual processes in business to enable this more fluid future.
Transitioning to an automation-first mindset is a great tool for businesses that understand the value of agility and scalability. As the technology landscape continues to evolve, it will become vital. Organizations that adopt an automation-first mindset will propel themselves into future success.
About The Author
Stan Geiger is director of product management for Idera.