{"id":40133,"date":"2022-11-29T16:30:02","date_gmt":"2022-11-29T16:30:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.n-able.com\/?p=40133"},"modified":"2022-12-01T15:02:52","modified_gmt":"2022-12-01T15:02:52","slug":"getting-started-with-it-automation-an-executive-view","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.n-able.com\/it\/blog\/getting-started-with-it-automation-an-executive-view","title":{"rendered":"Getting started with IT automation\u2014an executive view"},"content":{"rendered":"

Having returned from our N‑able Empower<\/span><\/a> event in Las Vegas about a month ago from writing this, I was surprised at just how many attendees felt like they were not doing enough to automate their IT processes.<\/span><\/p>\n

I spoke to several IT leaders, business owners, presidents, and other executives and all of them were looking to do more with automation\u2014many were even still trying to get to grips with the concept from a business perspective and start out on their automation journey.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

So, I thought it would be helpful to set out the business case for IT leaders to invest in automation as well as some of the first steps you can take towards setting up an automation program in your MSP business.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Why automate?<\/span><\/h2>\n

IT automation is becoming highly sought after by IT Leaders, and there are seven main reasons for adopting an automation strategy.<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Increase profitability
    \n<\/span><\/strong>Automation increases profitability by reducing labor costs for manual work, increasing worker productivity, and boosting the overall speed and agility of the IT service provider.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. Improve efficiencies
    \n<\/span><\/strong>Automation lowers your operational costs by making the output of your IT processes repeatable and more efficient<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. Reduce the human factor
    \n<\/span><\/strong>Using Automation to ensure that outcomes are repeatable and effective reduces the need for human intervention.<\/span><\/li>\n
  4. Standardize your IT service delivery
    \n<\/span><\/strong>Automating portions of your service delivery increases your time-to-value, improves customer retention rates, and can boost your overall Net Promoter Score (NPS) scores with your customers.<\/span><\/li>\n
  5. Important but mundane stuff gets done<\/strong>
    \n<\/span>Automation allows your technicians to focus their expertise on what matters the most instead of having their time taken up with mundane tasks that could be dealt with via Automation.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n
  6. Talent shortage
    \n<\/span><\/strong>Finding quality team members in a highly competitive market comes at a premium. Focusing on Automation allows you to spend your corporate dollar on more important things.<\/span><\/li>\n
  7. Deliver better quality of services to your customers
    \n<\/span><\/strong>While I have listed this last, it is probably the most important. Providing the best IT services to your customers, both quickly and effectively, increases your operational maturity and allows you to deliver the quality of services your customer expects.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    \"\"<\/span><\/h2>\n

    Putting your IT Automation plans together<\/span><\/h2>\n

    The improved efficiencies provided by Automation can help you deliver results and accelerate your business toward its strategic goals.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

    A recent survey<\/a><\/span> conducted by Gatepoint Research, on behalf of Resolve, found that 45% of IT leaders already consider automation a core of their IT operations, and that 78% have automation and efficiency earmarked as one of their highest priorities for 2023. So, it\u2019s a big trend in our sector. <\/span><\/p>\n

    This means that having a solid automation strategy is fundamental to making a difference in your IT Business. The first step in developing that strategy is to listen those who do the labor: your employees.<\/span><\/p>\n

    They will know exactly what mundane processes can be automated or which customers are costing you more time than others. Often this will enlighten your leadership team to the current state of your operational maturity so you can understand where you are least efficient, which is often the best place to begin with Automation.<\/span><\/p>\n

    The three-step process to building an Automation Strategy<\/span><\/h2>\n

    \u00a0<\/span>Once you\u2019ve done that, this is how I advise MSP partners and Internal IT Teams to move their Automation plans forward.<\/span><\/p>\n

    \u00a0<\/span>Step 1:<\/span><\/h3>\n

    MSPs: What manual or mundane tasks do you want to automate?
    \n<\/i><\/span>IT departments: What is your team spending most of their time on?<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

    Building an Automation Strategy takes some planning and fact finding, but being able to start is usually the hardest part. When I talk with MSPs, I recommend they start with the mundane or boring stuff they don\u2019t like doing. This usually yields a quick turnaround for your techs, keeps them interested as it affects them, and allows them to quickly get rid of tasks they don\u2019t like doing. The same applies to internal IT departments.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Step 2:<\/span><\/h3>\n

    MSPs: Look to your PSA or ITSM to find out what is creating the most tickets or repeat issues
    \n<\/i><\/span>IT departments: Problem management; deep dive into common issues or Root Cause Analysis<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

    When I train technicians on starting out in Automation, whether it is coding in PowerShell or using N‑able N‑central\u2019s built-in no-code Automation builder<\/span><\/a> for IT Technicians, I always let them know to look no further than their ticketing solution (ie. PSA\/ITSM)\u2014or whatever record of truth they use for customer issues and requests, or incidents generated from their N‑central RMM<\/span><\/a>, or other IT systems.<\/span><\/p>\n

    This is your IT record of truth for all things problem-related. So, it\u2019s where you want to start your problem management journey for IT Automation ideas. It will show you exactly what customers, systems, and users are impacting your IT operation and services delivery.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Step 3:<\/span><\/h3>\n

    MSP: Focus on your onboarding
    \n<\/i><\/span>IT departments: End-user provisioning and self-service<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

    This is where I see a slight split in emphasis between the MSP and IT department. While they both have similar requirements, the MSPs generally spend much more time in user provisioning and customer onboarding than an IT department. This is due to the nature of remotely managing Networks, endpoints, and users. However, an IT department also spends a considerable amount of time navigating complexity in user provisioning, so this is an excellent one to focus on as well.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Start with your onboarding check list and then identify what tasks can be automated through scripting, and which tasks have related processes that also need to be automated.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

    Process automation is much more involved and often needs deeper scripting and web development knowledge than task-based automation, but both are equally as important when it comes to an onboarding process that includes automation.<\/span><\/p>\n

    If you want more ideas on where to start when it comes to automating your processes, here are four links to some additional resources that will help to get your started:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n