Investing in an automated business data centre

The cloud beckons, with its promise of higher agility, IT efficiency, and cost savings. But no business can make its move to the cloud in a single leap. What’s needed is a ladder—a step-by-step process for transforming the potential into real results. And the ladder, in this case, is data center automation. Simply put, if you want to take full advantage of the cloud, you first need to take automation to a higher level.

Forward-looking companies are realizing that automation is an absolute prerequisite for migration to the cloud—and the key to a smooth, non-disruptive transition to hybrid service delivery. They are also learning that the move to the cloud is a process, not a project, and that it requires automating not just infrastructure elements but also business processes and service delivery. The cloud and any other aspect in the realms of a data centre will always need investment - and to be used to the best of its overall abilities for the good of the end user.

Clearly, IT is moving toward a cloud-based hybrid service delivery model that includes a mix of public clouds, private clouds, hybrid clouds, and traditional on-premises IT services. That means traditional IT departments must begin preparing to build, broker, manage, and consume services in a hybrid data environment. And that requires a well-thought-out automation strategy—not just at the element level but at the business process and service delivery levels.

However, many IT leaders do not yet fully appreciate just how crucial data center automation is to the success of their cloud strategy—or the full range of considerations that should guide their data centre automation strategy. Others mistakenly perceive that the move to hybrid service delivery is a project rather than a process, or that it requires a disruptive transformation in the way IT operates.

Most companies have been automating data center tasks for years in an effort to improve efficiency, save time, instill consistency, reduce errors, and cut costs. They’ve used virtualization to consolidate and automate specific infrastructure elements. They’ve begun to automate routine processes: provisioning, configuration, and patching. They’ve written custom scripts or purchased point products to automate specific tasks.