Industry executives and experts share their predictions for 2018. Read them in this 10th annual VMblog.com series exclusive.
Contributed by Murali Palanisamy, CTO, AppViewX
Looking Ahead to Automations Role in NetOps
2017 has seen its fair share of trends with IoT coming into its own and
artificial intelligence being applied everywhere. We too have seen these trends
and its impact on the network operations teams' ability to deliver faster and
more agile services. Though these trends are not going away, they will continue
to grow and spur additional trends like the ones I would like to share below.
In 2018, keep your eyes squarely on automation and its role in software defined
implementations and the long term need for advanced automation skills. Below are
my predictions for 2018, let me know your thoughts.
1. Increased demand for advanced automation skillsets
The advent of automation and other new age technologies have created a new
demand for both advanced and niche skillsets. The IT industry will witness a significant
rise in the number of jobs for automation engineers who can skillfully and
effectively deploy the sophisticated tools that help enterprises automate and
orchestrate their networks. Automation allows enterprises to deliver faster, error-free,
and cost-effective solutions, and as enterprises start to embrace automation,
they will need more technically adept professionals to help them.
We will also see enterprises investing in applied learning courses to
help their existing IT professionals keep pace with emerging trends and the new
requirements that come with them. Educational
institutions - whether they be major universities or technical trade schools - will
also start adding modules to existing courses that focus on automation.
2. With automation, the future of Artificial
Intelligence will become more tangible
Artificial Intelligence (AI) was the talk of 2017, with predictions and
ideas thrown loftily around by tech pioneers. In 2018 we will see the actual
implementation of all these revolutionary ideas. It is no longer just a vision
we're aspiring to- it is happening. In fact, major global organizations are
already investing millions of dollars in AI.
One major reason for the booming growth of AI is the elimination of
manual dependencies and the errors they inevitably spur. In enterprise tech,
automation is already playing a major role in removing the need for manual
intervention and therefore increasing business agility. However, when coupled with
AI, users will introduce the essence of human intelligence that will
effectively eliminate step-by-step programming and customization. To stay ahead
of the curve, AI integration is a must as its presence becomes more and more
tangible every day.
3. Automation is quickly becoming a necessity
In 2018, enterprises will have little choice but to start replacing traditional
work-flows with automation. Automation itself is not a new trend - it has been
part of the discussion for quite some time. But, the actual need to automate is
steadily increasing. In fact, it will no longer just be a "nice-to-have" item
on your budget proposal. Instead, it will be a permanent fixture that you
absolutely must invest in.
Automation is the key to balancing the large volumes of data and tasks
that enterprises must manage on a daily basis. By introducing automation
workflows, you can eliminate silos and improve day-to-day processes to increase
overall efficiency. Migration to automation will not only help increase
productivity and accuracy, but it will also make IT teams more agile - a
necessity in today's business environment.
4. Intent-based automation is on the rise
Enterprises want to be in complete control, and engineers want to have the
ability to customize workflows and processes to best suit their needs. Intent-based
automation takes software-defined automation to the next level. Automation
gives enterprises the flexibility to customize and predefine internal network
workflows. Once users define the pathway, intent-based automation will
manipulate the network to enforce policies and deliver the desired outcome.
Intent-based automation eliminates the need for manual scaling by
automating the process with pre-defined intent. Although it is still in its
early stages, it has the potential to play an integral role in software-defined
implementations by making automation smarter and more intuitive.
5. Simplicity will override agility when it
comes to automation tools
Enterprises are investing significantly in identifying new trends and
finding ways to adapt to them. There are multiple vendors offering different
tools that help users to automate their network infrastructure services.
However, what many enterprises don't recognize is that by adding new tools,
users can unintentionally complicate existing processes. They continue to procure
different tools and in turn hit roadblocks when they don't know how to manage
them all.
Keeping things simple is crucial for enterprises evaluating automation
solutions. However, determining the right automation process for your unique
infrastructure is no easy task. It is complex, and users cannot afford to
tamper with the network. If the engineers are not satisfied with the simplicity
of the solution, users must sell them on the agility it enables. In 2018, the simplicity
of automation tools will be more important than the agility they can provide.
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About the Author
As chief technology officer, Murali is responsible for the overall
product vision, development, and technical direction of AppViewX. Before
joining the company, he served as senior vice president at Bank of
America, where he led an architecture and engineering team of e-commerce
application delivery.