Industry executives and experts share their predictions for 2020. Read them in this 12th annual VMblog.com series exclusive.
By John Ferron is the Chief Executive Officer for Resolve Systems
Driving Innovation with AIOps + IT Automation
In the wake of digital transformation, IT complexity has grown at an astronomical rate. Organizations face exponential increases in infrastructure data and alarms that far exceed the human capacity for manual analysis, making it difficult to find the needle in the proverbial IT haystack when it comes to solving problems. Further, IT pros are tasked with tracking infrastructure that is constantly morphing, and they are expected to resolve requests, incidents, and performance issues in seconds – without adding headcount. All the while, they are under pressure to meet increasing expectations and demands, both from internal and external audiences.
IT Automation: From “Nice-to-have” to “Must-have”
For IT leaders to survive and thrive in this new era, they’ll need to embrace automation and AIOps. These technologies offer relief from the mounting pressures of cost reduction and a shortage of skilled talent in the face of increasing infrastructure growth and complexity. In fact, Gartner stated in a recent keynote address that automation will be the “lifeblood for success” for I&O. The firm estimates that by 2025, 90% of the Global 5000 will have an automation architect, up from less than 20% today.
In 2020, we expect to see aggressive acceleration in automation and AIOps initiatives as organizations strive to achieve more agile IT operations, and as CIOs recognize the potential benefits of these transformative technologies, as well as the risks of not embracing them. These efforts will improve operational efficiency, reduce mean time to repair (MTTR), eliminate alarm noise, increase performance, and free IT teams to act more strategically.
The Promise of Self-Healing IT
The term “self-healing IT” has been around for years, resulting in the requisite eyerolls from those who have previously been disappointed by such claims. However, as we round the corner to a new decade, “self-healing IT” is poised to become a reality given the radical advancements in AI and automation.
Together, these technologies can fuel truly autonomous IT operations by delivering a closed-loop system of discovery, analysis, detection, prediction, and automation, enabling infrastructure issues to be resolved before they ever have an impact – without human intervention. Realizing this long-awaited promise will empower the brightest minds in IT to focus on creative applications of technologies, transforming them from maintainers to innovators.
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About the Author
John Ferron is the Chief Executive Officer for Resolve Systems, a leading provider of IT automation and AIOps solutions. John has an extensive and diverse leadership background in high growth technology companies. He has previously served as CEO for HEAT Software, NetMotion, and Purple Communications and in executive leadership roles at Compaq, Kinetics and Celerity. Additionally, as an advisor to Clearlake Capital Group, John provides expertise in business transformation to a wide array of technology companies, with a primary emphasis on late-stage growth companies.
