As this IT Leader's guide from The Enterprisers Project highlights, if your talent spends the bulk of their time on painful, manual tasks, are you getting their best work? Probably not, and that's a killer when you're constantly challenged to do more with less. "In the enterprise IT space, one of automation's biggest use cases is ensuring businesses have the right people performing the right tasks," says Mark Kirstein, VP Product, BitTitan.

In fact, Gartner’s 2023 Market Guide for DEX Tools predicts that confidence in automation will continue to improve, whilst IT departments will remain in control of enabling automation. So, with IT poised and ready to benefit from automation, what do IT Leaders need to consider? 

Prioritize automation for IT workflows

In the face of ever-increasing IT workloads, where one in four IT professionals have reported burnout, there's a beacon of hope—automation. Organizations that embrace automation to transform IT environments will alleviate hefty workloads, improving employee engagement and retention. Despite this, only 8% of organizations are prioritizing automation for repetitive tasks in 2023. Freeing up IT talent by investing in technology to handle repetitive tasks automatically and apply workflow automation will result in increased productivity and an improved digital employee experience.

Empower everyone to automate

Slack, recently highlighted the potential of AI regarding enabling more automation to improve efficiency and productivity in the workplace. According to Steve Wood, Slack SVP Product Management, "too many organizations are holding on to automation as a practitioner's role…we need to open it up and … [empower] everybody to build and automate things." However, Slack's 'State of Work 2023' report notes that new technologies such as AI and automation are underutilized, despite finding that people viewed such tools are useful when improving productivity—especially among hybrid teams.

The growth of AIOps 

The rise in complex IT environments and demand for real-time insights has brought with it significant growth in the Artificial Intelligence for IT Operations (AIOps) market. But what is AIOps? This technology automates IT operations using AI and analytics for proactive issue detection and performance optimization. AIOps tools reduce manual effort, enable faster incident response, and enhance the reliability and performance of IT systems. 

Don’t fall behind 

It’s undeniable. The shift to automation is accelerating! In fact, research shows that 85% of infrastructure and operations (I&O) leaders who haven’t yet, plan to scale up their automation efforts over the next three years. Why? Automation can also increase business agility, ensure compliance with security and regulatory requirements, and optimize service costs. “IT spending — and more specifically, investing in automation and transformation initiatives — will remain an imperative," according to Daniel Levy, VP Product Marketing, Camunda.