The 4 stages to achieving IT automation maturity

“How automated is your IT department?” It’s a question that might seem simple on the surface, but the answer is often far more complex. IT automation maturity isn’t a binary state of “automated” or “not automated.” Instead, it’s a spectrum consisting of four distinct stages, each building upon the last to create a more efficient, responsive, and intelligent IT infrastructure.

However, various initiatives are often overlooked due to internal bias, lack of resources and organization, or other factors. 

Fortunately, there’s a solution: IT automation. It levels the playing field for IT departments by automatically performing tasks, allowing technicians to do more with less, eliminating human error risk, and improving overall outcomes. Organizations that embrace IT automation do justice to every responsibility within their department—and thrive as a result. 

Like any important undertaking, IT automation doesn’t happen all at once. This blog post will walk you through the four main stages of IT automation. You can use it to determine where you are in your journey, explore the next steps, and set key goals. By the end, you’ll have a clear understanding of what IT automation is and how to implement it.

What is IT automation?

IT automation is the utilization of technology to automate key tasks in an IT department. Usually, these tasks require some degree of repetition and regularity, with the exact frequency and methodology depending on the task. 

For instance: IT organizations regularly field customer service tickets. However, there’s no exact cadence for when those tickets arrive or even how they’re handled. IT automation can help with both of these tasks (and many, many more).

It streamlines processes, reduces errors, and increases efficiency by automating tasks such as:

• Server and network management: Automating server setup, monitoring, and network configurations.
• Software deployment: Installing and updating applications across multiple devices automatically.
• Backup and recovery: Scheduling regular data backups and automating recovery procedures.
• Security management: Automating security patches, threat detection, and incident responses.
• User and permissions management: Managing user accounts, access rights, and permissions.

By implementing IT automation, organizations can improve productivity, reduce operational costs, and minimize downtime, allowing IT teams to focus on more strategic initiatives.

Stage 1: Fledgling IT automation

At the fledgling stage, your IT department is brand-new to IT automation, and its levels of involvement reflect that. IT managers may be aware of IT automation or exploring some of its use cases. They may have even invested in some simple solutions. 

The first step towards automation maturity begins with basic task automation. At this stage, businesses are just starting to identify repetitive and time-consuming tasks that can be automated. These might include simple processes like:

• Automating system updates or backups.
• Generating automated reports.
• Scheduling routine tasks such as server restarts.

However, at this stage, automation still requires significant manual intervention. For example, while some tasks may be automated, IT teams are still responsible for monitoring, troubleshooting, and fixing issues that arise. Automation tools are deployed in silos, and there’s little integration across systems. This is typically where smaller teams or organizations with limited resources start their journey.

Key focus: Identify and automate basic, repetitive tasks to save time and reduce human error.

Organizations at this level can take the next steps by: 

1. Learning more about IT automation: IT managers can visit the websites of solution providers. Many offer eBooks, blog posts, and white papers specifically tailored toward beginners. Atera’s website hosts an extensive resource library, making it a good place to start. 
2. Taking note of what IT operations need improvement: IT managers may already know specific areas within their IT department that need improvement. They can begin writing down each one and then ranking them on a scale of 1-5 (1=minor issue, not urgent; 5=major issue, very urgent).
3. Focusing on 1-2 simple tasks to automate: After surveying their department, IT managers can choose 1-2 simple tasks they’d like to automate. Then, they can circle back to the websites of IT automation solutions to explore salient options.

Stage 2: Process automation (standardized automation)

Once businesses are comfortable with task automation, they move to the second stage—process automation. With this second stage, your IT department is familiar with the world of IT automation and has assimilated some of its technology and practices. However, it hasn’t wholly mastered application and strategy. IT departments at this level are in a transitional phase—there’s a foot in the door, but it’s not all the way home.

Here, organizations begin automating entire processes, not just individual tasks. This stage often involves creating standardized workflows across the IT infrastructure. 

Examples include:

• Automating software deployment across all systems.
• Implementing automated user onboarding/offboarding processes.
• Automating incident response workflows (e.g., automatic ticket generation and assignment).

Process automation helps businesses increase consistency, ensuring that standardized procedures are followed every time. It also reduces reliance on manual inputs and intervention, allowing IT teams to focus on more strategic initiatives.

Key focus: Develop standardized, repeatable workflows and begin automating processes across the organization.

IT departments at this stage can take the following steps to advance in their IT automation journey:

1. Stay consistent with current practices: It can be tempting to rush ahead and try to integrate IT automation everywhere all at once. But staying the course is essential to long-term progress. IT managers at this stage can keep reinforcing IT automation practices with regular team check-ins and redefining workflows as necessary.
2. Standardize reporting: In order to grow your IT automation practices, your IT department will need organizational support. Get in the habit of recording results and sharing them with stakeholders. This will not only help you gain that future alignment, it will help you see your progress more objectively.
3. Take small steps toward bigger goals: Keep an eye out for other tasks your IT department can automate and workflows it can streamline with the available resources. Slowly but surely work on adopting IT automation as both a mindset and practice. 

Stage 3: Advanced automation (cross-functional integration)

In stage three, businesses achieve advanced automation, where IT automation is integrated across multiple systems and functions. At this point, different departments within the organization are beginning to collaborate through automation tools, creating a unified approach. This stage often involves integrating IT automation with other areas of the business, such as:

• IT and HR integration for seamless employee onboarding.
• Security automation for threat detection and response.
• Network automation for real-time monitoring and troubleshooting.

Here, automation isn’t just limited to individual IT teams—it spans the entire enterprise. The focus is on streamlining workflows across different systems, departments, and tools, often through orchestration platforms that enable greater visibility and control.

Key focus: Integrate automation across the organization, ensuring smooth communication and collaboration between different systems and teams.

Stage 4: Master-level IT automation – full autonomy (AI-driven automation)

The final stage of IT automation maturity is full autonomy, where businesses leverage AI-driven automation and machine learning to achieve fully autonomous IT operations. In this stage, automation not only handles repetitive tasks and processes but also uses AI to predict, prevent, and resolve issues without human intervention. 

Congratulations! At this stage, your IT department has mastered IT automation. Automation occurs on every level: From small simple tasks like patch management to more involved ones like writing and applying scripts. IT managers effectively execute long-term strategies, as the value of automation is widely recognized and respected. Other people in your organization and industry turn to you as a thought leader.

Features of this stage include:

Self-healing systems: Automation tools that detect and fix problems before they impact users.

Predictive maintenance: Using AI to predict potential system failures and proactively address them.

AI-powered decision-making: Automation systems making real-time decisions based on historical data and predictive analytics.

At this stage, IT automation is proactive rather than reactive. The system is intelligent enough to manage the entire infrastructure with minimal manual input, allowing IT teams to focus almost entirely on innovation and strategic growth.

Achieve fully autonomous, AI-driven IT operations that run with minimal human intervention

Atera is capable of carrying IT teams to this level of IT automation maturity. Its all-in-one IT management platform is powered by Action AI™, increasing technician efficiency by tenfold by automating crucial tasks including:

• Script generation: Write complex scripts automatically, then use them to resolve incidents.
• Patch management: Automatic patch application ensures an IT organization stays consistent and secure. 
• Instant ticket summaries: Users can speed up customer service incident resolution times with automatically printed tickets that provide clear, concise, actionable information.
• Reporting and analytics: Gain data-driven insights into your It operations in order to make strategic long-term plans and achieve better business outcomes.

These are just a few of the outcomes achieved through Atera’s IT automation. The benefits are equally numerous. When all tasks in an organization receive the same careful consideration and treatment, the quality of operations improves. When technicians rely on technology to execute core tasks, they have more time for other initiatives. As IT departments’ efficiency, quality of work, and employee satisfaction rates increase, so do cost savings. 
To learn more about how Atera can help you on your IT automation journey, contact us for a demo or get started today with a free 30-day trial, no credit card required!