The IT Automation Imperative

Cost reduction is the universal 2009 battle cry. With 35% of a typical IT budget spent on personnel, staffing represents the heaviest IT financial burden. The way in which IT evolves in complexity and size, combined with the current inefficiency of many IT management processes, leads to an ever-increasing demand for additional personnel to simply maintain the productivity status quo. In any case, even if IT could hire extra resources, there is a general shortage of experienced personnel that would preclude organizations from doing so. Kicking and screaming, IT has to embrace the key elements of mass production and adopt automation. This represents an opportunity for IT management software companies to promote their solutions at a relatively high level in IT organizations. They can do so by introducing a new message to the chief information officer (CIO) about products that were often considered very tactical and more often than not misunderstood.