Most IT pros face a number of challenges managing and modernizing their IT infrastructures – budgets, bandwidth, and bosses often hinder progress – and IT pros in government often face these challenges at an even more exaggerated level. However, SolarWinds has noticed that many public sector IT pros are addressing these challenges by automating technologies in their IT infrastructure. We set out to learn how the automation is going so far. In our recent survey of 162 IT pros from federal and state/local government, we learned the importance of automating technology and the restrictions and red tape that often get in the way of that progress.
KEY FINDINGS:
Where are federal IT pros in the automation process? Some have yet to automate anything, but most are somewhere in the process of evaluating technologies, implementing them, or have already completed implementation. In fact, more than two-thirds of survey respondents said they are already in the process of implementing a variety of technologies and 63 percent of respondents are planning an automation project during 2014.
Federal IT pros who have automated some or all of their information technologies have already begun to realize real ROI from their automated IT deployments. More than 84 percent of survey respondents said the automation of information technologies in their IT infrastructures was a time- and money-saving investment for their teams, and 67 percent of respondents have seen increases in their teams’ productivity as a result of investments in automation.
The automation tools that provide the most overall benefit in terms of time/money saved are:
• 58.3% Network Configuration Management
• 41.7% Help Desk
• 38.8% IP Address Management (including IPv6)
• 36.6% App/Server Provisioning/Config Management
• 23.7% Storage Management
• 22.3% Virtualization Management
• 20.1% Patch Management and Compliance Reporting
• 18.0% Business Process/Work Automation
• 9.4% Log Management
• 7.9% Mobile Device Management
So what’s the holdup for the others? And why aren’t IT shops automating everything? As always, lack of budget and lack of training play a part.
Even with these roadblocks, though, IT pros in the public sector continue to recognize the importance of streamlining IT. With the breadth of IT management software vendors available, it’s now up to Federal IT pros to identify the most pressing challenges in their IT infrastructures and to find the right automated technologies to simplify those challenges. Luckily, with such strong evidence that automation saves time and money and increases productivity for government organizations, the case to automate is pretty clear.
