Comments on: The only thing left for IT is to automate IT-self

By: bazza

bazza — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 14:37:00 +0000

i see the main obstacle being IT people themselves – wood from the trees and all that – very often the people that are busy practicing said manual tasks don’t realise their so called critical work can be automated – we spoke to a company the other day about taking their IP address management off spread sheets and freeware on to a dedicated device with a nice gui etc – it also had the benefit of protecting their DNS and DHCP servers (i know i is getting techy here) but the point being – the device would have saved the organisation over 200 man days per year – the guys response was they’d never had a DNS problem ever and the spread sheet worked fine – how do you over come this sub conscious rebuff etc

By: The Automeister

The Automeister — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 12:42:01 +0000

sorry to fudge a response PatMC – but it probably depends on your present set-up. that being said, each of the advisories we’ll be producing soon will specify some of the savings you can make following each given automation strategies. these aren’t shaving the odd 1% here and there; there are practices you can employ which offer more dramatic advantages than that. and benefits aren’t just restricted to cost savings…

By: PatMC

PatMC — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 11:28:10 +0000

As someone who never did trust statistics……….what percentage do you reckon we could shave off our very tight IT budget, if we were able to get our IT guys to spend more of their time and expertise on innovation and less on managing the processes?

By: Dassy Hughes

Dassy Hughes — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 10:00:47 +0000

Well if Automated IT is as business effective as you are respondent I will stay tuned on this. Looking forward for more info

By: The Automeister

The Automeister — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 09:55:07 +0000

thanks for the comment Dassy – we will be bringing you some practical advice with our first advisory very soon – be ready for that; we’d love to hear your comments!

By: Dassy Hughes

Dassy Hughes — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 09:50:53 +0000

Thats all well and good – the benefits sound real and valuable and the challenges are certainly there – its the upfront investment both in $$ and resource – that the business will struggle with – and I will certainly find hard to sell internally with my current budget restrictions.. or is it much simpler than I think it is to implement ?

By: The Automeister

The Automeister — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 13:40:18 +0000

I think you just answered your own question bazza – absolutely staff costs are a huge part, and a real opportunity for automation. look at where else IT has brought automation to other departments of a business; freeing up manpower is a major aspect. thanks again for your comment

By: bazza

bazza — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 16:54:05 +0000

i guess what i’m refferring to is that most of the budget would comprise staff wages, renewals for maintenance and so forth – so what i’m saying is that when take out staffing etc – the ratio’s would be much different – perhaps 50:50 or is automated IT all about pruning staff costs as well . . . . .

By: The Automeister

The Automeister — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 13:01:34 +0000

Thanks for the comment bazza – those are PwC stats as reported in the FT by the way. If your experience differs then please elaborate. 77% of statistics are made up on the spot apparently though in all seriousness our own insights are that a 80-90% opex figure chimes with most IT depts today.

By: bazza

bazza — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 11:34:54 +0000

all these research findings are a load of bunkem – they’re not in touch with the real world