Network engineers can implement configurations and changes remotely using a network automation platform. These platforms are less costly than proprietary GUI-based software from networking device vendors and can manage multiple devices simultaneously.
Automating networks also lowers human errors, which is a leading cause of security breaches. In addition, it helps businesses improve and increase strategic workforce productivity.
Improved Efficiency
Networking automation software enables businesses to automate configuration changes, freeing engineers for more valuable tasks. Changing thousands of network devices manually would take multiple engineering teams and weeks, even with a remote maintenance company on hand.
In addition, automated processes can run consistently and reliably without human error, reducing the likelihood of failure or breakage. Self-monitoring capabilities and automatic alerts cut the time spent addressing issues, helping companies meet service level agreements without adding staff or extending business hours.
Lastly, the ability to automatically restart services and protocols after failure or error can save the need to rely on manual scripts for backups. This reduces the risk of downtime that could wreak havoc on operations or jeopardize security measures.
Reduced Risk
With rapid technological advances, networks have become increasingly complex. This complexity leads to lengthy downtimes that can financially impact company operations and overload IT staff as they attempt to mitigate. Network automation helps to improve your IT infrastructure to better manage this complexity by enabling streamlined processes for device provisioning, configuration, management, and testing.
Enhanced network analysis
Network automation software can also provide deeper insight into your business’s network performance, utilization, security, and resource allocation. This is achieved by capturing data from routers, switches, event logs, and configuration files and delivering an intuitive view of these discoveries through network monitoring and reporting.
In addition, network automation software can perform automated backups of switch and router configurations. This eliminates the need for engineers to manually recreate these critical settings if a device experiences an outage. This, along with the improved efficiency and reduced probability of errors associated with manual processes, reduces the risk of compliance violations, data breaches, equipment failure, and more.
Increased Security
It’s easier to protect against cyber threats when network processes are automated. Networking automation can eliminate manual tasks that are prone to error. It can also provide an ongoing review of network configurations, which lowers the chance of a data breach.
In addition, network automation can perform backups on a schedule or whenever a change is made. This reduces the time needed to restore a system during an outage.
Another security benefit is the ability to conduct stress testing and evaluation of a network. This can identify weak points and allow engineers to make changes before a disaster strikes.
Using network automation software can improve your business’s efficiency, reduce risk and increase security, making deploying new applications and services easier. However, it’s essential to plan carefully for a transition into automation. Businesses should gradually incorporate network automation in a phased approach to minimize the learning curve. Start by automating one process at a time, and work up to full-cycle network automation. Itential is a cloud-native, low-code software platform that connects and manages IT systems and network technologies fully compliant, secure, and transparently.
Reduced Downtime
Most network tasks are manual processes, and no matter how capable your IT team is, mistakes can happen. Automating these manual processes helps reduce the likelihood of these errors.
It also reduces operational costs because fewer person-hours are needed to manage the network. Moreover, fewer resources are wasted by simplifying operations, consolidating services, reducing floor space, and cycling underutilized devices.
When IT teams are freed from repetitive tasks, they can focus on more critical projects and identify new opportunities for the enterprise. This can help keep them happy and motivated over time.
For example, an IT manager recently told me that a routine change to a router took two engineers from three different locations hours of work because they had to work with multiple people to execute the change manually. This could have been done more quickly with automation software. Likewise, other IT processes that are automated are completed more reliably and in less time. This helps ensure critical services aren’t interrupted, and new applications can be deployed faster.
Increased Business Agility
Aside from reducing the chance of human errors often caused by negligence and oversight, network automation software can help businesses increase their business agility. Automating a network takes less time, allowing engineers to work on other projects and tasks more quickly.
They can focus on strategic initiatives that drive business improvements and innovations by freeing existing IT staff from manual network management, monitoring, troubleshooting, and maintenance processes. This results in improved productivity and new job opportunities for the existing workforce.
The best network automation tools are easy to implement, use and manage. They provide a simple, user-friendly UI to make configuring and deploying changes easier. This makes them a great alternative to CLI-based tools and proprietary GUI software offered by different network device vendors. Additionally, they are more cost-effective than multiple proprietary GUI software solutions because one platform can manage a network of other network devices from various vendors. This reduces operational expenses for the company. It also increases a business’s ability to respond quickly to changing demands, which is vital for achieving its goals and staying competitive.
