What Is IT Automation And Why Is It Used?
What is automation and how it works?
Automation is the creation and application of various technologies that will create and deliver goods and services with minimal human interaction. The main objective is to control processes and to boost efficiency and productivity and as a consequence reduce the human interaction with IT systems.
Automation in IT replaces the use of a series of actions and a lot of tools. It helps reduce the repetitive tasks to strategic efforts to reduce time. They recognize unauthorized or unexpected changes and automatically take corrective actions.
Types of Automation
Automation can be categorized as the following three types:
- Fixed automation
- Programmable automation
- Flexible automation
Fixed Automation:
It refers to a facility in which a sequence of processing operations is fixed by the configuration of instruments. It is also referred to as "hard automation". This is commanded from the hardware devices like cameras, gears, wiring and soon that cannot be changed from one product style to another.
Programmable Automation:
It is a kind of automation that is used to produce products in batches. These products are made in form of batches of thousands or even more and are reprogrammed each time a new batch is made. This is done to accommodate the new product style.
Flexible Automation:
It is an extension of the programmable automation. The limitation of changing the program each time a new batch is made in case of programmable automation is mended in case of flexible automation. In this, the variety of products is sufficiently limited to take lesser amounts of time.
Examples of Automation
The example of automation varies from our daily appliances to some hi-tech gadgets which are yet to be put into everyday use. Some of the most common ones are:
- Washing machine
- Refrigerator
- Dishwasher
- Air conditioning in cars
- And others
Pros and cons of IT Automation
- Speed is something that IT sectors can never have enough of. They require a lot of different tasks to be completed within a limited time. So, by using automation in their programs the speed along with the efficiency is increased.
- While writing code or while setting a server an IT administrator can omit a few steps or make mistakes in them, and this can ultimately cause admins to troubleshoot and repeat the process till it gets right. Automation helps them to run the program as instructed automatically many times until the error is mended.
- The flexibility of automated is limited, as they remain the same until someone changes them. Due to this companies have to update the previous versions to the new ones for their smooth functioning.
- It is important to note that, an automated system is not the same as an intelligent system as it knows the things that have been programmed into its system. This sometimes can create undesired results.
Uses of Automation
The use of automation helps people in restoring manipulated data, reducing the duration of incidents and their costs and also reduces the probability of human error. Using automation brings confidence in the organizations deploying applications, as any kind of work can be stored and retrieved pretty easily via a very transparent system that is easily understood by their IT staff members. It can also be used to secure the company's system.
"Automation is cost cutting by tightening the corners and not cutting them." -Haresh Sippy