Navigating the Cloud Maze: Why Cloud Automation is Your Compass

Managing their public cloud infrastructures continues to be a challenge for many IT teams. Despite the fact that the majority have been using cloud platforms for years, the number of applications and services they must deal with keeps growing. It is challenging to maximize resource utilization, keep expenses under control, and provide the best possible performance with cloud Automation because of this complexity.

Furthermore, each cloud service has its own tools and processes. Many organizations find it difficult to hire and retain skilled cloud professionals, much less specialists with expertise in specific cloud services.

In the 2023 State of CloudOps survey conducted by Dimensional Research, just 33 percent of respondents said they were “very confident” in their cloud operations capabilities. That’s up from just 21 percent in 2022 but remains dismally low. Security and compliance (64%) and cost management (60%) were seen as the most significant challenges. Almost half (45 percent) said they still use spreadsheets and other manual methods to manage cloud costs.

Survey respondents agreed that automation is the key to optimizing cloud operations and maximizing ROI. Although just 15 percent have a “significant” level of cloud automation, 82 percent said that automation is “critical” or “very valuable.”

The Complexity of Cloud Management

Before launching cloud workloads, IT teams must size and provision cloud instances, configure resources, and set up load balancers, among other things. They must then install, monitor, and manage the workload to assure its performance and availability. Manually doing all of this takes time and is inefficient. It also introduces faults, which can delay deployment and pose security risks.

Cloud Automation to the Rescue

Cloud automation tools eliminate this manual, repetitive work. IT teams can use templates and Infrastructure-as-Code to automate cloud infrastructure provisioning and configuration. Automated security controls can search for anomalies and known vulnerabilities while restricting access to resources based on policy.

Autoscaling adjusts resource levels to accommodate changing consumption patterns and traffic spikes. Cloud instances and processes can be shut off automatically. These are key elements in any cloud environment, enabling organizations to satisfy demand while keeping costs under control.

Cloud orchestration is a related concept. IT teams can coordinate multiple automated tasks in specific sequences at certain times. The orchestrated process can look for conditions such as error codes and take corrective action or alert the administrator.

The Benefits of Cloud Automation

Cloud automation saves IT teams untold hours of work, enabling them to focus on more strategic tasks. It also minimizes human error and creates a more reliable, consistent, and predictable cloud environment. Workloads can be deployed faster and scaled easily. In addition, cloud automation improves regulatory compliance and corporate governance.

Automation is very useful in multi cloud and hybrid cloud scenarios. With multi-cloud, automation hides some of the complexity that makes the system tough to manage. With hybrid cloud, automation brings some of the benefits of the cloud into the on-premises environment. This enables IT teams to seamlessly deploy workloads in the optimal location based on their needs.

Overcoming Automation Challenges

However, cloud automation and orchestration might be difficult to accomplish. IT teams must verify that their procedures are consistent and streamlined before they may be automated. They must examine the requirements of their cloud platforms and services in order to reduce complexity. Automated procedures must be properly checked to ensure that no vulnerabilities are introduced. They must also be monitored to verify that they produce the expected results.

How Technologent Can Help

Automation is a focal point of Technologent’s solutions and services. We also have proven expertise in cloud solutions and services. Together, these capabilities enable us to deliver automated tools and strategies that help you use the cloud to your best advantage. 

Let us assist you in implementing cloud automation to minimize your IT team’s workload and allow them to focus on moving your business ahead.