In this new age of virtualization and cloud computing, I'd argue for the latter. IT is caught in a conundrum - budgets are flat or declining but the demand for IT's services have never been higher. So how can IT deliver services better, faster and cheaper using manual, cumbersome, time-consuming and error-prone processes? Short answer - it can't.

I'm glad to see that our friends at Ovum agree. They just released a new Technology Audit report profiling our CA Automation Suite for Data Centers solution, and I think the following excerpt sums up their feelings toward automation in this age of the "new normal":

When the prospect of cloud computing is introduced, the role of automation and the changes needed to the process models become more than "nice-to-haves;" they become a central tenet of IT delivery.

The following passage also really hits home since it explains how difficult it can be to take advantage of new computing paradigms such as virtualization and cloud computing without automation:

Lack of automation is already preventing organizations from benefiting from newer technologies. For example, lack of dynamic management to enforce business needs in a virtualized environment results in greater labor costs, which can obliterate the hardware cost savings that the technology makes possible. Increasingly, organizations looking at adoption of a cloud approach recognize that adding cloud-based resources to the management of their existing environment would fail to yield benefits if managing manually, and reactively, were the only option. Indeed, costs may well increase.

CA Automation Suite for Data Centers is one of our several rich and robust suites of integrated automation solutions that can help you deliver value with Business Service Innovation.  

But don't take my word for it. Here's Ovum's take on CA Automation Suite for Data Centers:

Mid-sized and large organizations looking to transform their existing data centers, at their own pace, into a more cloud-ready environment, should strongly consider this offering from CA Technologies, especially as it provides so well for managing the use of physical, cloud-based, and virtualized resources.

To read the full Ovum Technology Audit report, click here. 

If you are interested in learning more about how automation can help you transform IT service delivery, automate complex processes, and reduce costs, contact us to get the journey started.