Cloud Automation's Top Five Returns on Investment

While not all organizations are ready to shift from premised-based to cloud-based technologies, at least three-quarters of U.S. C-level executives are at least thinking about it.

According to an Avanade survey entitled “Has Cloud Computing Matured?,” 60 percent of companies worldwide flagged cloud computing as a top IT priority for 2012. The response is even higher in the C-suite with 75 percent of C-level executives reporting cloud computing as top of mind. 

Cloud automation is designed to ensure optimization of automation tasks executed in cloud and hybrid-cloud environments, giving industry leading SMBs and Fortune 1,000 companies a way to automate their business and IT processes and maximize ROI. In fact, by 2014, cloud-computing services will grow to a $55 billion industry, according to International Data Corporation.

During a recent Network Automation webinar with guest speaker Forrester (News - Alert) Research Senior Analyst Glenn O’Donnell, an audience poll revealed that 77 percent of respondents were considering cloud deployment and wanted to learn more about the overall benefits to their operation.

“The market is looking for rapid reactions from technologists to address these computing demands,” said Dustin Snell, founder and chief software architect of Network Automation (News - Alert).

The company provides its AutoMate customers with the ability to automate the on-demand enabling of computing resources when needed, whether for computing infrastructure, software or application services, Snell added.

AutoMate 9 offers cloud automation functionality via Amazon Web Services (News - Alert) (AWS) and Microsoft Azure with actions including Simple Storage Service (S3), Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2), Relational Database Service (RDB), SimpleDB, and Simple Queue Service (SQS). 

For those still not convinced, take a look at Network Automation’s list returns on investment that can be achieved by automating cloud-based platforms, which are as follows:

1. Reduced Utility Costs. Cloud processing is pay as you go, and automation ensures that only what is needed is actually used.

2. Seamless Workflow. Cloud deployments are in conjunction with on-premise applications and IT resources. Automation helps integrate these hybrid environments.

3. Liberating Human Capital. Focusing IT staff time on value added efforts is paramount. Cloud platforms have console control platforms that require both IT administration and manual operation.  Automation can perform routine tasks on these consoles and send notifications when human intervention is required.

4. Streamlined Operational Efficiency. Mundane business process tasks require browser-based interaction with cloud facilities, suitable automation solutions can eliminate this interaction.

5. Enhanced Control and Execution. Automation cannot only control cloud resources, but also execute in the cloud, thereby delivering cloud-based economics to the benefits of automation.