4 IT Automation Changes You Can Employ Right Now
What is Workload Automation Software (WLA)?
Workload automation (WLA) is a solution for orchestrating a series of background processes and back-office business systems that ensures jobs are executing reliably and securely—going a step further than job scheduling to focus on entire systems. WLA tools support jobs and scripts—like PowerShell and others—running on-premises, in the cloud, and in multi-step workflows that integrate disparate systems and applications.
You may have heard other terms for workload automation—like batch processing, application automation, or resource automation—but WLA is a more accurate term as it encompasses more complex business processes and diverse servers and platforms.
The Evolution and Future of Workload Automation
Workload automation has come a long way. From the early days of job scheduling software being used to automate IT workloads, to modern workload automation that ensures complex business and IT processes are executed on time in the correct sequence.
With IT infrastructure becoming more and more complex, workload automation is ever evolving to keep up to include more orchestration that better integrates all platforms, environments, and scripting languages. Enter: Service Orchestration and Automation Platforms. According to Gartner, for Infrastructure and Operations (I&O) teams, this new categorization of SOAPs will ‘minimize the complexity of automation workflows that span diverse application and infrastructure domains.’
Gartner predicts that by 2025, ‘80% of organizations using workload automation tools will switch to Service Orchestration and Automation Platforms to orchestrate cloud-based workloads.’
Learn More about Service Orchestration and Automation Platforms (SOAPs) >
How Do IT Teams Leverage Workload Automation?
Workload automation software helps IT teams streamline and automate workloads to free up time, save money, reduce risks, and stay compliant. There are many processes to automate with WLA and many ways to make the life of your IT team easier, including:
- Unifying jobs from multiple platforms and applications, whether on-premises or in the cloud
- Leveraging diagnostics to optimize performance
- Automatically identifying and responding to jobs that could impact SLAs
- Enhancing your alerting, notification, and auditing capabilities
- Managing your environment more efficiently with variables and parameters
- Implementing event-based scheduling to trigger jobs from files, emails, and more
See how real-world companies are using workload automation software to their advantage in the Workload Automation Use Case Guide.
Add Powerful Orchestration to Workflows
How to Get Started with Workload Automation Software
Organizations of all sizes are realizing that workload automation software isn’t just a nice-to-have solution—it’s a must have. Businesses often navigate to WLA when they’re looking to replace native schedulers like Windows Task Scheduler, Cron, or SQL Agent, that lack the advanced features they need. Whichever the reason you’re looking to WLA, defining your goal—be it saving your team extra hours or improving the accuracy of a process—is the best place to start when evaluating enterprise WLA.
Step 1: Define Your Goals
If you are considering investing in enterprise software, you have probably already identified at least one major inefficiency in your current processes. Set some high-level goals. For example, you could set out to save your team from working extra hours, or to improve the accuracy of a certain process.
Step 2: Investigate Requirements
This is the part where you determine exactly which features your new solution must have to achieve the goals defined in step 1. One way to complete your requirements list is to reverse engineer the list based on the features of potential software products. Once the larger list is assembled, you can tailor the requirements to your organization and how critical they each are to the goals outlined in the first step.
Step 3: Determine Your Budget
You may already have an idea of what you can spend on your new product. If you’re working on a budget, make sure you take into consideration the resources you will save once the solution is implemented. Any true enterprise solution should save you time and increase productivity. An ideal solution will be able to grow and scale along with your business.
Step 4: Compare Solutions
This is the moment you’ve been preparing for. With your requirements checklist and budget breakdown in hand, approach vendors and schedule demonstrations. Your thorough groundwork will help you ask all the right questions and choose the ideal solution for your company.
For more detailed information to help you successfully evaluate WLA solutions, check out the Workload Automation Buyer’s Guide. Download Now >
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The Difference Between Workload Automation and Job Scheduling
Workload automation and job scheduling are two closely related yet different technologies. Job schedulers are used to automate IT processes, often on a platform-by-platform basis. Workload automation is an advanced form of a job scheduler used to automate a series of background processes and back-office systems. Workload automation goes beyond simple job scheduling to support multiple applications and workflows with cross-system dependencies.
Best Practices for Using Workload Automation
Whether you’re just getting started on your WLA implementation journey or if you’ve already begun using WLA in your organization, sticking with key best practices can keep you on the path to automation success. From tips on security and dependencies to a list of basic automation changes to embrace, check out these resources to start a foundation of WLA knowledge to continuously reference as you build automation:
Three Reasons Workload Automation Deserves a Test Environment
Best Practices for Enterprise Workload Automation Security
Dependency: A Core Workload Automation Concept
Building a Business Case for Enterprise Workload Automation Software
We understand budgets are tight and resources are limited when it comes to adding another tool to your organization. But armed with the right resources, it’s easy to understand the benefits and ROI of workload automation software and make the case to your boss.
Learn About the Features of Workload Automation Software
When implemented properly, workload automation can be the heart of your enterprise operations—and workload automation software is only as good as its best features. Here are the key features to look for in a WLA solution when evaluating your options:
- Auditing and Reporting
Get detailed on any aspect of your automated workloads and batch processes. - Real-Time Monitoring
Easily see the status of every job in one convenient dashboard and set alerts and notifications for clear, concise information about your jobs. - Multi-Platform Support
Run jobs on all the server operating systems in your organization—whether on-premises or in the cloud. - Security Controls
Preserve security protocols set by individual platforms and applications to keep your jobs secure and avoid adding new risk. - Event-Based Scheduling
Determine exactly when your jobs execute whether you want to run multiple jobs concurrently, trigger jobs when other processes complete, set holiday schedules, and more. - Application Integration
Supercharge the applications that run your business—like your ERP, CRM, BI tools, or Data Warehouse—and set enterprise-wide standards for scheduled tasks.
Benefits of Workload Automation
IT teams are saving countless hours of manual processing, securing their jobs against unapproved edits, and reducing the overhead associated with running a hodgepodge of scheduling tools. Here are more of the benefits WLA can bring to your organization:
- Centralize Workflow Management
Manage your jobs and workflows from one spot to minimize the need for multiple tools. - Eliminate Manual Processes
Relieve your IT team of repetitive tasks like job monitoring and reporting to put the focus on more value-adding projects. - Maximize Efficiency
WLA is designed to maximize the efficiency of your technology platforms and business applications—and help your IT team get more done. - Gain Reliability
Support business continuity and ensure mission-critical functions continue both during and after a failure. - Reduce Costs
Optimize resources to eliminate the need for costly-to-maintain custom scripts and programs as well as single-platform automation tools. - Beat SLAs
Automate a high volume of jobs with workflows that deliver valuable information to business users, customers, and partners without delay.
ROI of Workload Automation
For any IT project, a quick return on investment helps justify the money, time, and effort involved in the purchase and implementation of a new solution. Make the case for your WLA project with these six steps to understanding your ROI—from determining your business requirements to calculating costs—that will get you the buy-in you need from leadership.
Workload Automation Migration
With critical business operations at stake, moving on from a legacy or native scheduler can be a daunting task. But with the right partner you can achieve a painless migration. No matter what solution you’re looking to move on from, look for expertise and experience in your new vendor to provide an effortless conversion. Check out these resources to learn more:
4 Things You Should Know When Preparing For a Job Scheduler Migration
The Easiest Way to Convert Legacy Batch Scheduling Tools
The Transition From Job Scheduling to Workload Automation
JAMS is Your All-In-One Enterprise Workload Automation Solution
JAMS is a powerful enterprise workload automation solution with centralized job scheduling that works across platforms, applications, APIs, and scripting languages. JAMS makes your batch jobs more reliable and extends the capabilities of native schedulers to combine jobs into powerful sequences.
Beyond the software, JAMS fosters an automation community and training opportunities—like JAMS University—designed to help users automate smarter. Plus, offering unmatched support that users describe as top-notch, thorough, friendly, and responsive.
See for yourself, read our reviews on G2 >
Automate Smarter with Workload Automation
See how centralized WLA from JAMS can help you run, monitor, and manage jobs and workflows that are critical to your enterprise.