Gartner Report: Evolving Automation for Business Value

The recent blog post emphasizes the evolution of automation from merely eliminating repetitive tasks to focusing on delivering business outcomes. This update is pertinent for IT leaders and decision-makers looking to enhance operational efficiency.

Overview of Automation's Progress

Initially, many network automation initiatives aimed to streamline tasks such as provisioning and configuration updates. However, as automation develops, it increasingly targets broader business objectives beyond simply alleviating workload.

Integrating Automation for Business Impact

The 2025 Gartner Market Guide for Network Automation Platforms highlights that task-based automation alone cannot achieve the desired scale. The report suggests that orchestration—not just automation—yields greater value across business operations.

Automation expectations have progressed, with businesses now looking for faster implementation, improved reliability, reduced compliance risks, lower costs, and increased agility to support digital transformation efforts. However, these advancements necessitate connected workflows that integrate various systems, a transition that many organizations have yet to make.

Gartner's Insights on Fragmentation

The Gartner report identifies fragmentation as a primary obstacle to realizing automation's full value. Many organizations utilize multiple automation tools but often lack a unified platform for orchestrating workflows, which can lead to inconsistent results.

As stated in the report, “The usage of multiple tools creates fragmentation, or silos/islands of automation, that makes it difficult to automate an end-to-end network service.” Orchestration bridges technical proficiency with tangible business results.

Real-World Applications of Unified Automation

Organizations that successfully implement orchestrated, repeatable automation aligned with operational goals report several benefits. These include significantly decreased change cycle times, enhanced service availability, increased compliance assurance, and optimized resource use.

Rather than replacing engineering roles, this level of automation allows personnel to transition from routine ticket management to focusing on more strategic architecture and process design tasks.

How Itential Supports Automation Development

The Itential platform is designed to assist organizations in shifting from a focus on task-based automation to achieving operational goals. It features a unified execution layer that supports diverse tools and environments, promotes cross-domain orchestration, simplifies low-code automation, and enables self-service options for IT teams.

By creating connections between tools and systems, Itential aids in transforming network automation from simple task execution to comprehensive operational improvements.

Conclusion

The blog concludes that while task automation serves as a foundational step, achieving its full potential necessitates a transition towards integrated workflows that contribute to significant business outcomes. Connecting existing tools is essential for realizing this evolution.