Automation: the secret weapon to combat IT burnout 

IT has been shifting from being a group that simply supports other teams to a strategic function that creates operational efficiencies, improves customer and employee experiences, and delivers return on investment across the organisation. Gone are the days when IT teams “just” operated in the backroom – they are now architects for organisational success. 

  

Today, IT teams need to consider the full digital experience for the end user (whether that be within their organisation or a wider client base). This means supporting a growing number and diverse range of devices that employees access and operate around the clock. The problem is that most IT teams are underwater, constantly being asked to do more with less. This leaves them struggling to keep up with day-to-day tasks and to find time to thrive as strategic advisors, let alone advance their own situations.  

 

The good news is that modern automation and AI can help IT teams get time back in their day. Automating repetitive parts of IT’s job, like endpoint management and patching, can help teams work smarter and give employees the breathing room they need to focus on strategic work. It allows them to be more selective about the tasks they spend their time on and provides them with new opportunities to lead, showcase their impact on the business, and grow professionally.  

 

 

Identifying to leverage AI and automation 

Those who understand how to safely and effectively apply AI to automate routine tasks are best positioned to deliver significant time savings and cost reductions. 

 

To identify opportunities where automation is likely to make the most impact, IT teams should ask themselves a few questions. Where do you spend most of your time? Installing patches, diagnosing errors, backing up systems? Could these tasks be offloaded or accelerated through automation? Even 5 to 10% in time savings per day can result in greater efficiencies and boost productivity.     

 

Which time-consuming, manual, and rules-based tasks could be quickly automated? Applying AI to these use cases first is often the easiest way to win the trust of the wider business. From there you can expand automation to other processes. 

 

 

Human oversight is essential 

At the same time, it’s crucial to weigh the risks and security considerations in AI adoption. AI tools or automation won’t work for every task. AI can make mistakes too, and IT teams are responsible for many critical functions. That’s why maintaining human oversight is essential. Allowing AI to act autonomously and make an incorrect decision is too risky in the world of IT.  

 

Take patch management, for example. It’s rarely a perfect process, and pushing out updates just because they’re available can cause more problems than it solves. IT teams should leverage automation to identify and prioritise which patches are most critical and time-sensitive, while keeping humans involved in the process.  

 

Overall, AI can make recommendations, but it’s human IT admins who hold the power to approve those actions. Avoid tools that hand over the keys to the kingdom: think co-pilot, not autopilot. This approach ensures that IT teams can reclaim time to focus on higher priorities, while maintaining appropriate guardrails to prevent AI from making incorrect decisions.   

 

 

Preserving your most precious resource: Time 

An ever-increasing number of endpoints distributed across vast locations, paired with the continued growth of technology stacks, and now the addition of AI tools, are all compounding an already complex digital environment. IT teams are juggling so many tasks, it’s no wonder they often feel burnt out. 

 

IT teams’ responsibility and impact will continue to grow, alongside the pressure they face. It’s imperative to support teams with modern tools that allow them to free up time to focus on their more strategic work in addition to their own career progression and development. Enabling your IT teams with the tools they need not only helps them, but it also makes the broader organisation more productive and successful.

 

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Rahul Hirani is Chief Product Officer at NinjaOne 

 

Main image courtesy of iStockPhoto.com and tadamichi