IT Process Automation: Common IT Tasks to Automate

Picture this: your organization has grown exponentially in the past couple of years, and the IT team is having a hard time keeping up the rapid growth. You were able to get hiring approved but there is still so much work that your team is having to work overtime just to stay afloat. Plus, now the CEO is hoping to free up some of your usual operational workloads to focus on more strategic projects, leaving you wondering how you can manage all of these tasks with the bandwidth available. What would you do?

Enter IT automation. You may already be familiar with automation as a concept but haven’t had the chance to implement any cohesive automation processes. With IT automation, one of the fundamentals of IT, you can take any time-consuming, repeatable processes and schedule actions based on a variety of conditions such as time, device status, user onboarding, and more. This leaves more time for your team to take on more strategic projects instead of spending hours on manual, mundane tasks. It may be a bit of a time investment in the beginning, but a worthwhile one in the long run. (If you’re looking for guidance on how to create an automation action plan, we highly recommend that you check out our automation guide!)

You might also like our article on How to Automate Repetitive Tasks with PowerShell.

What is IT process automation?

IT process automation is the process of using various software and systems to automate repetitive and manual IT tasks. By leveraging automation, businesses can enhance accuracy, improve response times, and free up IT professionals to focus on more strategic initiatives.

Common examples include automated patch management, ticketing systems, and provisioning workflows. Implementing IT process automation helps standardize processes, minimize errors, and optimize IT operations.

But before you jump headfirst into planning and purchasing, there are a few things you need to know. Whether you’ve just started with your IT process automation journey or have already started making changes here and there, important steps need to be taken to be sure your efforts are impactful.

7 things to know before starting your automation journey

1. Don’t feel obligated to start with complex automation

Much of the time spent on a day-to-day basis is spent on repetitive tasks that can be easily made more efficient with automation. Though it may be tempting to focus on large-scale automation projects, most of the impactful automation is comprised of these small day-to-day tasks. If you’re just getting started, focus on these workflows before implementing something more complex. And remember, you can always start somewhere and improve over time!

2. Future-proof as much as possible

Your organization needs to be scalable and evolve over time. Any automation that you implement needs to be able to adapt when needed. Try to avoid hard-coding things and add variability.

3. Gamification is a great way to encourage automation

By incentivizing IT team members and end users to submit ideas for automation, you can get some great insight into processes you may not have considered. You can get people involved by providing a tangible gift and opportunity to be part of the process. But be aware that any incentive shouldn’t be a burden to the end user, so see how involved they actually want to be.

4. Empower team members who are interested in automation

If your team is new to automation, you might have newer IT professionals who are looking to grow into new roles and learn new skills. Invest in your people and encourage team members to learn how to automate. Not only will it help your organization, but it will also improve your employees’ satisfaction.

5. Don’t silo your team

Automation will likely not just impact the IT organization, so be sure that you’re including necessary teams in any automation rollouts. Communicate impacts and how they will positively impact their own workflows!

6. Get executive buy-in

Because executives aren’t working on the front lines, they may be skeptical to the value of automation investments. To overcome this hurdle, you’ll need to outline the ways automation can improve IT operations but maybe more importantly, how automation can positively impact the overall budget.

7. Document EVERYTHING

Maybe one of the most important steps in your journey, make sure you’re documenting all of your processes. If something goes wrong with the automation workflow, someone leaves the company, or you’re starting a new process, you’ll be happy to have all of the documentation there as a valuable resource.

What can be automated in IT?

Some level of automation can be applied to most IT-related tasks, provided there is an automation system or platform that can integrate with the operation. For example, automation is often used in network/infrastructure management, cloud services and standard operating environments (SOEs), configuration management, and application deployment.

IT migration

Depending on the project, an IT migration could involve moving several types of assets from one system to another. Commonly, there’s data migration, software migration, operating system migration, and cloud migration. IT migration projects are often complex — even more so because they must be tailored specifically to the organization’s needs. Automation facilitates faster and smoother IT migration projects, as many repetitive processes are removed from engineers’ workflows and relegated to scripts and software.

Configuration management

Once applications are provisioned, a typically long (and sometimes tedious) configuration process must begin. Resources must be set up for the specific environment and usage. This becomes very complex as an IT environment expands, overlaps, and becomes otherwise unwieldy.

A robust configuration management solution uses automation to ease some of this strain. Developers can define the infrastructure in a way that automation tools can use ad hoc scripts and other shortcuts to free up more time for strategic work.

Provisioning

Modern organizations need an IT infrastructure to operate, and that infrastructure must be set up. Even in this world of virtualized assets and the cloud, processes must be developed to ensure provisioning is a smooth and efficient task.

Because of the trend away from server racks and bare metal, the majority of IT work is executed in software. This has increased the scale and speed of what IT teams can do, but it also demands a more robust development and documentation of processes.

By codifying infrastructure — an already standard practice — IT teams have a template for provisioning within their environment. Automation simply takes these rote tasks and checklists out of the hands of individuals and executes them with minimal human input.

Orchestration

Business IT systems tend to be very complex, and the more complex these systems become, the more automated tasks and configurations must be deployed across multitudes of systems or devices. Orchestration is the management of these large-scale rollouts. Automation helps IT professionals manage and track these orchestrated deployments and other tasks done at scale with ease.

Application deployment

Modern application development leans heavily on automation — particularly in terms of app deployment. Deployment automation helps dev teams move software through all stages of development, all the way to testing and final deployment, in an efficient and repeatable way. This reduces the chances of human error impacting the development process and ensures that configurations and builds remain consistent throughout.

Security and Compliance

Automation is taking more of a front-seat role in modern cybersecurity. New uses for AI and machine learning go well beyond standardizing processes and workflows for compliance purposes. Automation is being used extensively to learn and analyze patterns of behavior, identify suspicious activity, and alert IT teams or Security Operations Center (SOC) personnel about potential threats.

Common IT tasks to automate

You may be sold on the idea of IT automation but are a little stuck on what to implement first. Here are some ideas of potential tasks or projects that can help kickstart your journey:

1. Automated tickets based on device status

Automating ticket creation based on device status ensures that IT teams can proactively address issues before they escalate. By setting up triggers for common device health concerns, teams can immediately take corrective action. Some tickets you can automate include:

• Low disk space: When a device’s storage falls below a predefined threshold, an automated ticket can alert IT staff to investigate and resolve the issue before it causes performance degradation or service disruptions.
• Device offline: If a device suddenly goes offline, IT automation can generate a ticket and notify the appropriate personnel. This reduces downtime by enabling faster troubleshooting and resolution. 
• High resource usage: Monitoring CPU, memory, and disk usage can help prevent system slowdowns. Automating tickets for excessive resource consumption allows IT teams to diagnose potential bottlenecks.

2. End user onboarding and offboarding

This is one of the more common IT tasks to automate. Automating managing employee access and provisioning devices ensures new hires are ready to work on day one and departing employees no longer have access to sensitive systems.

• Domain account creation: Automatically generate user accounts with predefined access levels based on role requirements, reducing manual workload and minimizing errors.
• Role assignments: You can assign appropriate permissions and group memberships instantly to ensure employees have access to necessary resources without delays.
• Device provisioning: Deploy standardized device configurations, including pre-installed software, security policies, and network settings, to streamline the setup process.
• Software installation: Automate software deployment based on department needs, ensuring all employees have the necessary applications without IT intervention.
• Cloud logins: Enable automatic setup of cloud-based credentials and permissions, reducing setup time and security risks.

3. Patch management

Automating patch management ensures that updates are applied promptly and correctly. This minimizes any security vulnerabilities and potential downtime.

• Automated patch deployment: Schedule and execute patch installations across all devices and servers without manual intervention.
• Patch status reports: Generate detailed reports on applied and pending patches to maintain compliance and security.
• Rollback management: Automate backup and rollback procedures to quickly recover from failed patches.

4. Weekly network summary

Automation can generate insightful reports that help IT teams monitor network performance and identify potential issues.

• Resource usage:  Generate reports on bandwidth, CPU, and memory utilization to optimize network performance.
• Server uptime and downtime: Track system availability to ensure critical services remain operational.
• Backup status: Automate backup reports to verify data integrity and disaster recovery readiness.
• Device performance: Identify underperforming or failing hardware before it impacts business operations.
• Patch status: Provide visibility into patch compliance to ensure all systems are up to date.

5. Network and endpoint backups

Data loss prevention is critical for business continuity. Automating backups ensures that data is regularly stored and retrievable when needed.

• Snapshot cleanups: Implement policies to delete snapshots older than a specified timeframe, optimizing storage space and maintaining efficiency.
• Scheduled backups: Automate daily, weekly, or monthly backups of critical systems to prevent data loss.
• Backup integrity checks: Regularly verify backup files to ensure they can be restored successfully.

6. Monthly compliance checks

Ensuring IT compliance with security policies and regulations can be simplified through automation.

• Network data log collection: Automatically gather and store log data for auditing and security analysis.
• Password changes: Enforce regular password resets for improved security and compliance.
• Enabling security features: Ensure firewalls, antivirus software, and other security measures remain active.
• Vulnerability scans: Schedule automated security scans to detect and mitigate potential risks.
• Removal of extraneous accounts: Detect and remove unused or unauthorized accounts to enhance security.

7. Help desk ticket responses

Help desks handle a large volume of requests, many of which can be categorized and responded to automatically.

• Time of day submitted: Prioritize ticket routing based on working hours, after-hours, or emergency status.
• User role: Assign tickets to the appropriate IT staff based on the user’s department or seniority level.
• Type of ticket: Categorize and automatically assign tickets based on predefined issue types (e.g., hardware, software, network issues).

8. VM templates and deployment

Setting up virtual machines (VMs) manually can be tedious and inconsistent. Automation ensures quick and standardized deployment.

• Predefined VM templates: Deploy VMs with preconfigured settings, reducing setup time and improving consistency.
• Automated scaling: Provision or decommission VMs dynamically based on workload demands.
• Configuration management: Ensure VMs adhere to company policies and security standards.

9. File migrations

Data migration between systems can be automated to reduce downtime and errors.

• Scheduled migrations: Automate file transfers between servers, cloud storage, and local devices based on pre-set schedules.
• Error detection: Identify and resolve migration failures automatically.
• Access control management: Ensure that only authorized personnel have access to migrated data.

This is just a short list of what you can do with IT automation, but if you’re looking for more ideas, here are a few Reddit threads full of incredible ideas:

• What automated tasks [have] you created in your workplace that improved your productivity?
• What’s something you automated?
• Automation Ideas
• What do you automate?
• Automation – Where did you begin?
• What are you automating at work?
• SysAdmin Professionals: What automation projects have you done that have had huge successes on efficiency and uptime and how?

And again, we’ve developed an automation guide (IT Manager’s Guide to Adopting an Automation Mindset), taking you step-by-step through an automation action plan from conception to execution! You can download the guide here: https://www.ninjaone.com/it-managers-guide-to-automation/

How NinjaOne can help you with IT process automation

NinjaOne’s IT automation system is designed for the modern workforce, allowing you to automate the most tedious, repetitive tasks so you can stay ahead of potential issues. 20,000+ customers worldwide trust NinjaOne for their endpoint management needs. Its all-in-one software offers numerous functions, from remote monitoring and management to automated scripting, in a single pane of glass.

If you’re ready, request a free quote, sign up for a 14-day free trial, or watch a demo.