Even the smallest SMBs can benefit from decreasing the costs of their IT processes and the two most effective ways to do so are the orchestration and automation of your IT. While quite similar, there are some differences between these two and in order to get the most out of them, you must first learn a thing or two about them. By conducting these processes properly, you also stand a chance to increase your productivity, as well as decrease friction amongst teams, therefore improving your overall company unity. That being said, there are several things you need to pay attention to.
1. What is orchestration?
The reason why we focus on orchestration right away is due to the fact that most people are already well familiar with the term automation, or at least they think they are. Namely, automation means enabling a task to run on its own or empowering it to be as self-reliant as possible. The scope of automation is quite wide, seeing as how more and more tasks and departments are getting automated day in and day out. Moreover, with cloud optimization and desktop optimization becoming trends of their own, the issue of automation tends to become even more complex nowadays.
As for the above-mentioned orchestration, this is merely a situation where several different tasks are getting automated at the same time in order to become a part of a cohesive IT system. This can be particularly useful in a situation where you have a project that requires the involvement of multiple tasks and departments at the same time, which is a common occurrence. By doing this, you can make sure some of the most repetitive responsibilities are completed on their own, as well as minimize the probability of human error, which is a common thing with mundane tasks.
2. So, what’s the difference?
The classification above leaves a lot of people confused about the necessity of orchestration. After all, wouldn’t it be simpler to automate processes one by one? Well, not exactly. On larger projects, certain tasks have to be done in a particular order, seeing as how some actions simply have a priority over others. To make the long story short, when certain automated actions have to be done in a specific order, you are in need of orchestration, like the one that can be found here. In this way, instead of making one of the tasks slightly easier or more cost-effective, you make an end-to-end problem-solving system.
3. Which one do you need?
It is more than clear that automation is cheaper and simpler to enforce than orchestration. In other words, opting for automation rather than orchestration may often be a more frugal choice. For instance, when it comes to a simple process optimization of a single task, it’s always better to stick to automation. Launching or configuring a web server are both simple tasks that can easily be done with mere automation. Still, running an application is a tad more complex, which is why you should probably turn to orchestration.
4. Numerous advantages
In the introduction, we hinted at the numerous advantages regarding the implementation of both automation and orchestration. However, this topic is definitely worth revisiting. You see, by investing in your IT automation, you can easily reduce the overhead of your IT department. First of all, you get to reduce the number of your employees in the IT department. This doesn’t just cut the cost of all the salaries but it also reduces the amount of money you spend on various bonuses. Apart from this, your orchestrated system doesn’t care if it’s a holiday or the middle of the night. It is equally as efficient, regardless of the situation.
Apart from this, reducing the size of your IT team makes management much easier, which is also a great organizational boost. Either way, turning to automation inevitably leads to improvement in your company’s structure. It also means that you get more room for your sales or production department.
Conclusion
At the end of the day, most companies are seriously contemplating switching to AI tools and it is only a matter of time when this will become an industry standard. For those who are not yet ready to make this major leap, orchestration or at least automation seem like a step in the right direction. While some may see this as weakness and over-reliance on digital trends, others see it as an opportunity to do more with the same amount of time and resources. From this perspective, improving your IT processes definitely seems like a great idea.
