• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

My TechDecisions

  • Best of Tech Decisions
  • Topics
    • Video
    • Audio
    • Mobility
    • Unified Communications
    • IT Infrastructure
    • Network Security
    • Physical Security
    • Facility
    • Compliance
  • RFP Resources
  • Resources
  • Podcasts
  • Project of the Week
  • About Us
    SEARCH
IT Infrastructure

Smart IT Automation Can Help Reduce the IT Resources Gap

As computing resources proliferate, finding properly skilled IT staff is more important than ever. But with a strong economy and low unemployment, plus IT staffing priorities shifting, organizations are embracing IT automation to keep up with rapid growth.

July 10, 2018 Jim Manias 3 Comments

Computing resources have gone from very expensive and scarce to highly available and affordable. The number of different applications, technologies, and platforms in the modern IT environment has grown significantly, but despite this exponential growth in computing resources, IT staffing has not kept pace. IT automation may be a way to solve that problem.

The statistics show continued growth for computer and information technology occupations. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook, for example, projects a 13 percent growth in this sector from 2016 to 2026. However, with low unemployment, there are fewer workers to fill such positions. These and similar dynamics contribute to an IT Resources Gap, in both skills and manpower. Finding IT staff with the skills that align with ever-changing organizational requirements is often difficult, particularly since there are always new and different technologies being implemented. The result is businesses fighting changing requirements, lower efficiencies, and decreased IT agility brought on by the adoption of these new technologies.

According to Gartner’s Predicts 2018: IT Operations, by 2021 40 percent of IT staff will be “versatilists” — those who can hold multiple roles, most of which will be business-, rather than tech-related. This means technologists will be playing a greater role in the business functions of organizations. To address the IT Resources Gap and free up IT staff to focus more on business objectives, organizations are investing in IT automation tools that allow for greater focus on company-wide efforts.

An IT Automation solution that focuses on the function of workflows across business and IT processes and provides prebuilt templates reduces the overall need for writing code. This not only reduces the chance of human error, but also allows developers to build and automate processes faster and more reliably. Lower reliance on scripting means that more junior level developers can take on tasks that once required senior level professionals.

Future Proofing: The Architectural Approach

Today’s IT managers must often juggle a heterogeneous mix of applications, databases, and competing platforms. A fragmented, elemental approach to IT automation can cause difficulty. Automating with individual application-scheduling tools and/or scripts is inefficient and time-consuming, frequently breeding silos of automation across the enterprise. In addition, multiple scheduling tools mean multiple sets of licensing costs, training costs, and support costs.

However, an architectural, layered approach coordinates and consolidates silos of automation, providing a single point of control enterprise-wide for all kinds of business and IT processes. Repetitive, time-consuming tasks become automated, enabling IT staff to become more versatile and the organization more agile.

Jim Manias is Vice President at Advanced Systems Concepts, Inc. and is responsible for the overall market strategy and planning for a range of products including ActiveBatch Workload Automation and Job Scheduling.  Jim has been with Advanced Systems Concepts since 1991 and has held multiple senior management positions in the enterprise software and hardware market.

With the advent of digital billboards several years ago, the need for real-time data transfers became paramount to daily operations for Lamar Advertising, one of the largest outdoor advertising companies in North America. Lamar was struggling to meet these needs with its homegrown job scheduler. It required heavy scripting and time-consuming maintenance for the IT staff, which became very complex and costly to maintain, impacting efficiency, so they implemented an architectural IT automation solution. An architectural, layered approach coordinates and consolidates silos of automation, providing a single point of control enterprise-wide for all kinds of business and IT processes. “Now everything is handled with one very flexible, centralized solution,” says Jude Robert, MIS Operations Manager for Lamar.

Lamar realized almost immediate people resource savings. The company eliminated the need to write scripts for scheduled tasks, which helped focus IT resources on the operations of the core outdoor advertising business. Using templated steps for virtually every scheduled job and no longer writing scripts, developers can quickly debug and maintain existing workflows as well as easily create and implement new jobs.

Lamar employed IT automation to respond to the new technology of digital billboards. Similarly, as organizations and industries become more digitalized, and transformative technologies such as robotics, machine learning and AI become mainstream, managing the automation of disparate applications, technologies, and other tools is critical to operational scalability and agility. Even before organizations begin to consider what’s on the digital horizon, a fundamental backbone of IT automation is necessary to handle the increased demands that will be required of IT staff.

If you enjoyed this article and want to receive more valuable industry content like this, click here to sign up for our digital newsletters!

Tagged With: Control & Automation

Related Content:

  • Cloud, SASE, Aryaka How the Cloud is Redefining Media Production and…
  • Software License Spending, SaaS, cloud apps Your Guide to Choosing the Best Cloud Security…
  • IT Budget 2025 Budgeting Tips for IT Pros/CIOs in 2025
  • A close-up of a technician’s hands typing and navigating through troubleshooting steps on a computer in a well-lit office. , natural light, soft shadows, with copy space Five Ways to Reduce Desktop Support Troubleshooting Time

Free downloadable guide you may like:

  • Practical Design Guide for Office SpacesPractical Design Guide for Office Spaces

    Recent Gartner research shows that workers prefer to return to the office for in-person meetings for relevant milestones, as well as for face-to-face time with co-workers. When designing the office spaces — and meeting spaces in particular — enabling that connection between co-workers is crucial. But introducing the right collaboration technology in meeting spaces can […]

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. reverse phone lookup halifax nova scotia says

    July 25, 2018 at 3:47 pm

    Hi, i believe that i saw you visited my website thus i came to go back the choose?.I am trying to in finding issues to improve my site!I assume its ok to
    use some of your ideas!!

    Reply
  2. westonkoury says

    August 5, 2018 at 9:01 am

    What’s up all, here every person is sharing such familiarity, therefore it’s
    pleasant to read this web site, and I used to pay a quick visit this weblog everyday.

    Reply
  3. william weston koury says

    August 5, 2018 at 7:42 pm

    You could certainly see your expertise within the work you write.
    The arena hopes for more passionate writers like you who aren’t afraid
    to mention how they believe. Always follow your heart.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Latest Downloads

Practical Design Guide for Office Spaces
Practical Design Guide for Office Spaces

Recent Gartner research shows that workers prefer to return to the office for in-person meetings for relevant milestones, as well as for face-to-fa...

New Camera Can Transform Your Live Production Workflow
New Camera System Can Transform Your Live Production Workflow

Sony's HXC-FZ90 studio camera system combines flexibility and exceptional image quality with entry-level pricing.

Creating Great User Experience and Ultimate Flexibility with Clickshare

Working and collaborating in any office environment today should be meaningful, as workers today go to office for very specific reasons. When desig...

View All Downloads

Would you like your latest project featured on TechDecisions as Project of the Week?

Apply Today!

More from Our Sister Publications

Get the latest news about AV integrators and Security installers from our sister publications:

Commercial IntegratorSecurity Sales

AV-iQ

Footer

TechDecisions

  • Home
  • Welcome to TechDecisions
  • Contact Us
  • Comment Guidelines
  • RSS Feeds
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Linkedin

Free Technology Guides

FREE Downloadable resources from TechDecisions provide timely insight into the issues that IT, A/V, and Security end-users, managers, and decision makers are facing in commercial, corporate, education, institutional, and other vertical markets

View all Guides
TD Project of the Week

Get your latest project featured on TechDecisions Project of the Week. Submit your work once and it will be eligible for all upcoming weeks.

Enter Today!
Emerald Logo
ABOUTCAREERSAUTHORIZED SERVICE PROVIDERSYour Privacy ChoicesTERMS OF USEPRIVACY POLICY

© 2025 Emerald X, LLC. All rights reserved.