[ad_1]
by Nischai Mittal, Partner, Zinnov; Prankur Sharma, Director, Zinnov; Anudeep Gill, Project Leader, Zinnov; Piiasha Chovdhuri, Consultant, Zinnov
As the world increasingly values and pursues the experience economy, tech companies are also taking steps to ensure they are in sync. Businesses are moving beyond just seeking efficiency and productivity from their technology investments to offering superior experiences for all stakeholders – customers, employees and even partners. To empower enterprises and drive integrated experience outcomes, enterprises are using the current avatar of automation – Hyper Intelligent Automation or HIA – powered by agile, configurable workflows. It is a powerful blend of Process Intelligence, Intelligent Document Processing, RPA, Low-Code/No-Code Application Development and Intelligent Virtual Agents, built on a range of advanced intelligence capabilities and next-generation infrastructure.
Why IT automation?
Companies’ automation efforts are still focused on horizontal functions, with IT being one of the biggest focus areas. Zinnov’s annual Global CSO survey of 250+ CSOs leading automation programs found that ~55% of businesses focus on the IT function.
IT Automation (ITA) is not a new concept; it’s been around for a long time in the form of discrete automation tools. Early monitoring tools like top, vmstat, fuser, syslog became available with the beginning of UNIX. We witnessed the early 90s, which were largely dominated by some very popular network management tools such as Systems and Network Monitor (SNM), Nigel’s Monitor (nmon) which are still widely used today. Today, IT automation has taken on a new avatar that represents the fusion of several advanced technologies within HIA. Together, these technologies allow processes to be executed faster, with greater efficiency and accuracy, enabling a greater experience for the stakeholders involved.
IT automation is a powerful tool that can help scale a business, given the criticality of technology to all business processes, and allow IT staff to focus on strategic tasks instead of administrative ones. The ITA arena is focused on three core segments – IT Operations Management (ITOM), IT Service Management (ITSM), Application Development and Maintenance (ADM).
IT Automation Value Chain and Key Use Cases
Enterprise spending on IT automation is USD 3-4 billion in 2022 and is expected to reach USD 25-30 billion by 2027, growing at a CAGR of 50-55%. While the focus on experience-related outcomes for business stakeholders is driving demand for automation, there are multiple factors driving the growing importance of IT automation. One of the main factors is the increasing complexity of the IT landscape in global organizations. To put things into perspective, there are on average more than 350 applications in large global companies!
Zinnov tracks over 300 platforms targeting the IT automation segment, including tech giants, specialized IT automation vendors, traditional ITSM/ITOM players, horizontal automation platforms, and even open source platforms. ~USD 8 billion of capital has been cumulatively poured into the space over the past 10 years, thanks to growing interest from venture and private equity funds. Given the evolving nature of the segment and the growing market opportunity, new platforms are being launched in the market. There were close to 30 companies offering IT automation platforms founded in 2022 alone.
Who is running the ITA race?
Zinnov Zone for IT Automation – H2 2022 – the first, most comprehensive and best-in-class assessment exercise for IT automation platforms aims to assess how equipped these vendors are to meet the growing demand for process automation in the ITA value chain. As part of this assessment, we evaluated 30+ IT automation platform vendors based on their expertise and scale of operations to identify leaders and visionaries. The study evaluates players based on overall capabilities across the entire IT automation value chain, which consists of 3 segments – IT Operations Management IT Service Management, Application Development and Maintenance.
In line with the changing paradigm of the automation space and the evolving narrative of how automation will be imperative in companies’ growth strategies in the future, eight platforms have emerged as leaders in the IT automation category – Amelia, ServiceNov, Resolve.io, IBM, Microsoft, UiPath, vegetable juiceand Arago. These platforms have demonstrated tremendous focus through IT automation to enable enterprise-wide deployment through consistent product innovation, strategic investments to expand market footprint, and building ecosystems around their platforms.
You can access a detailed overview of the ratings for the IT automation segment at Zinnov Zones website.
Based on our in-depth interactions with CKSO automation platform and service providers, enterprise automation decision makers, and SMBs in the industry, we have identified five key trends shaping the IT automation ecosystem.
1. Large increase in M&A activity
Platforms have opted for acquisitions to build end-to-end IT automation capabilities across the value chain. The IT automation ecosystem has witnessed more than 140 acquisitions with cyber security, cloud management and monitoring/surveillance as the main focus areas. Most recently, ServiceNov’s acquisition of Era Software focused on strengthening the company’s position in the visibility market.
2. Building a solid network of integrations
Integration with various enterprise systems is critical to the success of IT automation platforms. According to Zinnov’s analysis of 30+ leading players in the IT automation space, the platforms have an average of 165+ integrations. Leading companies like ServiceNov have built a huge network of 230+ integrations.
3. Growing infusion of AI through IT automation
Artificial intelligence (AI) is one of the keys to unlocking newer avenues for IT automation, helping businesses execute newer use cases as well as improve the quality of results. IT automation vendors are adding capabilities around AIOps, Conversational AI and Predictive Insights to strengthen their platforms. For example, Resolve’s AI-Powered Insights enables full infrastructure visibility, supporting multi-layered relationships between applications and hybrid infrastructure.
4. Focus on niche use cases across platforms
More than two-thirds of the platforms in the IT automation ecosystem are specialists, focused on providing specific use cases to users. The top three areas of specialization include infrastructure monitoring, security automation, and test automation. For example, leading platforms like LogicMonitor and Datadog are experts focused on infrastructure monitoring.
5. Multiple pricing models
IT automation platforms have universally adopted subscription-based pricing plans, with only a few (<20%) still offering a perpetual licensing option. Within subscription-based plans, there are 5 types of models offered and adopted by platforms – user-based (57%), consumption-based (53%), feature-based (37%), process-based (20%) and outcome basis (4%). Furthermore, most platforms use free trials (56%) and freemium offers (24%) to market their platforms to users.
The race to become the best IT automation platform is driving constant excitement and innovation in the space. There is an increasing reliance on technology – and as a consequence, the growing complexity of enterprise IT environments, which in turn leads to greater demand for IT automation. With rapidly growing demand, a dynamic platform ecosystem, and constant technological innovation, IT automation is truly turning into the next frontier for hyper-intelligent automation.
If you want to gain an in-depth perspective around enterprise IT automation or want to formulate a comprehensive strategy for your organization in the space, we can help! Contact us at info@zinnov.com.
Speak with our consultants
[ad_2]
Source link
