The last two years have brought a deluge of changes, with organizations needing to accelerate their journey towards digital transformation.

The majority of the organizations’ transformation is inhibited by the dearth of automation—particularly for networks that are conventionally known to be sluggish and unresponsive. Their complex, intricate nature makes them susceptible to latencies. Networks that are managed manually take a toll on an organization's productivity, making routine network changes tedious and time consuming. 

Why should I deploy network automation software in my organization?

A multitude of organizations across various industries such as healthcare, IT, telecom, among others, are adopting network automation software at a global scale.

Network operations (NetOps) teams can configure, protect, scale, and integrate application services and network infrastructure through the automation of networks. The network's software-defined nature provides the much-needed agility by optimizing software for faster work, thereby saving costs for the company. 

The COVID-19 outbreak has given rise to the culture of working remotely for corporate employees. This, in turn, has put a strain on network bandwidth while creating concerns around security. Unanticipated and unusual spikes in network traffic have made it more difficult for the network engineers to identify inconsistencies and suspicious activities within the corporate network. Automating networks will provide businesses with an agile and responsive infrastructure that facilitates effective threat detection, mitigating security threats. 

In addition to that, companies can drive business value through automation and virtualization of the network.

What will drive the uptake of network automation tools?

The number of reviews to G2’s Network Automation Software category has seen steady growth in the small, mid-market, and enterprise-level company segments during the last three quarters of 2021. This data reflects that more software buyers are searching for an appropriate tool to automate their manual IT jobs.

Network automation is paramount for addressing issues like cost, agility, and scalability. Following are some of the factors expected to drive the deployment of network automation:

Shift to the cloud: In the post-pandemic era, organizations are moving applications to the cloud to ensure business continuity. The ever-growing adoption of cloud-based applications and services requires networks to perform without failure. Organizations must automate their networks to accommodate the growing demand for cloud-based applications, as well as to enhance service delivery, fault remediation, and network security.

Digitization: With the growth in digitalization, it is expected that AI and ML-driven networks will gain momentum. Such networks will have the capability to learn the intent of network behaviors, provide predictive analysis, and offer suggestions or rectifications.

5G rollout: 5G technology will contribute towards growth in network automation and virtualization with the next-generation changes in the network technology where reliability, speed, and low latency play a crucial role. Communications service providers (CSPs) and telecom giants will push to implement more sophisticated network capabilities across the network.

Final thoughts

Source: Itential

As per a study by Itential, only 34% of network professionals are completely satisfied with the tools and processes they use for network configuration management. An effective network automation tool must address several (if not all) concerns related to network infrastructure components, ensuring compliance. 

The right network automation software can help organizations reduce their workload and increase their IT team’s productivity, reducing infrastructure costs. At G2.com, we provide a list of software in the network automation category that you can compare to select the tool which aligns best with your organizational strategy.