The ‘Resolve IT with Automation’ Challenge: We Have Our Winners
What’s your most challenging IT task?
What day-to-day activity do you absolutely dread?
Which manual workflow has you tossing and turning with frustration and worry?
These are questions Resolve posed to our community of customers, partners and prospects back in August. In exchange for the best responses, our team of automation experts agreed to create a customized demonstration of how to resolve that problem using intelligent IT automation.
Not surprisingly, we received a number of great entries and we’d like to first take a moment to extend our appreciation to everyone who took the time to participate. Of the many amazing submissions we received, however, only four winners were chosen. Those winners, and their use cases, are as follows.
How to Automate Certificate Renewals
Submitted by Peter Curry, ITIL Expert at Pacific Life Insurance
Every time one system works with another system, it requires an up-to-date SSL certificate to ensure that the transaction is secure and data remains protected. Unfortunately, these certificates routinely expire and when that happens, they must be renewed in a timely manner. Otherwise, the delay could result in potential business disruption.
Manually renewing, testing and applying updated certificates may be no big deal it it’s just on one system. However, when you’re working with a multitude of different systems within a complex infrastructure, it becomes tedious and cumbersome. This was the dilemma of Peter Curry, ITIL Expert at Pacific Life Survey.
Thanks to Resolve, however, this will no longer be the case. Now, the entire process can be completely automated, from detecting expiring certificates and generating new ones to testing and applying them to the appropriate systems. This saves Peter and his team countless man hours and ensures that certificates across the entire infrastructure remain current.
Automate Datacenter Application Disaster Recovery Failover
Submitted by Dileep Moudgalya, a Developer at FIS Global
Disaster recovery failovers ensure that if something goes wrong at one site, the business is able to fall back on and replicate everything that’s set up at another site, and vice versa, thus preventing further disruption.
For datacenter workers, developing and testing a DS failover manually is not only difficult and time consuming, but also incredibly costly. As a result, many businesses choose to cut corners, and some even forego it altogether – an especially risky practice that leaves them vulnerable to a potential catastrophe.
Dileep Moudgalya, a Developer at FIS Global, felt that automation could be a game-changer in this area and submitted his idea. Our team experts agreed, creating an automated process which can help datacenters save time, minimize expenses and ensure that everything remains up to date at all times.
Automate OS Patching
Submitted by Jossen Thomas, Enterprise Administrator at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
Timely patching of various operating systems ensures that an organization remains one step ahead of potential security threats. Performing this process manually, however, can leave the network much more vulnerable to malware and other cyber security risks. This is especially the case with systems that are largely unmanaged.
As Enterprise Administrator at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Jossen Thomas understands all too well how time consuming and error-prone this process can be when done manually.
Automating OS patching ensures that any existing concerns are detected and addressed immediately, providing a much stronger defense against potential attacks. It also frees up IT staff to apply their valuable skills to more meaningful tasks and projects
Automate VM Creation and Modification
Submitted by Vignesh Venkateswaran, IT Automation Engineer at KLA
Manual creation and ongoing modification of virtual machines is a laborious process that can also be highly susceptible to potential error. Nobody knows this better than Vignesh Venkateswaran. As an IT Automation Engineer at KLA, Vignesh envisioned the possibility of leveraging intelligent automation to handle this process from start to finish.
The resulting automation includes the creation of virtual machines as well as ongoing maintenance and any modifications that may be needed along the way. What’s more, we’ve built this automated process using chatbot technology, powered by intelligent automation, to create a seamless self-service experience and further save time and resources.
Anything is Possible with Automation
As promised, each chosen winner was awarded a special prize package. Additionally, our Automation Ninjas got right to work building an automated process for each use case. We will be showcasing each of these automations in live demo sessions with Q&A. Sign up for one or more of these sessions today.
We are continuously amazed at the many unique and creative ways that IT teams are able to leverage intelligent IT automation to fuel innovation and achieve amazing things. Have an IT process or workflow that’s bogging you and your team down? Click here to request a one-on-one demo and let us help you automate everything, from the mundane to the unimaginable!
