Why mission-critical business systems need automation.

When you think about systems management, do you think of software to automate the operation of those systems? If not, why not? In discussions with people in data centers across the country, I am often surprised by what seems to be a disconnect in their thinking about the relationship of automation software to systems management. On the System i, you can be as automated as you want to be.

If you do any of the following tasks manually for your mission-critical business systems, you are a candidate for automation software:

• Log job completions
• Log tapes
• Review status of resources
• Move resources
• Wait for a task to complete before launching the next process
• Create reports about computer operations
• Distribute reports

Automation software can perform all these tasks automatically. And it can do them more quickly and reliably than people can. So why are people still doing these tasks? Usually, there are three main reasons:

1. Comfort/inertia: It's the way it's always been done. Why rock the boat?
2. Lack of knowledge: No one has researched whether these tasks could be handled by software. Or someone researched it and bought some software, but it was never implemented. Or maybe only the basic functions were implemented, and no one knows how to make the software do more.
3. Lack of leadership: No one has taken ownership of the automation issue.

Comfort/Inertia

Management is scrutinizing every area of business these days. They want an improved return on investment; they are questioning staffing levels. You can't just assume that doing things the way they've always been done will continue to be good enough. It's time to figure out how to work smarter--and automation is one way.

Lack of Knowledge

Education is the key to acquiring the knowledge you need to be successful. But where do you begin? If you own one or more of the Robot products for automating the operation of your System i, call Help/Systems and describe your problem. We can advise you on ways to solve it. (On the System i, there is almost always more than one way to solve a problem!) Our tech support staff can help you learn newer or more advanced features so that you get more out of the software you already own. Or you may find that adding another module is the way to go.

We offer formal training as well. Onsite training (at your location) can be very cost-effective if you want to train your whole operations staff. The trainer can demonstrate how to accomplish tasks on your systems using your own data. We also offer regularly scheduled product training via the Web.

Lack of Leadership

Create a leader or champion of automation on your staff. Have that person look for manual processes and begin automating them in a systematic way. Empower your leader to continually ask why a task is being done manually and look for ways to automate it. In general, the more software "rules" that are in place, the higher the level of automation. And more automation translates to fewer errors and a greater return on investment. Automation is business-changing and career-changing. In 20 years with Help/Systems, I have watched customers who began as operators become critical players in the management and monitoring of their computer systems.

Remember that automation is an ongoing process. As your business grows and technology changes, rules from 10 years ago need to be revisited and updated. Plus, there is a human tendency to create new manual processes. The automation champion needs to be vigilant to identify these situations.

Get Automated!

Help/Systems created the Robot Automated Operations Solution to help you run your systems as unattended as you want them to be. To make automation a reality, you need to define the rules for your environment to the software. If you need more information on how to do this, give us a call. And check out Help/Systems' other offerings in the MC Showcase Buyer's Guide.

Tom Huntington is Executive Vice President of Technical Solutions at HelpSystems, and has been with the company for nearly 30 years. He works with business alliances, acquisitions and large customer relationships and ensures that the HelpSystems software works with other major software and hardware vendors worldwide.

Tom often speaks on enterprise scheduling, security, automation topics, IBM i technology, and the HelpSystems products, and hosts technical presentations on a variety of automation topics. He is the author of the HelpSystems IBM i Marketplace Survey and has written articles on automated operations, security, cloud computing, and business intelligence for leading trade journals and newsletters. He was named an IBM Champion in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020 for over three decades of advocation and thought leadership on the IBM i platform.

Contact Tom at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..