What is automation? | IBM

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning

AI and machine learning use data and experiences to learn, offering more sophisticated and informed insights with each new dataset. Applied to IT automation, AI/ML is detecting anomalies, triggering new processes, rerouting running processes, and making action recommendations.

AIOps

Artificial Intelligence for IT Operations (AIOps) uses AI to improve and automate IT service and operations management. By integrating multiple separate, manual IT operations tools into a single, intelligent, and automated IT operations platform, AIOps enables IT operations teams to respond more quickly—even proactively—to events that if left alone, could lead to slowdowns and outages, with end-to-end visibility and context.

Chief Automation Officer (CAO)

The Chief Automation Officer (CAO) (link resides outside ibm.com) is a rapidly emerging role that is growing in importance due to the positive impact automation is having on businesses across industries. The CAO will be responsible for implementing business process and IT operations decisions across the enterprise to determine when and what type of automation platform and strategy is best suited for each business imperative while working with a wide range of leaders across all business pillars such as IT, operations, cybersecurity, etc.

Digital worker

Digital workers are software robots trained to work with humans or independently to perform specific tasks or processes using a range of skills and AI capabilities, like machine learning, computer vision, and natural language processing.

FinOps

FinOps the portmanteau of finance and DevOps has emerged as the management discipline for organizations looking to optimize costs using best practices designed to maximize returns on investments in hybrid and multi cloud environments.

Green or sustainable IT

As green or sustainable IT has come into sharp focus, enterprises can apply automation to areas such as resourcing actions to proactively assure systems performance with the most efficient use of compute, storage and network. This helps organizations avoid wasted spend and wasted energy which typically occurs in over-provisioned environments.

Hyperautomation

Hyperautomation is an approach which merges multiple technologies and tools to efficiently automate across the broadest set of business and IT processes, ecosystems, and workflows.

Intelligent automation

The combination of AI and automation technologies is imperative for businesses to scale automations intelligently to maximize returns and gain competitive advantage.

Low-code, no-code

Workflow software requiring minimal or no coding which allows non technical line of business experts to automate processes using visual designers or natural language processing.