AI ambitions meet automation reality: The case for a unified automation platform

Article by: Harper Buete, Product Marketing Manager for Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform

IT teams are stuck between wanting to implement AI solutions across their organizations and dealing with the messy reality of increasingly complex infrastructure. Many are attempting to build their own automation solutions, cobbling together a patchwork of tools that, while well-intentioned, can actually make things worse. Red Hat dug into this with S&P Global Market Intelligence 451 Research, and their findings point to a simpler alternative: use a unified platform instead of patchworking tools together.

The DIY dilemma: More tools, more problems

Most teams are drowning in tools, often ending up with too many dashboards with too little coordination. A remarkable 72% of organizations are using up to 50 different IT tools, while nearly a third (28%) are managing over 50. This fragmented approach creates significant hurdles for effective IT automation, including:

• Complex implementations: This is a top obstacle for 58% of organizations. We often see this arise when customers deploy too many resources and move components piecemeal, slowing progress and increasing effort.

• Integration challenges: Integrating existing systems is a challenge for 51% of IT organizations. This isn't just about connecting tools, it's about achieving true interoperability for automation workflows.

• Skills gaps: 40% of respondents point to specific skills shortages. Maintaining expertise across a vast array of different tools is a constant drain on time and resources.

This "do-it-yourself" mentality is particularly detrimental to AI initiatives. Complex applications like AI work best when they're supported by systems that run like clockwork—predictable, consistent, and scalable. Without comprehensive automation, it's difficult to scale AI up effectively.

Automation translates to tangible benefits for AI
The 451 Research report introduces the concept of a unified IT automation platform. These platforms act as a centralized control plane, using automation to integrate, automate, and orchestrate IT tools, processes, and resources across the entire organization.

For AI, this translates directly into tangible benefits:

• Actionable AI at scale: With capabilities like Event-Driven Ansible, a unified platform makes AI-driven intelligence actionable, enabling teams to turn insights into automated responses.

• Consistent AI infrastructure: A unified approach enables the consistent supervision and management of AI environments, including deployment and scaling. With the automation dashboard, you’ll receive actionable insights in real time. The dashboard helps you analyze your IT operations and make smarter decisions based on real data.
• AI governance and policy enforcement: These features help enforce security and compliance rules across automated AI tasks. This provides essential control and predictable behavior.

There’s a clear connection between automation and AI strategies. IT service management (56%) and generative AI (53%) are cited as critical capabilities for an integrated platform. This confirms that a unified automation platform isn't just a nice-to-have, it's the strategic foundation for your AI applications. Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform also has Red Hat Ansible Lightspeed, which includes Intelligent assistance powered by gen AI, which helps administrators install, configure, maintain, and optimize automation workflows.

Instead of spending valuable time and resources and taking the risk of building a fragmented automation solution, consider investing in a platform designed for the enterprise and ready to accelerate your AI journey from the start.