Make a case for Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform: 4 tips

As enterprise-wide automation becomes mission-critical to your organization, you might find that a patchwork approach is no longer the optimal solution. Implementing a comprehensive automation solution like Red Hat® Ansible® Automation Platform—a tested and trusted enterprise product hardened for security—can help address gaps and inefficiencies. Here are 4 practical tips that will help guide you through a successful conversation with your manager about migrating to Ansible Automation Platform.

One of the core benefits of automation is the reduction of time-consuming, manual tasks. However, an automation solution comprising several disparate open source projects will require ongoing maintenance, which drains time and resources. A comprehensive solution like Ansible Automation Platform acts as a force multiplier for ITOps, helping you realize the full potential of your IT investments while maximizing the efficiency of your operations and processes.

When speaking to your manager about the opportunity to save time, remember that Ansible Automation Platform:

• Offers an end-to-end automation solution that streamlines creation, execution, and management.
• Frees up teams to spend more time on developing innovative solutions and less time on IT infrastructure maintenance.
• Integrates with the rest of the Red Hat portfolio so organizations can apply time-saving automation at scale.
• Comes equipped with tools that help minimize manual effort and increase agility.
• Event-Driven Ansible automates time-consuming IT actions with rule-based constructs.
• Red Hat Ansible Lightspeed uses generative artificial intelligence (gen AI) to help automation teams learn and create automation content more efficiently.

A key concern for most IT leaders is security and risk management. While the upstream edition of Ansible offers documentation, relying solely on open source solutions can create technical debt and increase downtime (as a result of manual processes, human error, and highly customized solutions that are not widely shared). As teams grow and organizations require increased reliability and stability, these challenges are difficult to overcome.

Point out to your manager that Ansible Automation Platform offers more peace of mind through:

• A security-focused enterprise environment.
• An end-to-end software supply chain.
• At least 18 months of enterprise support per release.
• Critical bug fixes and security vulnerability backporting for all components, which maintain stable branches for the entire support life cycle.
• Adherence to strict inclusion criteria to avoid bugs and regressions.
• Automated Policy as Code (PaC), which helps efficiently enforce governance policies.
• Rulebooks, playbooks, and policybooks that help ensure actions are performed the same way every time, minimizing human error.
• Certified and signed content supporting a multitude of use cases.
• Access to more than 130 certified content collections across 55+ partners signed with the Red Hat Partner Connect program.

An automation solution built from various upstream projects is less able to scale effectively and efficiently. Talk to your manager about how Ansible Automation Platform is a unified automation solution that adds resilience, capacity, scalability, and a focus on security to your automation strategy.

Ansible Automation Platform makes it possible to efficiently scale automation across your IT environments with specially packaged features, such as automation mesh and Ansible Lightspeed.

Automation mesh (which is made up of multiple upstream projects bundled into a ready-to-use solution) is an overlay network that helps you extend automation from on-premise environments, throughout hybrid clouds, and to edge locations.

Ansible Lightspeed allows for more efficient playbook creation, so you can accelerate the implementation of rule-based constructs to quickly execute IT actions across all of your solutions.

You can also take advantage of certified content and integrations exclusively available to users of Ansible Automation Platform.

As you talk to your manager about migrating to Ansible Automation Platform, consider the benefits your organization’s teams stand to gain.

Broadening your automation strategy can contribute to increased employee satisfaction and higher retention. Automation supports overarching business goals, which makes it a compelling opportunity for employees who want to:

• Expand their automation skill set.
• Become a subject matter expert.
• Collaborate with team members from different technical backgrounds.
• Be part of an automation-first culture.
• Help deliver business value.

Ansible Automation Platform allows you to automate nearly any endpoint across your IT estate, which means employees leading automation initiatives can exert a positive influence across teams and departments.