Automation Cynicism Signals Challenges for AI, New Torii Report Finds

Only 13% of IT Pros Have Found Great Success with Automation; 44% Cite Poorly Designed Tools

Torii, creator of the Distributed SaaS Management Platform for IT professionals, announced its newest report, “State of IT Automation: Breakthrough or Buzzkill?,” which reveals that many IT professionals have been burned by the promise of automation largely due to poorly designed tools (44% of respondents) and a lack of education surrounding solutions (64%). But even though only 13% of respondents have found great success with automation, 92% are still championing it within their organizations – a signal that many still see its potential to eliminate mundane work, deliver consistent, error-free results, and streamline operations

According to Evanta, a Gartner company, CIOs cite that increasing efficiency and productivity are top priorities for 2023. To do this, IT teams are increasingly turning to AI and automation solutions. However, as Torii’s report shows, all the hype can lead to disillusionment and ultimately impact adoption.

“OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Bard have ignited an intense interest in emerging AI tools that can streamline work and empower employees to do their jobs smarter and more effectively, and for good reason,” said Uri Haramati, CEO and co-founder of Torii. “However, as Torii’s report shows, automation and, ultimately, AI solutions, will be hard-pressed to cross the chasm until people feel they can truly trust and rely on them, easily integrate them into their daily work lives, and see that they make a profound difference. This is exactly why our SaaS management technology has intuitive automation baked into it, eliminating the learning curve and allowing IT to see meaningful impact from the start.”

Marketing Technology News: MarTech Interview with Gregg Johnson, CEO at Invoca

“Automation is More than Just Onboarding and Offboarding”

Key findings from the report include:

• The need for speed? Not so much: IT pros value consistency (48%) and error reduction (27%) more than speed (21%) in automation. Although conventional wisdom says speed is important for accelerating operations, these contrary findings make sense. Speed without reliability can actually add more work than it saves. Going faster in the wrong direction will only result in more – and more severe – problems.
• Barriers to automation remain high: 64% of IT professionals cite a lack of tool education, and nearly half (44%) cite poorly designed automation tools. They are so stretched that they don’t have time to properly investigate automation solutions. And they’ve been burned in the past by false promises, so the incentive to find time isn’t there.
• Automation adoption is lagging: Automation technologies have been around for a long time, so it was surprising that less than half of respondents have fully automated appropriate tasks, and only 13% reported great success with automation. This speaks to the automation tools’ perceived inadequacy and time commitment that many require to gain real value from them.
• Ease of use is paramount: Over half (54%) of IT professionals prioritize ease of use over things like transparency, cost-savings, and productivity, when evaluating new automation software. If it’s not simple to use, it’s not worth the effort. After all, you want the tool to do the work for you, and not the other way around. That’s why IT pros want automation in the first place.

Marketing Technology News: Determining the Right Martech Investments in 2023