Automation can be a tough noun to wrestle with. Negative connotations quickly come to mind, such as being expendable, or employees being replaced by software. Yet, it is important to understand how adopting network automation can accelerate your company’s efficiency and growth without creating collateral damage to your culture. Software-Defined Networking (SDN) or Network Automation may sound new—but it really isn't. Many forms of automation tools and techniques have been around for 10 years or more, and Linux server admins were using automation tools years before that. Network automation is truly the only way to effectively scale an organization, yet there is still a lot of hesitancy to adopt even a basic, white belt type of automation solution. This isn’t about reducing headcount, but rather, it’s about doing more with what you have.
