A highly skilled work force is an IT department's biggest resource and likewise its biggest cost. When skilled employees - especially those at the top - are forced to allocate their time to routine tasks, it amounts to a measurable resource drain, attributable almost entirely to a lack of automation.

According to a recent survey of over 200 senior IT decision-makers in the UK, over a quarter (26%) of respondents said that they spend 40% of their time on routine IT maintenance tasks which is the equivalent of 3 months a year wasted! The obvious downside of this is the overall cost to businesses, however this also creates lack of time for proactive business tasks- the things which senior IT professionals should be spending their time.

To address this problem, there are a few options open to businesses, however, by using   automated IT management solutions companies can quickly cut the mundane tasks out of daily routines and help motivate staff. Automated technology can learn from human behaviour, meaning that simple everyday tasks can be handed over to IT systems and solved before human intervention is required.

A firm with its best people spending excess amount of time each week on routine work will eventually either lose the momentum for proactive projects, the employees, or perhaps even both. Automation services can solve these problems, and while respondents believe in its potential, they need practical insight in how it can benefit them.

IT teams that understand the new possibilities of automation will have an advantage as the economy begins to turn around. By moving time and resources from routine tasks to creative ones, they can use real technologies to realise their business goals.