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Understanding the Infrastructure Automation Landscape

Introduction

In today’s fast-paced IT environment, the push for automation is relentless. A recent survey conducted by Spacelift, a leading infrastructure orchestration platform, sheds light on the current state of infrastructure automation among IT teams. Surprisingly, despite a confident outlook and the availability of numerous tools, only 14% of surveyed teams exemplified true excellence in infrastructure automation. This finding raises critical questions about the effectiveness and maturity of automation practices across organizations.

Survey Highlights

The report, titled the 2025 State of Infrastructure Automation, surveyed 413 decision-makers in the infrastructure space. It focused on various aspects such as organizational behavior, tool usage, performance metrics, and outcomes, culminating in the creation of the Infrastructure Automation Leadership Index. This index categorizes organizations based on their automation capabilities and maturity levels.

Key Findings

1. Perception vs. Reality: While 45% of organizations claim to have a high level of automation, only 14% demonstrate the necessary behaviors and technologies to back this claim.
2. Speed-Control Paradox: A significant challenge highlighted in the survey is the Speed-Control Paradox, where organizations often prioritize rapid deployment over governance, leading to potential oversights in security and compliance. High-performing teams that embrace platform engineering and developer self-service manage to break this cycle.
3. Leadership Characteristics: Leaders in automation report having most of their infrastructure automated, with built-in security, compliance, and scalability in every process. They are more likely to have implemented Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC) best practices and automated testing compared to their peers. For instance, leaders are five times more likely to have platform engineering teams in place.
4. Deployment Efficiency: Teams that fall under the category of leaders can provision new resources within four hours, whereas 50% of all organizations take a week or more to implement infrastructure changes. Moreover, leaders report greater success in getting infrastructure deployments right on the first attempt.

The Role of Governance in Automation

The data points towards an essential aspect: governance must evolve alongside automation. As organizations pursue greater automation, security and compliance should remain top priorities. The research found that 61% of leaders track security incidents as a measure of automation performance, compared to only 32% of other respondents.

Paths to Improvement

According to Spacelift's CEO, Pawel Hytry, the imbalance between speed and control remains a prominent challenge that teams must confront, particularly as they scale their operations. High-performing organizations demonstrate that it is possible to streamline processes while maintaining rigorous governance measures.

Recommendations for Organizations

To address the inherent challenges in automation, organizations should consider the following strategies:

• - Adopt a Balanced Approach: Strive for a healthy balance between rapid deployment and robust governance. Leadership should prioritize a culture that values both speed and meticulousness.
• - Invest in Training: Equip teams with the knowledge and skills to leverage best practices in automation technologies effectively.
• - Utilize Self-Assessment Tools: Organizations can take advantage of self-assessment tools developed by Spacelift to understand their current position on the Infrastructure Automation Leadership Index and identify areas for improvement.

Conclusion

The findings from Spacelift’s survey illustrate a crucial juncture for IT teams navigating the landscape of infrastructure automation. As the demand for faster deployments continues to grow, organizations must remain vigilant about governance to avoid pitfalls associated with hastened processes. By embracing platform engineering, fostering a culture of self-service, and implementing a disciplined approach to automation, organizations can chart a path towards achieving automation excellence.

About Spacelift

Spacelift is an innovative infrastructure orchestration platform that ensures comprehensive management of the infrastructure lifecycle. By integrating with existing tools such as Terraform and Ansible, Spacelift offers businesses the means to accelerate development while upholding stringent governance protocols.

For those interested in exploring this subject further and determining where they stand on the Infrastructure Automation Leadership Index, access the free assessment tool available through Spacelift.

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