Case Study: Driving Automation at Scale in a Large Enterprise Infrastructure
Industry: Enterprise (Confidential Sector)
Service: Infrastructure Automation Strategy & Implementation
Client: Confidential – Large Enterprise Managing Over 2,000 Servers
The Challenge
Managing over 2,000 physical and virtual servers across multiple environments, this large organisation faced escalating operational overhead, inconsistent configurations, and delayed provisioning timelines.
Despite the size of its infrastructure, the organisation had no formal automation capability—reliant entirely on manual processes and scripts maintained by individual teams. Leadership recognised that to improve reliability, reduce cost, and prepare for future scalability, a structured move to infrastructure automation was essential.
However, the organisation was starting from ground zero: no platform, no team, and no internal automation mindset.
Our Approach
We were engaged in a multi-year transformation initiative to:
- Establish an enterprise-grade automation platform
- Build internal capability and a supporting team structure
- Train existing IT staff and promote a cultural shift toward automation adoption
The engagement was structured in phases:
- Strategy & Foundations:
- Defined the automation vision and maturity model
- Selected and implemented a scalable automation platform (aligned to infrastructure, not app delivery)
- Identified high-impact, low-risk use cases to demonstrate early value
- Platform Implementation:
- Deployed and configured the automation environment, including access control, workflow orchestration, and integration with change and ticketing systems
- Established standards for playbook development and version control
- People & Process Enablement:
- Created a central automation team responsible for evangelising automation across infrastructure teams
- Delivered hands-on training and coaching to sysadmins, storage, and network teams
- Developed governance and peer-review processes to ensure quality and consistency
- Culture & Scale:
- Initiated a cross-team automation community of practice
- Embedded automation into BAU operations by integrating automation KPIs into team goals
- Created internal champions to drive adoption and mentor others
The Outcome
After two years, the organisation had transitioned from zero automation to a sustainable, structured automation capability:
- Automation Platform Operational: Core provisioning, patching, backup validation, and health checks are now fully automated across the server and storage fleet
- Cost Savings Realised: Significant savings achieved through reduced manual effort, improved system uptime, and fewer configuration-related incidents
- Cultural Shift Underway: Over 60% of infrastructure staff trained in automation principles, with increasing adoption across teams
- Foundation for Future Maturity: The organisation is now well-positioned to extend automation into self-service, compliance enforcement, and cloud integrations
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