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Challenges and Directions in Service Management Automation

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Abstract

Research teams and IT service providers are continuously increasing the degree of Automation in Hybrid IT environments spanning multi-provider Clouds as well as traditional IT. Automation and Cognitive Systems are widely regarded as the foundation for improving the productivity as well as the quality of Service Delivery. At the same time, Hybrid IT deployments are being subject to a variety of challenges in large deployments on a global scale. Based on our experience of running a service practice that delivers IT Service Management in Hybrid IT environments to customers worldwide, this paper will review the challenges and directions in implementing Integrated Network, Systems and Service Management technologies and point out gaps encountered in current tools and implementations. This is fueled by the desire of Service Providers to evolve Automation from a development activity to an approach focusing on recording and storing the practices of the best system administrators and further on to a cognitive activity where the management system learns over time which actions need to be undertaken under a given set of circumstances. By means of real-life examples, we identify candidate concepts and technologies that will help us build the next generation of Integrated Network, Systems and Service Management.

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  1. IBM Global Technology Services, 71 South Wacker Drive 7th Floor, Chicago, IL, 60606, USA

    Alexander Keller

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  1. Alexander Keller
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Correspondence to Alexander Keller.

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Keller, A. Challenges and Directions in Service Management Automation. J Netw Syst Manage 25, 884–901 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10922-017-9437-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10922-017-9437-9

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