For those who have automated job scheduling for a given platform or, better yet, consolidated job scheduling across multiple platforms and application software suites, the benefits are obvious – staffing efficiencies, error reduction, and simplicity. However, consolidated job scheduling is NOT Workload Automation (WLA) and, to be competitive in tomorrow’s IT landscape, enterprises must advance to WLA. Why? Because the components of a workload and the workload itself are only truly meaningful when related to a business requirement. Through this relationship, we understand priorities, business impact, and topological dependencies. WLA, by adding business awareness and ITSM integration to consolidated job scheduling, brings another level of customer-oriented efficiency and cost savings to the enterprise while enabling, through integration, other areas of IT to improve service.

Until recently, enterprises have struggled with WLA implementation because of its complexities, dependencies, and costs. These obstacles existed primarily because WLA was simply not a mature technology. Today, however, WLA solutions are accessible, practical, and achievable for a broad spectrum of enterprises. This paper explores the current WLA landscape and an innovative solution that addresses historical obstacles to implementation.