Driven by the growth and the adoption of run book automation, broader uses of IT process automation (ITPA) promise to mitigate IT operations risk, reduce costs, reduce complexity and increase operational efficiency. ITPA should not only be viewed as an add-on to existing tools, and it shouldn't be seen as just another IT management tool. It is a new IT operations management paradigm requiring new skills, organizational design, investment and support, which unless it is architected in upfront will result in unrealized value, additional costs and complexity. This research provides best practices to ensure that automation value is achieved.