Of course, there are business drivers for automation, too. Network teams want to accelerate mean time to repair, which is a key measure of operational effectiveness today. They also want to improve overall network experience.
Day 2 NetOps automation is a strategic priority
Some 79% of 352 IT pros indicated that automation of Day 2 network operations is a high to very high priority (based on findings in EMA’s new research report, Network Management Megatrends 2026: Automation, Hybrid and Multi-Cloud Networks, and AI Transformation).
“We’re looking at making processes more and more efficient and more and more automated to do more with less people,” a network observability architect with a Fortune 500 entertainment company recently told me. “We’re using automation and AI, and a lot of that falls on the monitoring platform engineers who are responsible for tooling.”
Automation of Day 2 network operations is not a novel concept. For years, network teams have configured their tools and procedures to trigger custom scripts and playbooks to fix recurring problems. Network tool vendors have embedded more and more automation into their products to drive more scalable and reliable automation.
