For IT, automated reporting also provides greater visibility over workload performance. Staff can quickly identify potential processing bottlenecks and analyze workload runtimes, then allocate resources appropriately to ensure smooth fulfillment of reporting tasks.

Security and compliance. High-profile security hacks as well as Sarbanes-Oxley, Gramm-Leach-Bliley and other industry regulations are driving top-level emphasis on financial enterprise security. Automation solutions give IT the ability to pre-establish data security protocols such as requiring user authorizations before performing tasks that require access to sensitive information.

More importantly, however, automation platforms provide ready-made evidence of compliance with privacy and security mandates. Independent audit organizations can actually use workflow printouts to validate system backups, reporting schedules and permission policies according to regulations.

Product/pricing information. Real-time data, as well as calculations related to that data, are vital to financial organizations. Terabytes of structured and unstructured data must pass through various data systems before it can be used to support transactions, web services and business intelligence applications.

The best workload automation platforms are built for big data. Built-in integration with common ETL tools, BI solutions and file transfer applications allow such platforms to become a hub for processing, instantly giving employees and customers/members the information they need. Furthermore, these solutions are equipped to generate automated alerts for two purposes: One, to ensure reduction in workflow errors; and two, to notify key parties – traders, product managers, customers/members and so on – when transaction opportunities arise.

Onboarding/off-boarding. Provisioning and de-provisioning new employees can be a bottleneck for any organization – and the technology-rich nature of the financial services industry only complicates the challenge due to the volume of devices, permissions, connections and application infrastructure involved. Automation can minimize the burden of employee onboarding by instantly executing pre-established protocols for employees based on function, department and location.

Automation solutions reduce errors when setting up or closing out accounts and authorizations. The potential of workload automation to simplify these routine tasks extends to new business as well; a new customer/member or sale, for example, can trigger entries into CRM and accounting systems.

Most financial institutions understand the value of IT automation, but they struggle with multiple automation tools acquired over time to handle specific systems or projects. According to Gartner, the average enterprise has more than three automation tools in use. Typically, these are discrete solutions that, over time, add complexity to IT responsibilities.

To truly close today's IT resource gap, it's important to have a unified automation strategy capable of automating IT and business processes across the enterprise. A centralized solution removes the silos of automation, simplifies end-to-end processes and, best of all, frees up IT to address other changes impacting the business.

Kaitlin Olcott is marketing communications coordinator for Advanced Systems Concepts, Inc. She can be reached at 973-539-2660 ext. 165 or [email protected].