Guide to IT Orchestration in 2024: Benefits, Use Cases & Top Tools Explained
IT orchestration has emerged as a key enabler for digital transformation. But what exactly does orchestration mean and how can tech leaders leverage it? This comprehensive guide examines everything you need to know about orchestration in 2024 and beyond.
What is Orchestration in IT?
Orchestration refers to the automation and coordination of workflows, processes and tasks across the entire IT infrastructure of an organization. It enables seamless integration and management of all the disparate systems, applications, databases, networks, servers and tools that power modern technology environments.
In simple terms, orchestration acts like an automated command center for your IT estate. It allows you to program end-to-end workflows that span multiple domains, tools and platforms. This eliminates all the complex manual glue work needed to get different systems working together.
According to Gartner, the IT process automation and orchestration market is forecast to grow at around 19% CAGR from 2021-2025, reaching nearly $19 billion. The rapid growth underscores how mission-critical orchestration is becoming for IT leaders seeking greater speed, efficiency and agility.
How Does Orchestration Work?
Orchestration works by allowing users to visually map out workflows that define sequences of automated tasks required to complete a process. Sophisticated orchestration engines provide capabilities like:
- Easy to use visual designers to model workflows
- Connectors to integrate third-party applications and tools
- Rules engines that allow workflows to be triggered based on events and conditions
- Load balancing and error handling capabilities
- Analytics dashboards and reports to monitor workflows
This enables codifying complex processes like server provisioning, system updates, new employee onboarding etc. into automated playbooks. APIs also allow orchestration tools to be seamlessly embedded into any environment.
Some key aspects of orchestration engines include:
Centralized Console: Provides single pane-of-glass view for monitoring, controlling, reporting.
Integration Hub: Easy integration of diverse apps, tools, systems in one platform.
Workflow Automation: Graphical modeling and automation of end-to-end processes.
Scheduling Engine: Enables scheduling routines to run processes at designated times.
Visual Pipeline Design: User-friendly drag and drop workflow builders.
Key Benefits of Orchestration
Here are the major benefits IT teams can realize from implementing orchestration:
Improved Operational Efficiency
- Reduce manual efforts by 90%+
- Accelerate delivery speed 2-4X
- Shift focus from repetitive tasks to innovation
Enhanced Collaboration
- Break down IT silos with seamless coordination
- Foster closer alignment between IT, business teams
- Enable enterprise-wide transparency and visibility
Greater Agility
- Faster integration of new systems and tools
- Dynamic scalability to handle changing needs
- Simplify IT management across hybrid infrastructure
Strengthened Governance
- Standardize processes enterprise-wide
- Strengthen regulatory compliance and audit reliability
- Get detailed views into end-to-end process performance
Cost Optimization
- Reduce IT spend by 30-50%
- Enable IT to do more with less
- Improve resource utilization and productivity
IT Orchestration Use Cases
Here are some of the most common use cases where orchestration delivers major value:
DevOps Orchestration
Seamlessly connect and automate the entire pipeline – from code to testing to deployment. Accelerate release velocity.
Cloud Orchestration
Provision infrastructure on demand. Streamline management across multi-cloud/hybrid environments.
IT Service Fulfillment
Automate delivery of IT services. Streamline request intake, approval workflows, ticketing, resolution.
Data Operations
Automate ETL pipelines, scheduling, monitoring of data integration workflows. Coordinate analytics workflows.
Network & Infrastructure Automation
Automate network ops like device provisioning, config management, traffic engineering, performance monitoring.
Security Automation
Orchestrate security processes like threat monitoring, vulnerability scanning, remediation, auditing and compliance reporting.
Mainframe Automation
Modernize batch processing on mainframes. Automate data transfers, job scheduling, output management
Business Services Orchestration
Automate processes that span business applications like ERP, CRM, HCM along with IT systems.
Comparison of Top Orchestration Tools and Platforms
There are a wide variety of orchestration tools available today from large vendors to open source projects. Here is an overview of popular options:
| Category | Key Players | Strengths |
|---|---|---|
| Workload Automation | Automic, UC4/Broadcom, Stonebranch, BMC Control-M | Mature capabilities, enterprise scale |
| IT Process Automation | ServiceNow, Remedyforce, MicroFocus Opus | ITSM-centric. Integrated service delivery |
| Cloud Management | AWS CloudFormation, Azure Resource Manager, Terraform | Multi-cloud infrastructure automation |
| Container Orchestration | Kubernetes, RedHat OpenShift, Docker Swarm | Automate container lifecycles at scale |
| Data Orchestration | Apache Airflow, Prefect, Apache Nifi | Open source data pipelines |
| Job Scheduling | Autosys, Control-M, Cron | Legacy job scheduling and batch processing |
On-Premise vs SaaS-based Tools
Historically orchestration software was installed on-premise, but SaaS-based orchestration is gaining traction owing to faster deployment and lower TCO. Below is a comparison:
| On-Premise | SaaS-based | |
|---|---|---|
| Upfront costs | High for HW/SW licenses | Low subscription fees |
| Deployment time | Weeks or months | Days to weeks |
| Maintenance | Handled internally | Managed by vendor |
| Upgrades | Requires IT effort | Automatic updates |
| Scaling | Limited. Requires HW expansion | Elastic, pay per use |
Open Source vs Paid Tools
Open source tools provide accessible entry points to get started with orchestration. But paid tools offer some key advantages:
Paid Tools
- Mature capabilities for enterprise-grade reliability
- Technical support and maintenance
- Advanced security features
- Built-in analytics and reporting
- Higher workload scalability
Open Source
- Customizable platforms if skilled staff available
- Avoid vendor lock-in
- Large developer communities
- Often simpler to get started
Overall, paid tools are better suited for mission-critical environments whereas open source works well for proofs of concept, smaller workloads or augmenting paid tools.
Key Capabilities to Look For
When evaluating orchestration solutions, some key features to look for include:
- Easy drag and drop workflow designers
- Libraries of pre-built templates and connectors
- Integration with ITSM platforms like ServiceNow, Remedy
- Agentless and low-code configuration
- Dynamic scaling to handle large workloads
- Advanced analytics, control dashboards and reports
- Robust access control, encryption and cybersecurity capabilities
- Cloud deployments and mobile access
- Roadmap commitment to emerging capabilities like AI/ML features
Implementation Best Practices
To maximize the benefits of orchestration, some best practices include:
- Start small, prove value: Focus initial use cases on high impact processes
- Align with ITSM strategy: Integrate with your existing ITSM platforms.
- Involve stakeholders early: Get input to build playbooks that work across the business.
- Develop in iterative sprints: Continuously expand scope in maturity.
- Leverage process mining: Discover inefficiencies and bottlenecks to target.
- Have an adoption plan: Drive user buy-in through training and support.
The Future of Intelligent Orchestration
Emerging areas that will shape the future of orchestration include:
- AI-driven orchestration that adapts dynamically to environment conditions
- Hybrid orchestration spanning clouds, edge environments and 5G
- Hyperautomation integrating business workflow orchestration beyond just IT
- Orchestration mesh concepts that distribute orchestration capabilities
- No-code techniques empowering "citizen automators"
- Autonomous orchestration for minimal human intervention
- Built-in cyber resilience with orchestration-aware security architectures
IT leaders that leverage intelligent orchestration position themselves to enable greater innovation, resilience and competitiveness.
Key Takeaways
- Orchestration is critical for coordinating automated workflows across today‘s multi-technology environments.
- Benefits include enhanced efficiency, collaboration, agility and innovation.
- Major use cases span IT, cloud, data and business operations.
- Both open source and paid tools provide options for unified automation.
- Look for ease of use, scalability and emerging capabilities when evaluating solutions.
- Start small, prove value and grow orchestration in maturity over time.
Orchestration serves as a force multiplier for IT and businesses seeking to digitally transform. Organizations that leverage orchestration position themselves to innovate and compete better.
