Network Teams Face Skills and Tool Gaps as Automation Becomes Essential
Network teams are under pressure to do more with fewer people. Seventy-nine percent of IT professionals say automating Day 2 network operations-monitoring, troubleshooting, and change management-is a high or very high priority, according to new research from Enterprise Management Associates.
The math is straightforward. Fifty-two percent of IT organizations struggle to hire networking professionals. Meanwhile, IT executives, burned by pandemic-era over-hiring followed by layoffs, are reluctant to add headcount. Instead, they're asking network teams to operate with smaller budgets and fewer staff members.
Forty-three percent of IT professionals cite personnel shortages as a top network operations challenge. Automation offers a path to handle the workload.
AI-driven automation is gaining traction
Network teams want to reduce mean time to repair and improve overall network experience. Sixty-two percent of IT organizations plan to use AI-driven and agentic network management capabilities to achieve higher automation levels.
Every major network infrastructure vendor-Arista, Cisco, HPE, and Extreme-now offers AI-driven automation in their management platforms. At least half of network observability vendors have added similar capabilities.
A network tools lead at a Fortune 500 retailer described the shift plainly: "We're working on a platform to create some custom agents and test them and guide them to do some automated responses based on what the issue is, basically replacing what the NOC engineer does."
Skills gaps and tool limitations block progress
Organizations pursuing Day 2 automation face real obstacles. Forty-six percent of IT professionals say skills gaps on their network teams prevent them from automating operations.
This problem cuts both ways. Teams building custom scripts and runbooks need internal resources with time to develop them. But adopting vendor solutions also requires skilled staff to evaluate, implement, and support the tools.
Under-resourced teams often get only basic functionality deployed before moving to the next project. The advanced features that drive automation never get implemented.
The secondary barriers are equally significant:
- Tool limitations: 36% of IT professionals cite this issue
- Data quality and visibility problems: 32%
- Risk aversion or governance constraints: 32%
Many network teams operate with tools that lack the AI and automation features they need. Others distrust their data enough that they won't let automation act on it without manual verification. And some organizations simply cannot tolerate the risk of an inadvertent bad change, regardless of tool capability or data quality.
Executive support is required
Network teams that prioritize Day 2 automation tend to experience better overall network operations outcomes, the research shows. But getting there requires more than good intentions.
Upper management needs to get involved. Executive sponsorship and sustained budget commitment are essential to move these efforts past the pilot phase to full implementation.
For managers overseeing network operations, the priority is clear: automation of Day 2 operations is no longer optional. The question is whether your organization will provide the resources and leadership required to succeed.
Consider exploring AI learning resources for network engineers to help close skills gaps on your team, or review how AI agents and automation are being deployed in similar environments.
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