What will the future of IT management look like and will it result in the loss of human jobs

IT Systems Management solutions such as remote monitoring and management (RMM, also known as endpoint management), have been transformed by IT automation. Here common tasks are performed autonomously by the RMM, saving time, reducing errors and ensuring that all endpoints are properly treated.

The growth of AI

Artificial Intelligence (AI) will ultimately revolutionize systems management as profoundly as automation – and arguably more.

The result will be more intelligent self-reliant systems management solutions that will more easily detect anomalies by looking at patterns and exceptions from millions and perhaps billions of data points. At the same time, increasing autonomy will impact the systems management profession. Just as robots move worker demand from assembly line grunts to robotics engineers, technicians and robot operators, AI-driven systems management will transform low-level admins into higher-level IT decision makers.

AI-based systems management will also be able to predict problems and future events based on what has happened in the past, and the current state of the systems.

A recent piece on the Forbes website talks about how machine learning will bring a brain boost to systems management solutions.

“Machine learning is a perfect partnership between that data, the computer, and the human coder. Programmers write algorithms that allow the computer to learn as it processes data that describe routine operations. The more data the ML software processes, the more it learns and, therefore, the more accurately it identifies which operations are running normally, and which are not. And before an abnormal operation becomes serious enough to affect customers, the system can notify its human operator to take corrective action, or fix the problem automatically,” wrote Moe Fardoost, a senior director of product marketing for Oracle in Forbes.

Will AI Steal my IT Job?

A report by Computer Weekly agrees that AI will be hot stuff for system management, and may fundamentally change IT work.

“Demand for higher levels of availability will lead to increased use of automation. Over time, many IT roles will be taken over by intelligent algorithms,” the site argued. “In the age of the customer, human IT operators will be inferior and a new rulebook for IT operations will be needed. IT will need to change from supporting back-office processes to interacting directly with consumers and users, who will have far higher expectations of IT systems than traditional business users do.”

Gartner also weighed in with research suggesting that self-learning automation technology and smart machine research will be one of the top areas of investment for some 30% of CIOs in 2020. “The next big shift is convergence of technology products and services to create next-generation service offerings that will include AI platforms. More specifically, Gartner defines these next-generation service offerings as “intelligent automation” services that use one or more AI technologies (such as a cognitive-computing technology platform) as the basis of an offering’s core value proposition,” Gartner said.

This could mean many ITSM jobs will be done by AI-driven chatbots ad service portals. Instead of dealing with the typical crises and end-user issues, ITSM pro will be able to work on change management which makes IT more efficient and secure, addressing problems that impact many end users and system, and ultimately become more strategic and aligning IT work with business objectives.