As cloud platforms underpin an array of essential business capabilities, effectively governing resources across intricate hybrid environments remains imperative and challenging in equal measure. This piece explores the differentiation between automation and orchestration, trajectories for each space, and conclusions on the integral role they collectively serve as infrastructure complexity mounts.

They foretold the current debate over cloud computing back in 1965 in their hit single, Get Off of My Cloud. The song sums up the anxieties of all public cloud users in its lyric, “Don’t hang around ’cause two’s a crowd.” Seriously, though, cloud computing has been transformative but the public cloud is not for everyone just yet. One alternative that continues to make sense, especially in SAP circles is a private cloud. Enterprise private cloud delivers the isolation you expect and need along with the familiar virtualization that you have trusted within your own four walls. 

Distinguishing Cloud Automation from Orchestration

Though sometimes used interchangeably, automation and orchestration perform  distinct  functions:

• Cloud Automation

Cloud automation eliminates time-consuming, repetitive manual processes involved in managing cloud infrastructure—provisioning resources, configuring systems, patching, compliance controls, and more. By codifying these administrative tasks, they execute automatically based on predefined triggers. This boosts IT efficiency.

• Cloud Orchestration

If automation refers to the automation of discrete tasks, orchestration coordinates the sequencing and interactions between these automated processes to deliver holistic outcomes. The focus lies in arranging automated events into functional workflows that align with business objectives. An orchestration layer adds strategic oversight. And SAP Business Technology Platform and cloud migration helps in data analytics.

Several pivotal developments characterize the cloud automation and orchestration arena:

1. The Rising Prominence of Hybrid Cloud

Hybrid cloud adoption continues accelerating as organizations recognize the balanced value proposition it offers. By allowing workloads to move fluidly between private and public environments via orchestration, companies garner both security and scalability. Hybrid infrastructure has become indispensable for enterprise DevOps teams.

2. Surging Interest in Cloud-Native Platforms

Cloud-native platforms built on containers, microservices, APIs, and DevOps processes enable the dynamic application mobility associated with modern IT environments. However, realizing the promise requires connecting many interdependent components. Consequently, reliance on automation and orchestration intensifies—especially Kubernetes and service mesh orchestration tools.
 

3. The March toward Distributed Cloud Models

As cloud adoption matures, organizations look beyond centralized models and migrate instead toward distributed networks spanning far-flung geographic locations. By distributing processing and storage capabilities closer to end-users and IoT devices, latency plummets. However, orchestrating workloads across disparate distributed nodes becomes exponentially more challenging.

4. AI & ML Permeate the Cloud

Integration of AI and ML for optimizing cost efficiency, security posture assessment, resource allocation, and predictive auto-scaling decisions continues permeating enterprise cloud deployments. As adoption grows, effectively governing AI/ML subsystems alongside traditional architecture via policy-based automation and sequencing presents a surging pain point.