Why Automate?

At BackBox, we discuss automation as if it’s the best choice for everyone without questioning why that may be the case. We talk about features, and we have the best backup solution, among other things.

Why would you automate? What are you doing today that would benefit from some automation, particularly the kind that aligns with our approach here (easy to start, designed to improve and grow over time, simple to maintain)?

I believe there are three reasons to automate:

1. Achieve process consistency
2. Remove missing information in your decision-making process
3. Enhance performance and security

Achieve Process Consistency

Consider the different approaches taken by various team members, regardless of their skill levels, towards all the administrative tasks that your team is involved in. If you do something more than once and there are different ways to accomplish the same thing, then there’s a best way to do it.

We see this in aspects like macros and shortcuts as well. Do you have a method for manipulating or posting photos on social media? Automate it using a Shortcut (Apple terminology).

Why do people do this? To simplify tasks, enhance consistency, and reduce cognitive load, particularly for infrequent processes they are automating. In simple terms, it improves their daily experience. Why wouldn’t we implement this at work?

Do you have a preferred method for backing up devices, updating routing tables, checking your network’s configurations, or troubleshooting specific issues? Have you ever made a mistake that you’d like to avoid in the future? Automate your process. Once automated, you can tweak and expand, then share. Imagine taking the best practices you’ve developed and sharing them with your team as it grows. Consider how efficient and productive that team would be.

Remove Missing Information in Your Decision-making Process

It can be frustrating when an organization has information about its activities but doesn’t have it when needed. Our networks have extensive knowledge about themselves. How many devices do we have? What version of software are they running? When are their SSL certificates expiring? And so on.

Yet, we typically manually track this information, which often contains errors. Therefore, when it’s crucial to know exactly how many firewalls are exposed to the most recent CVE, there’s a scramble, even though the network is aware.

Enhance Performance and Security

How can we maintain a healthy network? By moving quickly to adapt to change, closing security vulnerabilities, and preventing errors while enforcing best practices, we will achieve a better-performing network.

And automation provides us with all of those benefits (and more).

BackBox can help automate security, compliance, and lifecycle management for your network and security devices, including firewalls, routers, switches, and more. Our intelligent vulnerability prioritization and patching, automated configuration checks and updates, and RBAC audits help you strengthen your network’s cyber resilience.

Want to see what we can do for you? Schedule a 30-minute demo for an interactive tour of the BackBox platform.