Automation: Reducing Burnout, Improving Morale, and Mitigating Risk

Automation has the capacity to transform the way IT teams operate, from automated threat hunting to automated patching. However, not all organisations are making the most of its capabilities. In fact, many IT teams are suffering from ineffective automation strategies.

According to a new survey commissioned by Tanium and conducted by Pure Profile, automation can improve an organisation’s overall security posture by increasing productivity, reducing employee burnout, and limiting opportunities for human error. However, to achieve these outcomes, a cohesive automation strategy that includes the workforce’s operational needs and aspirations is urgently needed.

Fortifying IT security posture with automation

As security threats from external bad actors continue to rise, the increasing number of devices and endpoints connected to every business means the risks are also growing exponentially daily.

IT teams simply don’t have the resources to stay on top of every bad actor. From our research, over three-quarters of IT workers say automation tools could improve overall security by shortening patch cycles, reducing vulnerability exposure timeframes, and lessening time spent on incident response. And yet, a quarter of teams feel they do not have the right tools (26%) or the right data to underpin automation (25%) and bring strategies to life.

The right automation tools allow organisations to do things faster, at scale, and with confidence. Organisations are being asked to do more with less, and relying on human efforts alone is not an effective way to arm your organisation in 2025. Organisations should look at ways to adopt automation that provides good governance and human oversight whilst remaining simple to implement.

Driving IT productivity: How automation streamlines operations

Human errors within an IT environment can have significant ramifications not only on security but can also impact critical day-to-day functionality like network performance and digital experiences. Too much time spent fixing human errors can take critical resources away from completing strategic work and impact an organisation’s overall productivity.

Our research found human error causes almost half of IT teams to spend between 1.6 and 2.9 days per month fixing mistakes, with 17% spending a minimum of 3 days fixing mistakes. The issue is more severe in larger organisations. In organisations with 10,000 employees or more, 16% of IT teams are spending more than 10 days per month resolving errors; this is compared to just 2% in organisations with 1,000 – 4,999 employees.

This is why reducing human error as quickly and efficiently as possible through leveraging automation tools is integral to achieving high organisational performance.

Whilst errors lead to a loss of productivity, they also pose significant security risks. Mistakes made by security or IT operations teams, even if resolved quickly, can leave the door wide open to attacks.

Boosting IT team morale with automation

Low morale and employee satisfaction can quickly lead to poor company culture, high staff turnover, and significant impacts on the business’s bottom line. Furthermore, time spent working out-of-hours typically involves time off work during normal working hours, pulling skilled employees away from valuable tasks and further impacting business productivity and profitability.

Our research found three-quarters of IT workers say automation could help reduce burnout, which is experienced by 69% of IT teams. It’s no wonder, particularly when one-third are spending 5 – 15 hours every week on scheduled activities outside of regular hours, and 15% of IT teams are spending over 16 hours per week. Our experience with IT operations teams tells us that in many cases, patching teams patch between 2:00 AM – 4:00 AM and over the weekends to minimise disruption.

The call to action is clear, with more than half (51%) of respondents saying they would support automation if it meant they or their team could work less time out of normal hours.

Burnout is also highly linked to a lack of purpose. Almost three-quarters of IT workers want to adopt automation tools so they can work on more meaningful projects, whilst 90% noted that manual, repetitive tasks impact workforce morale.

The cost of burnout is not just an HR issue. It’s a security issue, too. IT teams that have a full mental load or are feeling emotionally or physically tired are more likely to experience burnout and, therefore, become less productive, make mistakes themselves, and overlook errors by peers. Each of these outcomes creates more risk for the business, with major security implications.

Finding the right automation tools

Our research found that budget is the biggest inhibitor of automation adoption. According to ADAPT, simplification is a priority for IT leadership; therefore, many are reluctant to invest in new tools. Its research found that 66% of CIOs plan to consolidate their vendor portfolios to achieve a 20% reduction in costs. At the same time, IT budgets are being cut, and teams are being asked to do more with less. This is a near-impossible task to put squarely on the heads of team members.

That’s where Tanium comes in. Tanium’s Autonomous Endpoint Management (AEM) leverages real-time insights from all Tanium cloud-managed endpoints to recommend and automate changes on endpoints within an organisation’s environment, giving IT and security teams a safe, scalable, and automated platform to deliver increasingly efficient operations and an improved security posture at scale, with confidence, and in real time. It’s one tool for everything you need to protect your endpoints, making it cost effective too.

Tanium’s AEM provides playbooks for patching and low-code solutions so that even the most junior staff can run processes with very low risk and free up more experienced staff to focus on valuable projects. Our lightweight tools also mean your systems won’t be disrupted and can be run during business hours, reducing downtime and ensuring teams aren’t working all hours of the night.

Through its automation capabilities, Tanium can support IT teams to increase productivity, reduce burnout, and boost morale, which, according to our research, is something those on the front line are screaming for.

Get in touch with our team today to learn more about how Tanium’s AEM can help you improve morale, productivity, and security across your IT team.

Read the full report here.

Learn more about Tanium Automate here.