It’s been some time since Forrester has written about this market, and a lot has changed.

Automation is the cornerstone of speed and operational efficiency. With the increasing complexity in IT ecosystems, business applications, and data, the demand for smarter automation is greater than ever. Batch automation and workload automation are certainly not new concepts (they date back to the early days of the mainframe), but they are undergoing a renaissance as organizations optimize their processes.

In our upcoming research, we will delve into why it’s time to revisit these technologies, explore the macro trends that impact this market, and how they have the potential to reshape organizations’ automation plans. We’ll help our clients understand the current state of the market, the impact of the latest technological advancements, and new emerging use cases.

Why Are We Revisiting This Research?

  1. Increased client demand. Enterprises are increasingly demanding insights into the direction of this market and vendors’ ability to solve their operational and organizational requirements.
  2. Hybrid and multicloud environments. Firms today live and operate in a hybrid setup — a mix of on-premises and public cloud services. Applications, infrastructure, and data are spread across this setup, and workload/batch automation must likewise seamlessly integrate across it.
  3. Native capabilities in business applications. Some business applications have native capabilities to perform workload automation. We will explore how these impact standalone tools in the market.
  4. AI and AI agent enhancements. While AI is no secret in automation, we want to make clear how AI will help advance solutions. When should agents take over (if at all)?
  5. Demand for operational and cyber resiliency. With the growing threat of system failures and cybersecurity issues, all automation solutions must be designed with capabilities to address these challenges.

Workload/batch automation can no longer be just a tool for the IT organization: Like all other types of automation, it must be a strategic enabler for modern businesses. By revisiting research in this space, we will explore new possibilities for scalability, efficiency, and resilience.

Get Involved

Over the next two months, we will be conducting interviews and taking briefings with vendors. If you would like to participate in our research, please contact Meg Bellavance (mbellavance@forrester.com).