The IT Workflow Builder Paradox: Why IT Automation Tools Create Work Instead of Eliminating It
A sysadmin asked on Reddit last month: "Anyone actually running an AI service desk beyond a basic chatbot?"
The responses revealed something interesting. Not frustration with AI itself, but with the gap between demo and reality.
What IT Teams Are Actually Saying
We looked at all r/sysadmin discussions from the past year, and a pattern emerged:
On implementing automation:
- "We're a 2-person team supporting 100 employees"
- "We've never properly invested in support, leadership wants something simpler"
- "Does it actually work without being annoying?"
On existing tools:
- 78% of companies under 500 employees have 3 or fewer IT staff
- 47% still handle requests via email/phone
- Most have tried automation tools, and quietly stopped using them
The problem isn't lack of options. It's that most automation creates a new job: workflow engineer.
The Hidden Cost of "Natural Language" Automation
Current AI tools let you describe workflows in plain English instead of code. That sounds great, but in practice, you're still:
- Writing playbooks for each request type
- Mapping decision trees
- Testing edge cases
- Maintaining workflows as your stack changes
One sysadmin put it like this: "Just a chatbot slapped on top of a helpdesk."
Beyond Tickets
Here's what gets missed: tickets are only about 40% of IT workload.
The rest?
- Provisioning across 15 SaaS tools
- Monthly access reviews
- Offboarding that touches 6 systems
- License reconciliation
- Security questionnaires
- Vendor documentation
Most ITSM tools focus exclusively on ticket deflection, and the repetitive work outside of the queue just continues to pile up.
What "Out of the Box" Should Mean
Real automation shouldn't require configuration. It should:
- Work day one, not quarter one
- Handle common patterns without training
- Learn your specific environment passively
- Cover the full scope of repetitive IT work
Not building manual workflows isn't out of laziness; It's recognizing that small IT teams don't have time to become automation engineers, and that forcing them to be is ineffective.
The Real Question
When evaluating IT automation, ask:
"How many hours will I spend maintaining this vs. doing it manually?"
If the answer is more than zero in month two, it's not automation. It's a new responsibility on your roadmap.
The future of IT automation isn't better workflow builders, it's not needing a workflow builder at all.
