It Automation vs Orchestration: What’s the Difference?

Automation is a big topic for companies, no matter the industry. Whether your job is in IT or another business area, you’re likely hearing about automating as a way of saving money, improving efficiencies, and removing inherent errors.

Often, automation is a term that may be used only partially correctly. The term orchestration, by contrast, is used less outside technical areas, but it’s more often what we mean when we talk about automation. Whichever term, automation and orchestration are both essential to successful digital transformation.

In this article, we’re exploring the different but related concepts of automation and orchestration by:

• Defining automation and orchestration in IT
• Clearing up the differences
• Sharing how beneficial both are, when used in tandem, in a DevOps culture

What is automation?

When we hear about automation, it’s typically in reference to making entire processes or workflows run. This isn’t quite right.

The definition of automation is setting up a single task to run on its own—automating one task. Automating a task can apply to both desktop-only tasks and cloud tasks. This single task can be anything:

• Launching a web server
• Stopping a service
• Integrating a web app
• Channeling an email to a predetermined folder

Individuals can automate daily tasks to improve their efficiency, but companies of all industries and sizes look to automation to increase efficiency at scale.