Case Study

How a Global Pharma & Med Tech Company Built an Automation Center of Excellence with Itential

A network team that had been writing Python and Ansible scripts for years turned that work into a shared, governed Center of Excellence – running 17 automation use cases in year one and taking BGP/BFD-related incidents from 11 per quarter to zero.

Challenge

A small network team running essential infrastructure had years of DIY Python and Ansible automation in place – but the cost of maintaining and sharing those scripts had started to outweigh the value of running them.

Solution

A Center of Excellence model anchored on Itential – bringing siloed task automations into a single orchestration framework, with Itential Gateway preserving every script the team had already built.

icon showing a checkmark on lines of text or code

Why Itential

Integration capabilities that connect every automation tool and third-party system, a gateway that standardizes execution across Python, Ansible, and Terraform, and a low-code canvas that lets coders and non-coders build together.

The Challenge

Evolving Automation from Siloed Tooling to Collaborative Platforms

At this global pharmaceutical and medical technologies company, automation wasn’t a new idea. To keep up with their expanding infrastructure, the network team had been building task-based automations with Python and Ansible for years. Those task automations were essential – replacing routine manual actions with a single command, making the day-to-day of network engineers a little easier.

But as the library grew, so did the cost of maintaining it. The team found themselves spending more time managing and updating automation assets than actually executing them or building new ones. And the extra work required to share those automations with others – validations, access control, auditing – meant their reach was limited.

To increase the impact of the team’s automation work, leadership decided to pursue a Center of Excellence model. A CoE is a culture initiative – bringing automation to the forefront of how IT and network operations are done by changing mindsets, improving skills, and choosing the right platform. Done well, it brings people across teams together to build a cohesive strategy and standardize on a platform that enables scale.

Three Forces Limiting DIY Automation

Each one was manageable on its own. Together, they capped what DIY scripts could deliver – and pointed the team toward a platform layer that could absorb the maintenance and sharing burden.

Maintenance Outgrew Execution

The team spent more time managing and updating automation assets than actually executing them or building new ones – engineering time the small team did not have.

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Sharing Required Custom Plumbing

Sharing automations with other teams required validations, access control, and auditing – plumbing that had to be built every time, limiting how far any single automation could reach.

Tooling Stayed Siloed Per Team

DIY automations stayed inside whichever team and toolchain originally built them – making standardization across infrastructure teams difficult, and a Center of Excellence model impossible without a shared platform.

We were having initial success with DIY network automation, but as the team built more scripts, the extra work to be able to let others use them just started to pile up.

Senior Network Engineer

Global Pharma & Med Tech Company

A Center of Excellence isn’t a team – it’s a way of working. The team needed a platform that could absorb the maintenance and sharing burden, and let every team contribute on equal footing.

Why Itential

Why Itential Became the Core of Their Center of Excellence

Implementing a CoE meant selecting a platform that could orchestrate disparate automation tooling and integrate across multiple technologies and domains. Itential’s unique integration capabilities – connecting every automation tool and third-party system – made it the right fit. The team took a measured, incremental approach: pick four high-priority use cases, deliver them quickly with Itential, prove the model to every team that would touch it. Five capabilities anchored the choice.

A Platform That Centralizes Without Forcing Tool Choices

Five capabilities sat at the center of the decision – together making it possible to centralize automation across infrastructure teams without forcing anyone into a single tooling choice.

Explore the Platform

Itential Gateway

Whether automations are built in Python, Ansible, Terraform, or another tool, Itential Gateway standardizes the execution layer – so automations are easier to share and execute without anyone having to abandon the tooling they prefer.

Leverage & Extend Existing Automations

Existing Python and Ansible work can be attached to API endpoints – enabling those automations to participate in end-to-end orchestrated workflows alongside change management, security, and other third-party systems.

API-Document Integrations Across IT Systems

Comprehensive integrations generated using API documents with every network and IT system – extending the reach of the team’s automations into the broader IT ecosystem without per-system custom integration work.

Low-Code Workflow Canvas

An easy-to-use, low-code workflow building canvas – so coders and non-coders alike can participate in building orchestrations and contribute to the CoE on equal footing.

Self-Serve Through ServiceNow & CI/CD

Automations exposed for self-serve consumption through methods like a ServiceNow catalog and CI/CD pipelines – so others can request and use automations without running scripts themselves or needing visibility into the underlying infrastructure.

The Solution

A CoE Model with Itential at the Core

The team launched with four high-priority use cases, proved the platform approach quickly, and built outward from there – turning DIY scripts into shared, governed workflows the whole organization can contribute to and consume.

Four Use Cases to Start

A measured incremental approach: select four high-priority use cases, deliver them quickly with Itential, build familiarity, prove the platform approach to each team that would adopt it.

Patching, Compliance & CMDB

High-device-footprint use cases including automated patching, baseline compliance reporting, and CMDB accuracy enforcement – high-impact processes brought under one orchestrated model.

BGP/BFD Operations Standardized

Routing-related operations brought under standardized orchestrated workflows – taking BGP/BFD-related network incidents from 11 per quarter to zero.

CoE Participation Path

A standardized internal course (Python, JSON, APIs, Itential basics) – the gateway to CoE participation, so anyone interested in automation has a structured path to contribute.

Itential gave us a centralized platform in which we could standardize our automation initiatives across all infrastructure teams and truly build a Center of Excellence model. People who’ve invested into new skills to build automations see more impact from their work, and we can orchestrate across different automation tools and domains to deliver services back to our end users faster and more consistently.

Automation Center of Excellence Leader

Global Pharma & Med Tech Company

The Outcome

A Roadmap That Sticks, Participation That Grows

The Center of Excellence model didn’t just deliver use cases – it built the operating muscle behind them. The team now ships a steady pipeline of orchestrated automations and onboards new contributors much faster than before.

17

Use Cases Delivered in Year One

Including automated patching, baseline compliance reporting, and CMDB accuracy enforcement – built through the CoE model.

Zero

BGP/BFD Incidents Per Quarter

Down from 11 per quarter – once BGP/BFD-related operations were brought under standardized orchestrated workflows.

100%

Device Footprint for Baseline Compliance

Full coverage achieved across the network’s device footprint for baseline compliance reporting through CoE-built workflows.

5+

New Use Cases Planned Per Quarter

A consistent CoE roadmap the team has been able to stick to – continuously growing the catalog of orchestrated automations.

An Automation-First Culture, Not Just an Automation Toolset

The Center of Excellence model – anchored on the Itential Platform and Itential Gateway – created the framework, shared skills, and shared workflows that made automation how the company operates, not just what a few engineers run.

What’s Next

The CoE roadmap continues at a steady cadence: at least five new use cases per quarter, deepening device-footprint coverage on existing automations, and onboarding more contributors through the standardized Python, JSON, API, and Itential course.

Continued focus areas include expanding self-serve consumption through ServiceNow and CI/CD, broadening the catalog of orchestrated infrastructure services, and extending the CoE participation model further across the IT organization – turning automation-first from a vision into the default operating model.

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