Right Tool, Right Job: Engineering Best Practices for Network Automation
Teams everywhere are automating network tasks – but all too often automation remains fragmented. Engineers write scripts for isolated use-cases. Operations rely on siloed tools. Automation becomes a one-off project rather than a scalable solution. To truly modernize operations, teams must shift from basic automation to an orchestration mindset that enables repeatable, self-service network services.
In this episode of Packet Pushers: Total Network Operations (TNOps), hosts Scott Robohn and Ethan Banks talk with Jesse Ford, Automation Architect at Itential, about why task-automation alone isn’t enough. They explore how high-performing teams are advancing toward an orchestration approach, integrating with IT workflows and service delivery to move from reactive network change to proactive network operations.
About Jesse Ford
With 20+ years spanning the U.S. Marine Corps, telecommunications and enterprise networking, Jesse Ford has lived the evolution of network operations. He’s seen manual ticket queues, multi-vendor chaos, compliance burdens and tool sprawl. In this episode, he shares how he moved from scripting individual tasks to architecting a platform-driven automation strategy that scales.
Automation isn’t just about speed; it’s about freeing humans to learn, grow, and solve harder problems.
Jesse Ford, Automation Architect, Itential
What We Discuss in This TNOps Podcast
Many network engineers start with automation by writing scripts for repetitive tasks, but this often leads to disorganized, inconsistent, and difficult-to-scale automation efforts. In this episode, Jesse, Ethan, and Scott dive into how orchestration brings structure, standardization, and business value to network automation.
If you treat your automation like a product – something your team, the business, your peers consume, rather than just a script – you change the game.
Scott Robohn, Founder & Host of TNOps
- How operations teams can shift from experimental scripts to orchestrated workflows that scale across devices, vendors and domains.
- Why many automation efforts stall at “one-off tasks,” and how to overcome that with architecture, governance and self-service.
- How audit/compliance burdens offer a high-leverage entry-point for automation-led value (not just cost savings, but relief for teams).
- The tool-selection journey: from Python, Ansible and shell scripts to platform orchestration – what to ask, when, and how to decide.
- The roadmap from automation → orchestration: connecting systems, teams and services rather than just automating tasks.
Why You Can’t Afford to Stay Siloed
Teams responsible for network operations face heightened pressure: growing device counts, increasing vendor diversity, tighter compliance windows, fewer staff. In such an environment, doing “faster manual change” doesn’t cut it. What’s needed is scale, repeatability and governance.
With the right orchestration mindset, your team can move from firefighting to service-delivery, from tickets to workflows, from tools scattered across consoles to interconnected, self-service automation. That’s not only more efficient – it’s more sustainable.
No one tool is better across the board than any other tool. It’s about figuring out what works for your team and your environment.
Ethan Banks – Host, Packet Pushers
After evaluating a lot of options, Itential was the clear path to scale – API work got easier, data handling got simpler, and our small team delivered automation as a service.
Jesse Ford, Automation Architect, Itential
How Itential Helps You Move from Ops to Orchestrated
Automation should be more than just faster scripts -it should be a structured, scalable service. With Itential, you transition from fragmented tools and reactive fixes to a unified orchestration platform built for the future.
- Unify ops & IT workflows: Expose network services to IT/App teams via APIs and self-service portals.
- Bridge legacy scripts and future ops: Use your Python, Ansible, Terraform assets today while layering in governed workflows, low-code dashboards and team self-service.
- Govern and scale for the AI era: Built for hybrid-cloud, multi-vendor, AI-driven operations-where closed-loop automation, event-triggered workflows and guardrails matter.
