Of course those who do automate quickly learn that this does not necessitate the end of employing an IT staff. What it does mean however is that those individuals who once spent their days watching for and patching bugs can now be assigned more significant tasks which ultimately makes an IT department more productive. This also allows an IT budget to be neatly trimmed as the need for hours of overtime will be lessen considerably.
As it is common for overly eager companies to rush head first into network automation without much preparation it is equally common to see these same companies either restart the process or pull back out and forego the process. This happens when IT staff and management have to little experience or aren’t keen on change.