INDUSTRY
Manufacturing
GOALS
- Reduce Manual Processes & Errors
- Accelerate Service Delivery
- Maximize Value of Existing Tools
- Scale Operations
USE CASES
- Switch Deployment/Refresh
- New Subnet Creation
- DNS Requests
- Active Directory (AD) MACDs
- VM Creation & Retirement
INTEGRATIONS
Key Results
Reduced service delivery times from 5 days to <10 minutes.
Improved total time to deliver across all customers by 7,114 days.
Streamlined infrastructure service delivery through self-service consumption.
Reduced errors across infrastructure services.
Saved 15,324 hours to date for network personnel to focus on higher-value projects.
Measured & delivered key automation metrics to secure executive buy-in for ongoing initiatives.
Overcoming the Challenges of Manual Processes
As a global leader in ceilings and wall solutions, Armstrong World Industries operates in a fast-paced, project-driven industry where timely IT service delivery is critical to supporting business operations. Faced with mounting challenges due to the inefficiency of existing manual IT service delivery processes, the IT teams struggled to keep up with demand. The inefficiency of handling service requests was a major hurdle, leading to delays, backlogs, and limited visibility into productivity — threatening to impact both internal operations and customer satisfaction.
Like many organizations, Armstrong’s IT teams faced a growing backlog of service requests. Manual processes, even when supported by basic scripting, led to growing bottlenecks and delayed service delivery.
Armstrong’s initial solution, a homegrown Python-based orchestration platform, addressed some automation needs but introduced new complexities:
- Scalability Issues: An increasing volume of IT requests strained their capacity to deliver services quickly across their infrastructure.
- Integration Challenges: Custom development was required for every new tool or workflow.
- Reliance on Key Personnel: Maintenance depended heavily on a few specialized engineers.
Seeking a scalable, event-driven automation solution, Armstrong transitioned to Itential, transforming their IT operations to unlock unprecedented efficiency.
We reached a tipping point where it became clear that to scale and grow our automation efforts, we needed to invest in a robust platform.
Eric Anderson, Senior Infrastructure Architect
Solution: Seamless Event-Driven Orchestration with Itential
Armstrong adopted Itential to replace its homegrown platform, leveraging Itential’s comprehensive capabilities to automate IT service delivery. The team transformed their approach to service delivery through Itential’s:
- End-to-End Orchestration: Unified workflows across multi-domain infrastructure, incorporating Python scripts, REST API calls to IT and network systems, key steps like security and inventory, and more.
- Self-Serve Delivery: Deliver orchestrated workflows through a self-serve catalog or execute workflows in response to defined triggers for rapid event-driven automation.
- API-Driven Integrations & Automation Marketplace: Easy connectivity with tools like ServiceNow, GitLab, and Office 365.
- User-Friendly Workflow Orchestration: Drag-and-drop functionality abstracts network complexity and enables users to quickly create modular, resuable, scalable workflows.
Itential allowed us to automate the entire lifecycle of service requests—from submission to fulfillment—without relying on manual intervention.
Eric Anderson, Senior Infrastructure Architect
How Itential Works for Armstrong
The new orchestrated process is scalable and efficient, delivering a seamless self-serve experience for users across the company.
- Request Submission: Users submit service requests in ServiceNow.
- API Integration: Approved requests trigger API calls to Itential for processing.
- Task Fulfillment: Itential executes workflows, integrates with downstream tools, and completes the request.
- Communication: Users receive automated updates, and tasks are logged in ServiceNow.
- ROI Dashboard: Automation metrics are sent to Splunk for real-time reporting and insights.
Armstrong @ AutoCon 3 Event in Denver
We ended up going with Itential, and so now what our process looks like is a user submits a request in ServiceNow, when that request is approved, it shoots an API call to Itential with the task number. Itential then queries ServiceNow, gets all the variables associated with that task in a JSON object, and with logic in the Itential workflows, communicates with the downstream tools—whether it’s GitLab, Office 365, or whatever is needed to fulfill the request.
Key Results: Unlocking Efficiency with Automation
Faster Fulfillment,
Greater Efficiency.
15,324 Hours
Productivity Time Saved
7,114 Days
Wait Time Eliminated for Infrastructure Services
Armstrong World Industries achieved remarkable improvements across IT service delivery, productivity, and operational efficiency by leveraging Itential’s platform.
Service delivery times were slashed from 5 days to just 10 minutes, enabling employees to focus on critical tasks, while automating repetitive processes saved thousands of hours annually. Real-time data from Itential seamlessly integrated into Splunk dashboards, providing clear visibility into productivity gains and time savings, which helped secure executive buy-in for future automation initiatives. Additionally, the company simplified operations by unifying tools and workflows on a single platform, eliminating silos and supporting diverse automation needs with pre-built components and custom scripts.
Users now get faster service delivery because Itential automates the entire process. What used to take days now takes minutes, and that’s a massive improvement for us.
Driving Business Success with Itential
Armstrong’s transformation underscores the value of a scalable, event-driven automation solution.
“The ability to show tangible results, like the time we’ve saved and the impact on service delivery, has been instrumental in driving automation adoption across our organization,” Eric said.
With Itential, Armstrong has set a new standard for operational efficiency, ensuring that IT services are delivered with speed, precision, and transparency. “Management loves the tangible data we’re able to show with Itential—time savings, faster delivery, and overall productivity gains. It’s helped us get buy-in for further automation investments.”
Armstrong’s success story highlights how investing in the right automation platform can drive measurable business outcomes and foster a culture of continuous innovation. By streamlining IT service delivery and demonstrating clear ROI, they’re now well-positioned to scale automation efforts and meet the evolving demands of their dynamic industry.
Learn Why Infrastructure Teams Choose Itential
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