Building a Product Mindset for Network Automation
Network teams everywhere are automating tasks, but too often, automation remains fragmented — engineers build scripts for isolated use cases, teams rely on siloed tools, and automation is treated as a one-off project rather than a scalable solution. To truly modernize network operations, organizations need to move beyond basic automation and adopt an orchestration mindset that delivers repeatable, self-service network services.
In this episode of Total Network Operations (TNOps), hosts Scott Robohn and Ethan Banks sit down with Itential’s Chief Architect, Peter Sprygada, to discuss why automation alone isn’t enough. They explore how leading organizations are developing a product-based approach to networking, integrating automation with IT workflows, and shifting from reactive network management to proactive service delivery.
Being a next-gen network engineer isn’t just about subnets and spanning tree anymore. That’s table stakes. Now, you need to understand automation, orchestration, APIs, Git, and pipelines to stay relevant.
Scott Robohn, Founder & Host of TNOps
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, we dive into how orchestration brings structure, standardization, and business value to network automation.
Developers don’t want to pick up the phone and call a networking person to ask for infrastructure. We don’t want those calls either, right? The future is meeting at an API layer where network teams and app teams can collaborate seamlessly.
Peter Spyrgada, Chief Architect at Itential
- Automation vs. Orchestration – What’s the Difference? Why automating individual tasks isn’t enough and how orchestration connects workflows into full-scale network services.
- From Scripts to Strategy: How teams are moving beyond isolated automation and developing standardized, scalable solutions.
- Building a Network Product Mindset: How network teams can create reusable, self-service automation services instead of manually provisioning resources.
- Cross-Domain Orchestration: The future of IT operations depends on integrating network automation with cloud, storage, and application workflows.
- Error Handling & Reliability: Why engineers need to go beyond writing scripts and build automation that includes proper validation, error checking, and governance.
- The Next-Gen Network Engineer: What skills and tools network teams need to evolve in an API-driven, automation-first IT environment.
How Itential Helps You Deliver Network Services Like a Product
Automation should do more than speed up manual tasks—it should enable a fully orchestrated, API-driven network that integrates with IT systems and empowers teams to consume networking as a service. Itential’s platform transforms automation into scalable, governed workflows that unify network, cloud, and security operations. Whether you’re standardizing automation, integrating with DevOps pipelines, or building self-service network capabilities, Itential helps you turn your network automation into a product that delivers real business value.
