For organizations looking to scale automation beyond IT, the path forward is clear: stop creating more silos and start connecting business logic with orchestration logic in a shared control plane.
Business teams have always relied on technology to move faster, automate processes, and improve efficiency. But too often, they’ve been forced to adopt tools outside the scope of IT, not out of defiance—but out of necessity.
This reality has led to the proliferation of shadow IT, where business users turn to no-code and low-code automation platforms to fill the gaps left by traditional enterprise software. While these tools deliver quick wins, they create long-term chaos: disconnected workflows, siloed data, and security blind spots that make governance impossible.
Meanwhile, IT and engineering teams are building robust orchestration systems—critical infrastructure designed to handle data pipelines, infrastructure automation, and application workflows at scale. But these systems often remain inaccessible to business users, leading to a fundamental disconnect between business logic (what needs to happen) and orchestration logic (how it happens).
Organizations can no longer afford this divide. The next evolution of automation is about building bridges between business and technical teams.
The Business Automation Dilemma: Quick Wins vs. Long-Term Strategy
Business users are problem-solvers. They don’t have time to wait for IT to approve and implement every automation they need. So they turn to low-code automation tools, RPA (robotic process automation), and workflow builders that promise easy integrations and fast execution.
Will it work? It also creates a growing ecosystem of isolated, user-driven automation that lacks visibility, scalability, and security.
- A finance team automates invoice processing with a standalone RPA tool—but IT has no insight into its performance or security posture.
- A marketing team builds a lead enrichment workflow using a low-code tool—but there’s no easy way to integrate it with enterprise orchestration systems.
- A customer success team automates onboarding sequences in a SaaS platform—but when processes break, there’s no unified way to debug or optimize them.
At first, these ad hoc solutions seem harmless—even useful. But over time, they introduce fragmentation: different teams working with different tools outside the scope of IT governance.
The problem is not who owns automation—it’s how automation is managed at scale.
Without a unified automation strategy, companies face:
- Lack of visibility – IT can’t track or optimize processes they don’t control.
- Security risks – Unmanaged integrations can expose sensitive data.
- Inefficiency – Duplicate automations waste time and resources.
- Technical debt – Business users rely on fragile, one-off workflows that break when requirements change.
To solve this, organizations need a new approach to automation—one where business and IT teams work together rather than apart.
See also: 5 Best Practices for Maximizing the Value of Your RPA Implementation
From Fragmentation to Collaboration: A Unified Automation Strategy
Rather than forcing non-technical users to work within developer-focused orchestration systems or leaving them to create unmanaged automation, organizations need to provide a middle ground:
- Business users get access to automation through interfaces designed for them.
- Developers retain control over execution, security, and scalability.
- The organization benefits from a unified automation framework.
This is the convergence of business logic and orchestration logic: a model where automation platforms serve both technical and non-technical users—without silos.
How It Works: Extending Orchestration, Not Replacing It
Rather than creating more tools, organizations should extend their existing orchestration platforms to accommodate business users.
Some forward-thinking orchestration platforms are already solving this by:
Providing UI-driven automation interfaces
- Instead of requiring business users to write YAML files or API calls, orchestration platforms can offer customizable front-ends where non-technical teams interact with automation in a structured way.
- Example: A marketing team triggers a lead-scoring workflow without needing to understand the orchestration logic behind it.
Bringing automation under a shared governance model
- Business teams can initiate workflows without bypassing security policies or creating hidden processes.
- IT maintains observability, compliance, and centralized monitoring across all automation efforts.
Creating structured handoff mechanisms
- Instead of submitting manual IT requests, business users can define automation needs in a controlled environment.
- Example: A sales operations team defines the business rules for lead routing, while IT ensures the orchestration logic adheres to security and compliance standards.
This model doesn’t mean removing no-code tools entirely. It means connecting them to orchestration systems in a way that ensures alignment across teams.
The Business Impact: Why This Shift Matters
Organizations that embrace this converged automation approach will see tangible benefits:
1. Faster Automation Deployment
By enabling business teams to initiate workflows within a governed framework, organizations reduce the IT bottleneck—without sacrificing control.
2. Greater Cross-Team Collaboration
Business users no longer work in isolation, and IT isn’t burdened with translating fragmented requests into structured automation.
3. Reduced Security and Compliance Risks
With orchestration systems providing a centralized control plane, business-driven automation efforts are no longer a blind spot.
4. Future-Proofed Automation Infrastructure
As business requirements evolve, automation workflows remain scalable and adaptable—without introducing technical debt from one-off solutions.
5. A Unified View of Enterprise Workflows
With observability across all automation efforts, organizations can continuously optimize processes, improving efficiency and performance.
Automation Needs a Control Plane, Not More Silos
Organizations must move beyond the mindset of business automation vs. IT automation and instead build systems where both coexist.
More companies are adopting platforms that combine developer-grade orchestration with business-friendly interfaces, ensuring that automation is:
- Scalable – Eliminating disconnected tools and fragmented workflows.
- Governed – Embedding security, compliance, and observability.
- Collaborative – Bringing business and technical teams onto the same platform.
The question is now, how fast can you adapt before fragmentation, inefficiency, and risk take over?
For organizations looking to scale automation beyond IT, the path forward is clear: stop creating more silos and start connecting business logic with orchestration logic in a shared control plane.
