The document discusses how globalization and new technologies have flattened the world and increased competition. It argues that IT needs automation to deal with infrastructure growth, skills shortages, and business demands. Specifically, it proposes that IT adopt a supply chain automation model and centralized configuration management database to automate processes, reduce costs and errors, and improve compliance, risk management and ROI. However, challenges to IT automation include limited visibility, product integration issues, and lack of flexibility. Overall, the document argues that automation is key for IT to efficiently deliver business value and emulate the cost advantages of supply chain models.