Azure Automation vs. PagerDuty

We have found Azure Automation to be well-suited for tasks that must be performed on a scheduled basis. No matter how simple or tedious tasks are to perform manually, if they run on a scheduled basis, it makes sense to have them automated. If the tasks at hand are only performed once or infrequently, then it may be best to continue performing them manually.

Incentivized

It's the most effective when you need to alert someone specifically or a team. It sends notifications everywhere, like email, phone, and SMS, ensuring critical issues are never missed. The feature, like the event orchestrator, allows us to set logic-based rules that automatically suppress non-emergency alerts.

Incentivized

• Scheduled automation of Microsoft 365 and Azure tasks
• Scheduled automation of scripting (e.g. Powershell)
• Perform periodic maintenance

Incentivized

• Alerting notifications is its best attribute; it will continue to make contact until the alert is acknowledged by a user.
• The calendar view provides valuable information regarding who is on call by the team and their full contact information.
• The application also lets you initiate a tech bridge meeting instantly and notifies all on-call users.

Incentivized

• An automation template library would be nice
• Clear estimation of costs - this goes for the entire Azure Automation platform
• It can be daunting at first due to all the settings and menu levels, but it is not difficult once you get started.

Incentivized

• When I open PagerDuty the page does look a little cluttered or busy.
• It would be nice to go to the page with clear and straightforward instructions on what I must address.
• Ability to change the color background.
• Add a timer and alarms for tasks that need completed.

Incentivized

They have been rock solid for us thus far and are not very expensive and to be honest no time to evaluate other software at this point.

Incentivized

The UI is more complex than I would like. Part of the challenge is that most users use PagerDuty infrequently; I don't remember how I changed a policy last time. Another part of the challenge is that some users expect alerting to be a trivial feature, and are reluctant to invest any time in reading the documentation.

Incentivized

PagerDuty is reliable and easy to set up. It gives an effective way to notify the team about critical incidents which results in a faster turnaround time on issues. users can customize their alerts rules based on their preferences. Overall it's effective and easy to use which adds great business value.

Incentivized

When I setup notifications to PD thru the Python API I was impressed with the ease with which I could set up the software/service.

Incentivized

We did not evaluate any other automation products since we are already using Microsoft 365 and the Azure platform. Additionally, Azure Automation allows for a reasonable number of tasks to be performed each month at no cost, which is especially nice when testing the platform. We found Azure Automate's integration of Powershell invaluable when working directly with Microsoft 365, Sharepoint, Azure AD, and other systems via API.

Incentivized

I have not use the 2 technologies for as long as I have used PagerDuty but in my opinion PagerDuty makes things a lot easier. The other tools got the job done and got alerts out but PagerDuty just seemed to make the setup for on-call alert schedules and integrations easier than the others. This isn't to say the others are difficult, just that PagerDuty was slightly better. I also have noticed that more tools have options to integrate to PagerDuty over the other tools.

Incentivized

• Ensures tasks are not forgotten
• Saves times - routine tasks no longer have to be performed manually
• Complicated tasks are no longer an issue

Incentivized

• Allow our service to be available 24/7 with minimal downtime, improving customer experience
• Monitor incidents and allow us to customize/schedule alert notifications, making engineers' jobs easier and preventing turnover
• Prevent SEVs that could deteriorate, bring down our service, and cost us millions of dollars from loss in bookings

Incentivized