Introduction

At Squadcast, we advocate for the principles of Site Reliability Engineering (SRE), which emphasize the critical importance of automating routine tasks to boost efficiency in Incident Management. We're aiding organizations in implementing incident response automation principles with one of our newest features: 'Workflows'. Workflows has been designed to automate Incident Response. The manual facets of your Incident lifecycle can now be automated, all while ensuring human-in-the-loop execution for critical decisions.

So, What Exactly Are Workflows? Big Deal In Incident Response Automation

Picture tackling a high severity Incident: Among the flurry of actions, imagine your team rallying together on a Zoom call for a SEV0 Incident. Now, what if, as soon as the SEV0 Incident comes alive, the Zoom link that the responder needs to share for collaboration is set and ready. Moreover, imagine a ready-to-use Runbook detailing the Incident handling procedure attached to an Incident. Workflows will take care of all these ancillary tasks, so the primary responders can focus on more important tasks like triaging and resolution. This propagates Incident Response automation.

Think of Workflows as a predefined set of actions, activated by specific conditions (or Triggers), that span both internal Squadcast functions and external operations.

What are Triggers?

Triggers are events that dictate when actions should be executed. It is an important setting for Incident Response automation. For instance, a trigger might be activated when an Incident receives acknowledgment or when it's resolved.

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Within each Workflow, you have the flexibility to define multiple trigger conditions. These conditions include Alert Source, Service, and specific Tags like priority or urgency. Importantly, a workflow springs to action only when all the set conditions are met in Incident Response automation.

What Actions Can Workflows Perform?

Workflows help in promoting Incident Response automation through series of actions:

• By configuring workflows, engineers have immediate access to Runbooks when an Incident strikes, ushering in quicker resolutions.
• No more wasting precious moments setting up collaboration channels. From spinning up video conferencing links to chat, and other essential communication mediums – Workflows has got you covered. 
• Incidents can now be automatically marked as SLO impacting incidents based on specified conditions. Say goodbye to manual marking! 
• Add context-rich Incident notes, providing vital information for both you and your team, making frantic search for Incident notes during high-severity incidents a thing of the past.
• Trigger custom HTTP requests to external tools or services based on specific workflow triggers, expanding the Incident Response automation possibilities. 
• Automatically send email notifications to designated individuals or teams when certain incident criteria are met, keeping stakeholders informed.
• Initiate actions in external applications by sending webhooks based on workflow triggers, enabling broader integration with your automated Incident Response ecosystem.
• Automatically adjust the priority level of incidents based on defined conditions, ensuring critical issues receive immediate attention.  
• Update your status page automatically with incident details, keeping your users informed about ongoing issues.

Here’s a quick demo of how Workflows can be created for Incident Response automation:

We have created a detailed terminology guide to navigate you through different facets of this feature! And you’ll get automated Incident Response for your incident resolution in just a few steps. 

Importance of Automated Incident Response

"Automated Incident Response is the unseen safeguard that keeps your systems running smoothly."

By implementing automated Incident Response, organizations can significantly reduce downtime and ensure quicker resolutions to critical issues. This approach not only streamlines the handling of incidents but also minimizes human error, allowing teams to focus on more strategic tasks. 

Ultimately, automated Incident Response enhances operational efficiency and helps maintain consistent service levels, ensuring that your business remains resilient against disruptions.

Conclusion

In the evolving landscape of Incident Management, Workflows with a "human in the loop" approach can help your organization reduce toil and let engineers focus on mission-critical tasks. We encourage you to try this feature that can help you with automated Incident Response and share any feedback you may have with our support team 🙂

Not signed up for Squadcast yet? Worry not, you can still take Workflows for a spin as a part of our 14 day free trial. Cheers to Incident Response automation!