Replacing manual, overtime work with end-to-end patch automation using AWX and Ansible

Overview

Industry

Location

Telecom

Poland

Technology Used

Ansible

AWX

Gitlab

HashiCorp Vault

ITSM

Logging

Monitoring

RBAC

SSO

Project overview

The client struggled with a costly, error-prone and time-consuming manual patching process requiring engineers to work late-night maintenance windows, which limited scalability and drove up overtime costs. To solve this, we designed and deployed a complete end-to-end patch automation solution using AWX (the open-source upstream of Ansible Automation Platform). Integrated with ITSM and GitLab, the solution orchestrates the entire patching lifecycle – from pre-checks through validation – unattended. This transformed patching into a fully automated, auditable and cost-effective maintenance service.

Client background

A leading mobile network provider in the Polish market, operating a comprehensive range of modern services including 2G, 4G LTE and 5G NR networks. The company is a subsidiary of a major international telecommunications operator in the European Union.

Goals

The primary objective was to effectively eliminate costly manual work by deploying a scalable and standardized patching service fully integrated with key enterprise systems. The solution needed to ensure fully auditable, consistent execution and eliminate human error, establishing a reusable automation platform for future workloads. Ultimately, the project aimed to free up engineering resources from repetitive maintenance tasks, allowing them to focus on higher-value tasks.

Results

Exceptional cost savings and ROI

Eliminating overtime yielded 200K PLN in immediate annual savings, with projected savings amounting to over 1M PLN per year at full scale, achieving payback in under six months.

Reduced manual effort

Manual effort dropped 90%, making patching fully consistent and auditable across all automated systems, entirely eliminating human error from the process.

Zero-touch operational efficiency

The new solution allows patching jobs to run unattended end-to-end, standardizing execution and freeing high-cost engineers from low-value, late-night maintenance tasks.

Strategic automation foundation

Established a reusable, scalable AWX/Ansible platform for future automation workloads, including compliance checks, deployments and vulnerability remediation.