Event

NIL at AutoCon 6 conference

Through real-world examples and live demonstrations, the session will show how network changes can be automated directly from spreadsheet-based data sources.

AutoCon 6 is a technical conference hosted by the Network Automation Forum focused on network automation, orchestration, observability, and AI/ML in network operations.

Our colleague Toni Saradjan, Systems engineer, will be a speaker at the conference.

The presentation, titled “Excel Is My Source of Truth: A Network Automation Horror Story“, explores a scenario that many network engineers will recognise. While spreadsheets are often used to manage critical network information, they can also become the foundation for larger operational challenges when automation enters the picture.

Through real-world examples and live demonstrations, the session will show how network changes can be automated directly from spreadsheet-based data sources. What begins as a seemingly successful automation project quickly reveals broader challenges around data ownership, validation, governance, change control, and scalability.

The presentation highlights an important lesson for organisations embarking on their automation journey: the quality of the source-of-truth data matters more than the tool itself. Attendees will gain practical insights into common failure modes encountered when automating from manually maintained spreadsheets, as well as techniques for reducing operational risk through validation and governance.

In addition, the session will explore practical migration strategies from spreadsheet-based workflows toward dedicated source-of-truth platforms such as NetBox. The audience will also see how automation often exposes process weaknesses that previously remained hidden in day-to-day operations.

If you’re attending AutoCon 2026, be sure to join the session and discover why “just one more spreadsheet” may not always be the best answer for network automation.

About the speaker