I don't think these changes are about expense, but about security. I suspect there will be little cost savings, at least not immediately. Instead, you're just

I don't think these changes are about expense, but about security. I suspect there will be little cost savings, at least not immediately. Instead, you're just shifting the workload from (manual) system administration to automating the system administration. To use an example - now a human swaps out a backup tape and has physical access to it. By replacing this with a tape robot, you've taken the insecure part - that person - out of the loop.