How Can You Ensure Business Continuity During a Major IT System Overhaul?
Navigating the complexities of a major IT system overhaul requires expert strategies to maintain business continuity. We've gathered insights from IT Directors and a System Architect, detailing six methods they've successfully employed. From practicing offline procedures to investing in training and communication, discover the diverse approaches to keep your business running smoothly during critical IT updates.
- Practice Offline Procedures
- Implement a Robust Continuity Plan
- Adopt a Phased Rollout Strategy
- Plan with a Successful Outcome in Mind
- Test Backups and Restore Processes
- Invest in Training and Communication
Practice Offline Procedures
Document and practice downtime or offline procedures. Make sure the entire team is well-versed in the procedures and that all stakeholders have had an opportunity to review and provide feedback before the IT changes are implemented. And then practice it again!
Implement a Robust Continuity Plan
You should always have a great business-continuity plan in place. I agree it is more of a concern during major systems overhauls, but those plans should be in place. This includes being able to fail over to a disaster-recovery data center - and never overhaul primary and DR systems at the same time. Another is using multiple servers in a load-balanced environment. Don't update all nodes at the same time; do it in phases.
Adopt a Phased Rollout Strategy
Flexibility is key in our approach to ensuring business continuity during major IT system overhauls. It really depends on the client and their needs as to how we'll tackle it. Sometimes, a phased rollout approach can be sufficient without overcomplicating things.
We proactively run pilot phases, where we deploy the system to a small group of users first, allowing us to identify and resolve any problems that may arise. Following this, we will gradually roll out the system to the rest of the company by department or user groups.
We've found that this approach ensures a smooth transition without causing downtime or overwhelming the whole company.
Plan with a Successful Outcome in Mind
In your project design and modeling, start from a successful ending and work your way backward. This helps keep you honest with the timelines and will often illuminate opportunities to streamline the migration or implementation. It also assists in communicating the plan and calendar to other departments, and most importantly, to end-users—which helps eliminate those jarring, 'I had no idea that was this month!' experiences.
Test Backups and Restore Processes
Having solid backups and testing your restores is the best baseline for keeping the business moving forward. If you have backups but don't test them, then you don't know if you can restore them. People don't care about how long backups take to run, but they do care about restore times, so test them and test them often so everyone is aware of recovery time frames. During upgrades or overhauling of a system, it is critical to make sure you have a safety net that works, so get used to testing backup and restore capabilities often during the project.
Invest in Training and Communication
We focused on comprehensive training and communication to ensure a smooth transition. Before the overhaul, we organized detailed training sessions and created extensive documentation to help employees understand the new system. Regular updates and open communication channels were established to keep everyone informed about the progress and address any concerns. By investing in thorough training and maintaining clear communication, we empowered our team to adapt quickly and confidently to the new system, reducing downtime and maintaining productivity.
