Successful ICT migrations
In today's dynamic world of information technology, ICT migrations are of central importance for organizations that want to optimize or modernize their technological infrastructure. Based on extensive experience from various projects, it is crucial to create the right conditions and ensure thorough preparation to ensure a successful migration.similar to an iceberg, the visible part of an ICT migration is just the tip. Underneath are numerous preparatory measures and potential challenges that need to be carefully planned and managed.
Preparation and planning
Clear objectives
A central point of any successful ICT migration is the clear definition of objectives. This includes not only technical aspects, but also the development of a precise service definition. Without clear objectives, it is difficult to measure the success of a migration or meet stakeholder expectations.
Comprehensive inventory data and existing IT operating processes
A successful migration requires complete inventory data of all components and applications involved. This data is crucial for planning and implementing the migration as well as for ensuring smooth operations after completion. Existing and functioning IT operating processes are another basis for IT migrations and must be defined at the outset.
Development of an IT migration concept
The IT migration concept serves as a guideline for the implementation of the migration. It defines the migration process, the measures required for a smooth transition and the handover criteria that must be met before the new infrastructure or technology can be put into operation. Aftercare is also recorded here.
Strategic orientation
Choosing the right migration strategy
There are various migration strategies that can be applied depending on the specific requirements of the project. These include step-by-step migrations from small to large or vice versa, sequential migrations from simple to complex systems, migrations to gain advocates for the project or a combination of different strategies, depending on the complexity and urgency of the migrations.
Communication and error management
Communication before, during and after an ICT migration is crucial. It is important to keep all those affected up to date and ensure that communication is effective and transparent. In addition, an error culture must be established that defines which errors are tolerable and how serious errors can be corrected so as not to impair operations. Cancellation criteria must be defined for each migration, which define a migration stop at an early stage and, if necessary, enable the original status to be restored.
Naming and positive impact
Sometimes the term "migration" alone can provoke resistance or uncertainty. It is therefore advisable to find a term that has a positive effect on those involved, emphasizes progress and promotes acceptance of change.
Risk management and quality assurance
Risk management during migration
Unforeseen challenges often arise during an ICT migration. Risk management is crucial. This includes identifying potential risks, assessing their impact on operations and implementing measures to avoid or mitigate risks. Continuous monitoring during the migration helps to respond quickly to any problems that arise and ensure the success of the migration.
Test and quality management
Before the final implementation, it is important to define and carry out comprehensive tests to ensure the functionality of the migrated systems. This includes not only technical testing, but also validating the user experience and verifying that all defined objectives have been met. Structured quality assurance ensures that the new infrastructure meets expectations and does not disrupt operations.
Training and aftercare
Employee training and development
The introduction of new technologies often requires employee training to ensure that they can use the new systems effectively. Training programs should begin well in advance of the migration and be offered on an ongoing basis to close knowledge gaps and promote acceptance of the changes. Well-informed employees make a significant contribution to the smooth running of the migration.
Monitoring
Even after the migration is complete, the work is not over. Continuous monitoring of system performance is necessary in order to identify and resolve potential bottlenecks or problems at an early stage. Performance optimizations can help to continuously improve the efficiency of the new systems and ensure user satisfaction in the long term.
Conclusion
The successful execution of ICT migrations requires careful planning, clear communication and objectives, as well as close collaboration between all teams involved and the management of risks and quality assurance. By meeting the above requirements and applying best practices in the preparation and execution of the migration, an organization can achieve its technology goals while ensuring a smooth transition.
ICT migrations offer the opportunity for transformation and improvement, provided they are approached with due care and strategic planning. Like an iceberg, what lies beneath the surface is often critical to long-term success.
Our specialists have built up and further developed the necessary expertise in various migration projects, from the tendering stage to conceptual design and implementation. We support our customers in successfully implementing their migration projects.
Launch of new practice areas
atrete IT Consultants is introducing two new practice areas to meet customer requirements in the area of digital transformation.
at rete ag (atrete), a leading Swiss IT consulting company, today announced a strategic realignment to drive digital transformation for its clients and offer further innovative consulting services to meet the ever-growing organizational and technical challenges in information security and IT.
As part of this development, atrete has introduced two new consulting practice areas to better meet the needs of its clients: "data, automation & AI" and "migration & operations". These two practice areas are specifically designed to support their clients' digital transformations and provide innovative consulting services that advance their business goals.
The "data, automation & AI" practice area focuses on helping companies make the most of their data, implement automation processes and use artificial intelligence to gain insights and optimize operational processes.
The "migration & operations" practice area supports companies in the smooth transition of their IT infrastructure and applications as well as in the optimization and operation of their digital environments.
Furthermore, atrete offers its proven consulting services for CIOs, procurement, information security, hybrid cloud and connectivity infrastructures, as well as digital workplace and collaboration solutions.
"At atrete IT Consultants, we have made it our goal to help our customers successfully meet the challenges of the digital era," said Michael Kaufmann, CEO at atrete. "We walk together with our customers. Digitalization, information security and automation are decisive steps on this path."
atrete IT Consultants looks forward to working with its clients to drive their digital transformation and help them implement innovative solutions that support their business goals.
Contact:
at rete ag
Marlene Haberer
Phone: +41 44 266 55 83
Email: marlene.haberer@atrete.ch
Implementation of the network zone concept in practice
In the simplest case, the servers are separated from the clients or extremely extensive zone concepts are created. Essentially, it is always a matter of grouping systems with the same purpose and the same protection requirements into network zones. To ensure that a zone concept can be implemented successfully, a number of points must be taken into account when it is created.
Zone concept
Already when drawing up the zoning concept, there should not be the claim to want to cover 100% of the cases that occur in practice. An exception process is always necessary and there must be an idea of what must be and what can be handled by means of exceptions. As few zones as possible should be implemented, which can be subdivided into further subzones. The requirements for new, additional zones should be clear and correspondingly high.
Since network zoning is a demanding project with highly diverse requirements, it is important that the client is authorized to issue instructions to all parties involved and that there are guidelines from the business as to what is to be protected in the first place. It is extremely helpful if a classification of data exists in a company so that it is known what needs to be protected.
There are completely different, incompatible requirements at the level of security, IT architecture, engineering and operation. For example, it must be as secure as possible for security, as clearly and consistently structured as possible for IT architecture and engineering, and as simple as possible for operation and also easy to handle.
At the beginning of such a project, it is important to define the terms so that all participants understand the same term. For example, the term network zone does not mean the same thing for all participants from the outset.
Implementation of the zoning concept
The implementation of a network zone concept consists of the conception phase, the construction of the security elements to map the zones and the migration of the applications, respectively their infrastructure into the different network zones.
In order to provide the security elements between the network zones, it would be important to know which communication connections are required by the applications. To obtain this information, it is important that the application owners are known and that they know the communication requirements of their applications. However, it is not realistic to assume that this will always be the case. There are different ways to deal with this issue. One commonly used approach is to map the known communication links onto the security elements and include a "forward any" rule at the end of the rule set. This is done with the aim of replacing the "forward any" rule with specific rules after migrating an application and only migrating the next application when this rule is no longer required.
A migration team must be able to cover all aspects of such a migration. Depending on the migration procedure, security and network engineers, application operators and testers, and also suppliers of the application are necessary to carry out a migration successfully. The migration manager creates the script and moderates the migration. The script also always contains a fallback scenario in order to be able to go back to the status before the migration in case of insurmountable problems.
As part of the migration, an application must then be tested for its function. Since such migrations are usually carried out outside office hours, only the function can be tested as part of the migration, but not the behavior under production conditions.
In order not to be responsible for incidents of a migrated application forever after a migration as a migration team, it is necessary to agree with the company when an application should be handled again according to the standard incident process.