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Don’t be scared to upgrade

Don’t be scared to upgrade

Upgrading a storage solution is something no company wants to think about, especially an enterprise, or any size of company operating in a highly regulated industry that has complex storage requirements. Once a solution is in place, it’s incredibly difficult to change. Most companies would rather retrofit an outdated system with upgrades than implement an entirely new solution.

Trust us; we get it. Change is hard. One large incentive to implementing new storage technology is to help make the IT department run more efficiently. However, if the thought of having to install, migrate existing data and cutover to a new data storage solution gives you night terrors, we have a few tips that might just make the idea of upgrading a little less scary:

  • Identify all key players that will be involved in the migration and cutover process. This will include members of the solution provider team (ideally the project manager, system architect, system engineer, and software engineer if applicable), and system administrators within your company. Everyone has a role and should be clear on their involvement during the installation, migration of existing data and eventual cutover to the new solution.

 

  • Timing is everything. Because very few organizations can afford to be offline and interrupt their backups, it’s vital to schedule a time that has little business impact. This might require an organization to take a phased approach to migrating data to the new solution.

 

  • Grab your marker, find a conference room whiteboard and get busy diagramming your objective. What does the ideal outcome look like for your organization? The diagram should include all of the current storage platforms and disaster recovery locations laid out on the left, and new solutions on the right. Now, start connecting the existing solutions to the new via a simple line. This exercise will give all stakeholders a visual representation of which new solution is taking the place of what current solution.

 

  • Once you have identified key players, timing and laid out the configuration, it’s time to communicate with all parties. This can be as simple as hosting a meeting before installation. Make sure to provide a takeaway (PowerPoints work nice here) as a resource to reference before, during and after implementation.

See, that wasn’t so scary. In an ideal scenario, the team will come in during low-impact business hours and be so efficient that a backup is never missed, and it’s business as usual after a few hours.

We have been doing this for a long time and have seen what works and what doesn’t during the implementation process. Our company has facilitated installations for businesses of all sizes, from small to mid-sized companies to large enterprise organizations. We know how important it is to work with a trusted data storage provider to ensure that the installation, migration, and cutover are seamless and pain-free. 

  • Dynamic Solutions International
  • 8744 Lucent Blvd Suite 106
  • Highlands Ranch Colorado 80129
  • United States of America