How a Global Auto Manufacturer Avoided the Most Common Roadblocks to IT Transformation

Many enterprise organizations are in the midst of transforming their IT infrastructure and consolidating their data centers. In addition to cost savings, companies are seeing more benefits to IT transformation, including improved disaster recovery and the stronger IT security resulting from the centralization of infrastructure mandates and upgrades.

One global auto manufacturer set forth an ambitious plan to ensure that their IT infrastructure was agile, scalable, and ready to take on the rapid business changes coming down the road. They decided to undertake a complete data center transformation initiative.

The program focused on providing infrastructure to support cohesive, resilient IT operations, successfully migrating the applications to the new infrastructure, improving application performance, and building a technology foundation to support the future needs of several combined IT organizations.

While the upside of such a transformation is significant, problems often develop during the transition process. Such challenges as higher than anticipated costs, failure to address specific business needs, and faulty processes can delay or derail the project. Read about how this auto manufacturer was able to avoid these roadblocks and learn some lessons along the way.

Ways to Avoid IT Transformation Roadblocks

1.. Conduct a thorough discovery process. But don’t stop there. Understand the needs, requirements and gaps before creating your migration plan.

2. Document all existing assets – applications, servers, and other infrastructure — and all dependencies

3. Avoid the nightmares and risks of using spreadsheets to document the information gathered.

4. Create a centralized communications platform so that everyone can track progress, be accountable for their assigned tasks, and are aware of each application’s readiness.

5. Utilize automated “runbooks” to ensure that shutdown, migration and start-up procedures are properly sequenced. These are invaluable to ensure essential steps don’t get missed.

Read MORE: How a Global Auto Manufacturer Got on the Right Road for IT Transformation.