As part of a digital transformation project, modernizing IT infrastructure and processes can reduce costs and increase agility. As long as you play as a team!
As soon as you start talking about IT modernization, you quickly come up against a number of reactions... often negative. First, there's the fear of change or risk. Will we be able to master the new tools? Is there not a risk of blowing the IT budget (even though maintaining the infrastructure and the historical IS is the main source of expenditure...).
And then there's the eternal argument: "If it's working well, why change it?" And what if, in the end, all these questions could be summed up in just one: where to start? IT modernization may look like a foregone conclusion on paper, but the most important thing is to get it right.
This is perhaps the main obstacle to taking the plunge. So let's start by highlighting two all-too-common mistakes.
Shadow IT
Firstly, many CIOs and IT managers approach their transformation projects from both an application and a business perspective. They then adapt the infrastructure in line with the application strategy. As a result, projects are not federated around a global vision.
Second mistake: decision-makers or business units use cloud applications without informing their IT department. Shadow IT is no longer a phenomenon. It's a reality. And it leads to numerous problems of interoperability with heterogeneous infrastructures, which are consequently much less efficient. Not to mention the risks involved in protecting data and access...
These errors are often due to the fact that IT is seen as a secondary activity.
The first step in modernizing IT is therefore to convince all business units, and management in particular, that they have a key role to play. It's essential to have a global and consistent vision.
You also have to play "collective". IT is now so extensive and evolving so rapidly that it's almost impossible for one person to have the necessary knowledge to define and initiate infrastructure adaptation projects. It is therefore essential to put together a team capable of helping the IT Department to execute this project, but also to establish a vision of the company's transformation and a roadmap.
With these preambles in mind, what are the main projects you need to launch in order to improve your IT infrastructure and modernize your legacy applications?
The right fiber
It may come as a surprise to some, but optimizing connections is one of the first steps. If a company is deployed over several sites, or if it already relies on a cloud-based platform, a fiber connection (FTTO for "fiber to the office" or the future FTTE for "fiber to the enterprise") can speed up transfers and benefit from a higher level of availability and quality.
The second important point is to select the type of cloud best suited to your scope, requirements and even regulatory obligations. In many respects, the hybrid cloud is seen as a springboard for outsourcing part of your IT infrastructure.
The flexibility of this model facilitates a gradual transfer. It optimizes efficiency while budgeting only for the resources needed.
Modernizing IT also involves a complete overhaul of storage technologies. Block storage (or File Object) is widespread, but as we saw in a previous article, it's not always suitable.
As part of an IT renewal project, it's time to take a look at object storage. Also known as "object storage", it offers a number of significant advantages: faster, easier queries, lower costs (no extra charges for multiple copies of objects) and flexibility in managing a network of resources.
Data governance
Still on the subject of storage, the company needs to set up data governance to prioritize which data needs to be highly secure and controlled, and which needs to be shared more easily between collaborators. IT modernization doesn't mean moving EVERYTHING to the cloud.
IT modernization is essential. But once again, there's no need to rush. It is advisable to be accompanied in determining the options best suited to your business, and to set up a roadmap so as not to destabilize IT and... habits.
