Digital transformation doesn’t happen overnight. It can take many months or even years, depending on the current state of your infrastructure and the scope of the changes. But adopting new technology is essential to business survival, especially post-pandemic. Ninety-seven per cent of companies said that the pandemic sped up their digital transformation initiatives by six years as businesses grappled with reaching customers in a world temporarily brought to a standstill.
This digital transformation surge hasn’t died down—it has accelerated. For example, digital transformation is a top priority for 74 per cent of organisations, up from 56 per cent in 2021. However, some companies are experiencing difficulties making much-needed improvements to their digital capabilities and are seeking assistance from third parties.
Planning Infrastructure Changes
When planning changes to your IT infrastructure, with or without the help of third-party experts, there are many factors to consider. For example, you must have a clear understanding of your current IT infrastructure, future needs and the risks involved. Here are a few tips to help you plan and assess IT infrastructure changes:
Define goals and objectives: The first task in any project is to clearly define goals and objectives. Ask yourself (and your team) these questions: What are you trying to achieve with IT infrastructure changes? Are you aiming to reduce costs? Or perhaps you’re trying to automate processes to free up time for team members to work on other projects? Be specific when defining goals and objectives, as you need to measure the results of the project later on.
Assess current infrastructure: Take an inventory of your current IT infrastructure and how it is being used. This will allow you to understand the changes that need to be made.
Consider future needs: Consider the potential future needs of your IT infrastructure. For example, how will the system grow and expand over time?
Plan for disruption and mitigate risk: Changes to IT infrastructure aren’t without their risks, as we have established. Consider all possible disruptions that could occur and create recovery plans for all eventualities.
Create a detailed plan: Finally, once you have defined goals and objectives, assessed the state of your current infrastructure, considered future needs and planned for disruptions, you must formulate a detailed IT infrastructure transformation plan. The plan should include budgets, timelines, resources required and key milestones to allow you to track progress carefully.
The Necessary Risks of Digital Transformation
Any changes to a business come with risks—whether it’s adopting new technology, changing the organisational structure or moving to a new office—there are always risks involved. While digital transformation is a non-negotiable condition of growth for many businesses, it’s important to acknowledge the risks involved.
For example, digital transformation can lead to operational disruptions, as businesses must adapt to new ways of working, such as process and workflow changes that may temporarily reduce productivity. Additionally, there is always the risk of implementation failures. If a business doesn’t properly plan and execute an effective strategy, the project will be at high risk of failure. These risks intensify when IT infrastructure is involved because if there are not the right systems and tools in place, the infrastructure may not be able to support the changes, which can jeopardise the success of the entire digital transformation initiative.
However, digital transformation initiatives can succeed with the right expertise and planning. To mitigate risk, many organisations seek the help of experienced third parties to ensure digital transformation initiatives, which include IT infrastructure improvements, go to plan.
Mitigate Risk With Our Technology Jump-Start Service
Planning and implementing changes to IT infrastructure takes a considerable amount of time and effort, and there is a high level of risk involved. As a result, many organisations choose to work with experts to ensure IT infrastructure is managed properly—that’s where Evolvere comes in.
Our Technology Jump-Start service accelerates the technology adoption process and relieves the work burden from busy infrastructure teams. We provide working systems to your specification for a fixed cost.
So, how does a Technology Jump-Start work in practice? Read the case study below.
Technology Jump-Start: Financial Trading Firm
Evolvere helps kick-start Kubernetes upskill with training on the operation of CI/CD workflow pipeline.
The client
The client is a leading global financial trading firm, employing a combination of technology and market analysis to deploy investment opportunities and strategies.
The challenge
The client had implemented a Kubernetes Cluster with elements of CI/CD applications and wished to upskill their developers on how to operate their CI/CD system. The client requested Evolvere create a lab environment training that mirrored the client’s own infrastructure. Additionally, Evolvere was tasked to teach the client’s team Kubernetes fundamentals and how to troubleshoot their CI/CD products.
The solution
Evolvere provisioned a Rancher server, connected to a downstream Kubernetes cluster to run applications such as Flux CD and Argo Workflows. Evolvere by crafted course material to include scenarios specific to the Client’s own systems. Additionally, Evolvere created Linux server accounts so that students on the course were able to have a playable lab environment to deepen their knowledge.
Over a five-day period, Evolvere taught student’s the following topics:
- Container Fundamentals - docker build and deploy
- Rancher/Kubernetes Fundamentals - Deployment of pods with volumes, secrets and ingresses.
- Using Kustomize to declare tailored config resources.
- Practical scenarios for students to get hands on experience
- Troubleshooting scenarios and exercises
Evolvere provided support for questions throughout the course. After the course ended, the students were able to continue to access the lab environment for further exploration and testing. Access to the training course continued for a period after the course ended.
The business outcome
Students of the course expressed that they enjoyed the experience. The team feels confident with the practical scenarios Evolvere devised to utilise App-specific configurations via Kustomize. The client’s developers can inject custom configurations for their specific needs without interfering with original configuration settings within the automated CI/CD pipeline.