The time has come to overhaul your old legacy system and put in new computers with the latest software. It’s not an easy process, but it’s a necessary one if your business is to stay competitive. The move from old to new can’t be done in a haphazard fashion. You need to plan, make sure you’ve covered everything that could go wrong, and make sure that everything’s ready for the installation of the new systems. Follow these three steps to guide you on your way through transitioning from a legacy system to a new one.
Closing Out the Old System
Removing the old computers is just the start of the process. Each system needs its hard drive cleared of information, software removed, and all private information eliminated. Software designed for this purpose speeds everything up, but you can’t go in right away and expect each computer to get cleaned. It takes going through each computer hard drive and looking at the files to make sure important files are transferred onto the cloud or backup drives.
Computers need to be disposed of after cleaning off hard drives. How that’s done depends on the type of information stored on them. Powerful magnets, a drill press, and even a heavy-duty shredder are some of the options available. However you do it, make sure IT tracks custody of the drives until they are disposed of.
Have a Backup Plan
In a perfect world, a new intranet install goes perfectly. But something always goes wrong with technology and it’s almost always something that negatively affects your business. Make sure the IT team has a backup plan in place to reroute operations around a computer that’s not coming online as planned. In fact, it’s a good idea to stagger the rollout of the new systems. Even the federal government has guidelines for the transfer of information to the cloud. It’s better to have a mix of old and new to allow everyone to adapt to the new software and hardware without pressure.
The goal of a backup plan is to shift operations to computers and servers that are functional when something goes wrong. Customers won’t know anything went wrong and everything will proceed as usual.
Make Sure Compliance Is Observed at All Times
Laws need to be observed when moving data off local storage and into the cloud. HIPAA is just one example of a federal law that applies to private businesses and how they store personal information. The transferring of information to offsite storage needs to be handled properly; business owners may face legal consequences if something gets out that shouldn’t. Again, planning is key to keeping this information secure and away from those who don’t need to see it.
There is no such thing as too much planning when transitioning from a legacy system to a new intranet or even using the cloud. Keeping the business running while making sure data is secure doesn’t have to slow things down when there’s a protocol in place for each step.
