Transition Without a Train Wreck. How To Successfully Migrate to a Hosted or Outsourced ERP Environment. Secure-24 is a. leading provider of managed

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1 Transition Without a Train Wreck IT Innovation. Business Value. How To Successfully Migrate to a Hosted or Outsourced ERP Environment Invariably, the operative words transition, migration or conversion strike a discordant note with IT and business professionals. Any process of change is challenging in the world of technology and services delivery. Transitioning to a new operating environment to achieve the meaningful benefits of a hosted or managed services solution is the cornerstone to a successful outcome and attainment of expected benefits which generally include: Aligning IT infrastructure and managed services with business strategy Managing IT infrastructure changes to achieve operational excellence Improving infrastructure service levels by increased availability and security Improving control of your IT infrastructure delivery and pricing Extending capabilities and filling gaps with skilled resources Reducing costs and complexity in your IT environment The Transition Phase, while critical to the success of the project, is typically downplayed during the due diligence process, from both the perspective of the buyer and provider of services. While transitional problems or breakdowns will not necessarily kill an outsourcing initiative, it will most certainly place the buyer/provider relationship on adversarial ground, from which it may never fully recover. Based upon our experience, the top three effectively managed transition and start-up risks are product or services interruption, transition budgets and the mutual commitment by all constituents and organizations involved. Secure-24 is a leading provider of managed IT operations, hosting and cloud services, providing highly available IT environments and expert management and support for your business Northwestern Highway, Southfield, MI Phone: info@secure-24.com

2 3 Facets that Must Be Accounted For As part of any transition process there are three facets that must be accounted for: People, Processes, and Technology. people The People component, or human factor, typically goes unaddressed and is allowed to evolve on its own, which is a common misstep in the Transition process. The management of the human factor is what dictates the relative success or failure of the Transition Phase. Technology The Technology component is the most commonly understood, and involves the migration or replication of the required technical environment, which includes the setup of all required software, hardware, security and network environments. processes The Process component is generally well un derstood by those providers who are processoriented, and includes documenting the current and enhanced processes and transferring this knowledge to the provider team members who operate as an extension of the business. The key transitional challenges which must be mitigated and managed are generally either technical or process/people (non-technical). The key technical challenges consist of ensuring adequate capacity, compatibility configurations, appropriate staffing, services completeness and well-designed architecture. The non-technical challenges fall into these categories: Aggressive timelines/new technology deployments (unrealistic expectations) Customer internal communications and emotions Knowledge acquisition from incumbent team Program management, office and governance philosophy and structure Operational and technical integration risks p a g e 2 o f 6

3 In order to mitigate these challenges, incorporate these best practices: Thorough due diligence on the services provider (internal or external) Solid architectural design (technical and applications blueprinting) Communicate (over communication will speed up aligning all key stake holders on new initiatives with a formal (written) plan properly Acknowledge internal resistance if any and proactively address and facilitate needed changes Develop the Service Level Agreement framework and baseline requirements; measure through the transition De-risk by sequencing horizontally, vertically, and by geography Use technology best-practices for data and applications migration/ conversion (such as transfer servers, standard configurations, access control design, active directory integration and clearly specified acceptance test parameters) Establish trust and work closely with selected partner Manage cultural differences they exist and can be bridged Knowledge transfer subject matter experts are used to ramp-up delivery teams, provide incentives, motivate, and validate knowledge acquisition p a g e 3 o f 6

4 A Formal Plan For Transition is Imperative Elements of a good transition plan: Overview Scope Product and services Relationships to other companies / projects Strategies Select strategy Transition schedules, tasks and activities Installation processes Operations and support Conversion Maintenance Hardware/software resources, facilities and personnel resource designation Acceptance criteria (including Service Level Agreement) Management controls Reporting procedures Risks and contingencies Transition Team information Review process and test acceptance rules Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) with resources assigned and planned/allocated Transition project manager roles and responsibilities Most importantly, the plan should be completed prior to undertaking any transition or migration phase which acknowledges the business cycle for cutover as well. To ensure the least disruptive and well-tested cutover with enough time for acceptance, resource availability from the business community and least customer trauma, the timing of any transition should be confirmed top-down by the application owners, not the IT organization or provider. The Role of the Transition Manager Transition management is one of the most important formal roles in any organization involved in outsourcing or out-tasking. A transition manager is responsible for migrating the function or the process from the current organization to the outsourcing organization. Because of the nature of the role, a transition manager needs to have a variety of skills and competencies especially as a good communicator, as the role requires extensive interaction with the client. Strong PM skills are also relevant to the role, as most migrations are complex projects that require expert management skills. A transition manager must be comfortable working in a cross-cultural environment; and he or she must have a very good understanding of the existing processes, business functions and technologies. Besides managing the day to day affairs of a migration, transition management is also about change management. A transition manager is the face of the new environment and its outcomes to many people. To be successful, the manager needs to facilitate the changes that successful transitioning and outsourcing can bring about. p a g e 4 o f 6

5 Phase 1: The Transition Phase What to Expect: Hosting provider engagement (capabilities & governance) Implementation planning / risk mitigation Timeline establishment Stakeholder communications Functional test case identification Baseline transition Primary Goals & Measurable Outcomes: Preparing target environment Establishing an accurate schedule Establishing and confirming stakeholder expectations Baselining the functional transition Minimizing end-user impact Phase 2: The Operations Phase What to Expect: Post-transition testing Techniques, tactics, & procedures implementation; operations processes and production managed services Service-Level Agreement (SLA) monitoring, auditing & reporting Evaluate benefits as defined in the original business case (cost, performance, skills, scale, service management improvements ) Legacy decommissioning Primary Goals & Measurable Outcomes: Stakeholder satisfaction Fully operational environment Continued monitoring and SLA achievement improvement Decommissioning of the legacy environments and cost offsets Future plans for gaining efficiencies and continuous improvement How any transition is managed and performed will greatly impact an expected business value proposition for services out-tasking and applications hosting delivery as well as the intangibles of customer and staff satisfaction. It is to the benefit of all stakeholders (customers, employees and services provider) that a world-class transition is put in place. p a g e 5 o f 6

6 About Secure-24 To learn more about how outsourcing your applications and infrastructure to Secure-24 can help your organization achieve its business goals, contact us at: As a leading provider of managed IT operations, enterprise hosting and cloud computing services, Secure-24 delivers full technical support of business critical applications with proven methodology and demonstrated successes in infrastructure, management, upgrades, migrations and support engagements. Secure-24 manages complex IT landscapes for mid-market and large companies that operate globally, providing robust, strategic and transformative technologies that help organizations to be innovative and competitive. Secure Northwestern Highway Southfield, MI Local: Toll-Free: Fax: Info: info@secure-24.com Sales: sales@secure-24.com HR: HR@secure-24.com Secure-24 is committed to helping your organization succeed by bringing the best innovations and technology to your IT needs. That s why we have developed strategic relationships with market-leading business and technology companies and emerging players. Working closely with our network of alliance partners strengthens our ability to deliver genuine business value to the enterprise and help clients make the most of their IT investments. p a g e 6 o f 6