IT infrastructure evolution: What it is and why it matters

IT infrastructure evolution is the progressive improvement of the hardware, software, operating systems, network, and other systems that support your IT needs.

If your IT infrastructure is working well, supporting your business needs, and keeping your systems secure, then you likely don’t need to be concerned about IT infrastructure evolution right now.

However, stay alert to warning signs that your IT infrastructure is ready to evolve and advance. With technology changing rapidly, IT infrastructure can easily fall behind while IT teams are focused on other tasks.

Here are some signs that you need to advance your IT infrastructure, and why.

1. You’ve had a breach. The older your system is, the easier it is for cyber attacks to break through. If you can’t apply the latest security updates because your systems are too old, that’s a sign that you need to urgently evolve your IT infrastructure. If you’ve had breaches recently, that may also indicate that your security is outdated.
2. Downtime is becoming more frequent. Aging infrastructure will have failures and cause downtime, which impacts both customer relationships and employee retention. If you’ve dealt with downtime recently, consider updating your infrastructure.
3. Your costs are rising. As legacy IT systems age, they will have more failures and those failures will become more expensive to fix. Updates and patches will get more costly, in terms of money or labour.
4. Your energy bill is high. Newer technology is designed to be more energy efficient. Legacy systems require more energy to run and to keep cool. This can lead to unnecessarily high monthly expenses, and it can also undermine any sustainability efforts at your organization. With customers increasingly conscious of environmental impact, this can cause customer relationship issues.
5. Your systems are slow. If your IT infrastructure has fallen behind your competitors’, you’ll have slower and less efficient systems. You may notice customer or user complaints. Watch out for employee frustration as well. If your IT infrastructure is so outdated that it impacts your employees’ ability to do their job, you’ll see frustrated employees and may also struggle with staff retention.
6. You’re not compliant. The consequences of not meeting industry or government regulations can be serious. Since older technology can leave your systems more vulnerable, you may not be compliant with data protection laws.
7. You can’t execute new projects. Does your team have ideas for innovations that you can’t execute because your IT infrastructure can’t support them? If your infrastructure is slowing down innovation, it’s time to update it.

In short, if our infrastructure is negatively impacting your business operations or growth, it needs to be changed now.

The challenges of IT infrastructure evolution

If you’ve experienced some of the warning signs above, then it’s time to consider IT infrastructure evolution. This is not a project to undertake lightly. Evolving your IT infrastructure to a newer system can be expensive, time consuming, and have significant impacts on your organization.

Budget is usually the first challenge that IT leaders face when planning IT infrastructure evolution. Leadership doesn’t always understand the need for new IT systems. You will have to advocate for the need and urgency of transformation, and then to work within the budget that you have.

The transformation itself is also a significant challenge. Downtime, unexpected setbacks, and disruptions can all impact the entire business. It requires careful planning from a skilled team to minimize disruptions during the process.

Transforming your IT infrastructure also has repercussions beyond the technical. You may need to train employees on the new systems and applications, which could be difficult depending on your employees’ technical skills. This applies to IT employees, who may need completely new training to care for your new infrastructure, as well as to other employees who will use the new systems. In some cases, accessing or creating training can be difficult. You may also need to change operations and procedures across the organization.

Strategies for IT infrastructure evolution

You can overcome all these challenges with the right strategy. The first step in a successful strategy is collaboration. You must make sure that leaders across the organization are on board and that teams from IT to HR to finance and beyond are ready to work together to make the IT infrastructure evolution a success. This requires a culture of proactive problem solving.

Once your leadership is united, it’s time to make a detailed plan. Begin by asking what you need to evolve. Often, even if you have a legacy system, you don’t need to throw out your entire IT infrastructure and start from scratch. Ask yourself and your teams questions like:

• What part of our IT infrastructure is working well?
• What specific challenges are we facing?
• How do the different pieces of our IT infrastructure fit together?
• Could we do a gradual transition?
• Should we consider cloud or hybrid environments?
• What integrations would be useful?

Many organizations are surprised to find that a few carefully-chosen updates can have a significant impact on security, performance, and productivity, at an affordable cost.

While making these large strategic decisions, it is essential to speak to experts on IT infrastructure evolution and digital transformations. If you do not have any specialist on your team who has managed an IT transformation recently, reach out to a service provider who can guide you with expert advice. R2i, for example, has highly experienced experts who can help you determine exactly what your organization needs and how best to meet those needs while staying within your budget and minimizing downtime or other disruptions.

Data security at the heart of your strategy

Last but not least: while you navigate your IT infrastructure evolution, keep data security at the heart of your strategy. Cyber attacks are increasing in prevalence and severity, and they can have devastating impacts on organizations large and small. Even a relatively minor cybersecurity breach can damage customer relationships, decrease public trust in your business, cost significant amounts, set back projects by months or years, and more. No matter how you choose to update your IT infrastructure, make sure that security is your top priority.