ITSM companies are always looking to increase their speed and efficiency in delivering IT services to customers. However, despite their best efforts, enhancing these services can prove challenging. These struggles are typically due to legacy ITSM platforms that cannot respond to market changes and evolving customer expectations.
Therefore, businesses should consider implementing modern ServiceNow technologies that adapt to a fast-paced digital environment. To do so, they might follow an ITSM migration checklist to ensure a successful transition.
What is ServiceNow ITSM?
ServiceNow IT Service Management (ITSM) encompasses all operations that help companies meet specific goals. It includes strategic planning and technology implementation and integrates IT functions into existing business practices.
ITSM Migration Benefits
An out-of-date ITSM platform is more than just a source of frustration – it is a potentially dangerous liability. While many companies put off an upgrade because of downtime and financial concerns, migrating to a contemporary ITSM solution like ServiceNow has several significant advantages that make it a good investment.
Those advantages include:
- Improved development/operations collaboration. Teams can handle customer issues and meet Recovery Time Objectives (RTO) and Recovery Point Objectives (RPO) more quickly when departments work well together.
- Safeguarded customer data. Built-in security features such as permissions, IP user listings, and encryption help protect sensitive user information.
- Multiple deployment options. Businesses can choose from onsite, cloud, and hybrid deployment methods based on what best fits their needs.
- Reduced response times. ITSM personnel can quickly address incoming requests and standardize workflows by automating the necessary procedures.
- Evolving features. A continuous improvement approach ensures IT capabilities keep pace with increasingly complex technology requirements.
ITSM Migration Checklist
After allocating the necessary resources, management can implement a roadmap that takes the business from its current state to its anticipated one. This will be done with minimal disruptions of day-to-day operations if the right personnel are in place.
Here are seven recommended practices for migrating your legacy ITSM tools:
1. Evaluate your current ITSM environment
First, organizations should review their existing ITSM landscape to understand where they are and where they want to be. An evaluation can help identify potential dangers and shed light on what approaches to try, what data to move, and what the entire process might cost.
2. Determine which tools to migrate
Organizations with an extended ITSM space might still employ several legacy ITSM technologies. These businesses should identify and migrate those systems that genuinely require an upgrade instead of performing an all-or-none migration.
3. Address performance issues
Businesses should identify and resolve any performance issues in the legacy technologies they choose to migrate. These issues are unlikely to resolve themselves during the transition, resulting in unnecessary costs.
For example, the memory quantity a given company utilizes impacts the total price. An application that overuses system resources because of duplicate data may be more expensive and provide difficult migration decisions.
4. Choose the right solutions
Choosing the right solutions can have a huge impact on migration success. When deciding, organizations should pay particular attention to those crucial capabilities necessary to conduct business.
The best ITSM solutions have many features to select, potentially complicating the decision process. It is vital that companies focus first on genuine needs and not let luxuries alter their strategies. The idea is to strike a balance between scalability and usability.
5. Recognize migration complexity
When converting a legacy ITSM solution, businesses must account for app and data migration complexities. To reduce migration time and related risks, organizations should define what they need to transfer and avoid moving data that is no longer valuable or relevant.
6. Expect some downtime
ITSM tool migration will undoubtedly result in downtime no different than any other technology move. The more users there are, the more downtime there is. To avoid service outages, ensure that crucial ITSM data is replicated separately. Adequate failover procedures should be in place to guarantee that your clients continue to receive the help they require.
7. Find the right partner
Given how difficult data migration can be, collaborating with skilled and experienced marketplace partners can assist organizations in forging a data migration path. The right partner guides best practices that best suit the company needs.
Cask and ServiceNow Can Jumpstart Your ITSM Migration
Many organizations are looking to upgrade their software solutions to meet evolving ITSM objectives as technology advances, and consumer expectations rise. However, migrating an existing ITSM solution from a legacy version to a newer one might seem daunting and prove a difficult task if done incorrectly.
Request a quote today and learn how Cask’s ServiceNow ITSM technologies can help you migrate away from legacy systems and into modern platforms capable of adapting to an ever-changing digital landscape.
