How Virima and Ivanti’s unified IT platform accelerates transition from legacy systems to advanced IT infrastructure
Table of Contents
- The benefits of IT modernization and the risk of not transitioning
- Challenges Organizations Face in Transitioning to Modern IT Infrastructure
- How Virima and Ivanti’s unified IT platform helps in the transition
- A pathway to IT modernization: The unified IT platform from Virima and Ivanti
You might be tired of dealing with outdated technology that seems to slow you down at every turn. Or perhaps you’re constantly battling compatibility issues and struggling to integrate your legacy systems with newer technologies. On the other side, you might be facing cost inefficiencies, security vulnerabilities, limited scalability, and the constant struggle to maintain and upgrade your systems while minimizing downtime. Whatever the case, it can be overwhelming. Outdated IT infrastructure can be a major roadblock. That’s why in this blog post we’ll dive deep into understanding how a unified IT platform like Virima and Ivanti can help organizations navigate through the complex journey of moving from legacy to modern IT infrastructure.
But before that, let’s take a close look at the benefits and challenges of such transitioning.
The benefits of IT modernization and the risk of not transitioning
IT efficiency and cost-saving
IT modernization is synonymous with cloud computing, virtualization, and automation. One recent study by Sagepub emphasizes how cloud computing improves efficiency, and reduces costs enabled by the pooling and sharing of resources. As these technologies get integrated with the existing IT infrastructure, processes get streamlined and overall performance improves. The results can be seen in the form of reduced downtime and faster response time.
Due to cloud integration, optimized resource utilization reduces the total cost of ownership (TCO). The consequent reduction in maintenance cost is another thing to consider.
In stark contrast, legacy systems demand higher maintenance costs as they require specialized skills and resources. Additionally, support for outdated hardware and software may become increasingly difficult to find, leading to increased downtime and operational risks.
Security, scalability, and flexibility
IT modernization often include things like multi-factor authentication, encryption, and automated threat detection. Frameworks such as CIS (Center for Internet Security) emphasize the importance of implementing these in IT infrastructure to safeguard against cyber threats. Hence, a modern IT infrastructure better secures an organization’s data in line with industry regulations and best practices.
As the legacy system lacks these security features, they’re more susceptible to cyberattacks. A recent IBM study on the cost of data breaches showed that companies with AI and automation saved way more (an average of $3 million) than those without modernized infrastructure.
As for scalability, modern IT infrastructure enables organizations to scale their resources up or down as needed. It means deploying new applications and services faster than possible with legacy systems. So it’s way easier to adapt to changing business requirements and support growth.
On the other hand, legacy systems may struggle to integrate with new technologies, such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, and the Internet of Things (IoT). Such an inability to integrate hinders an organization’s ability to adapt to changing market conditions.
Despite the obvious benefits, transitioning from legacy to modern IT infrastructure is a demanding process. Let’s take a look at the challenges organizations face in this regard.
Challenges Organizations Face in Transitioning to Modern IT Infrastructure
Integration and data migration
Legacy systems may use outdated technologies, protocols, or data formats incompatible with modern solutions. As a result, integrating these systems with modern infrastructure during the transition can be time-consuming and resource-intensive.
Also, while migrating data from legacy systems to modern infrastructure, organizations must ensure data remains accurate, consistent, and complete. This can be challenging with large volumes of data and/or complex legacy systems.
Read, change management for modern IT organizations
Security and Compliance
During the transition process, new systems and processes might not have the same level of security controls as legacy systems. Sensitive data might be exposed to unauthorized access. Also, the chance of accidental data loss or corruption remains. Such a state can result in organizations not meeting specific regulatory requirements and incurring potential penalties. All this can lead to data breaches, financial losses, and reputational damage.
Hence organizations should carefully plan and execute the migration process. You have to take security and compliance into consideration while drawing the process.
Skill gaps, workforce training, and managing change
The new skills and expertise required during the transition may not be readily available within the organization. This can lead to skill gaps and necessitate additional training or the hiring of new staff.
On the other hand, employees may be resistant to new technologies and processes. So this can impact the success of the transition. To deter this, organizations need to develop effective change management strategies. The most important component of it is clear communication, stakeholder engagement, and ongoing support.
How Virima and Ivanti’s unified IT platform helps in the transition
When an organization has been operating for many years, some of the infrastructure can be outdated and no longer aligned with the organization’s evolving needs. This demands transformation.
Better IT infrastructure discovery and enhanced visualization
The first step in transitioning from legacy to modern infrastructure is to have a comprehensive understanding of the entire IT environment. In this regard, IT infrastructure discovery and visualization tools greatly help. Virima’s robust discovery integration to Ivanti enriches Ivanti CMDB by collecting comprehensive data about existing infrastructure. As a part of the same integration, Virima-powered Ivanti Neurons for Service Mapping turns the configuration data into visual representations of the entire IT landscape.
As a result, it becomes easier for you to identify legacy systems, outdated software versions, and infrastructure components that need to be replaced or upgraded. Also, you get insights into the impact of these legacy systems on the overall infrastructure and the potential risks associated with them. More than that, it becomes easier to identify which components are critical and need to be migrated first.
Streamlined change management capabilities
The Ivanti Neurons for ITSM platform plays a crucial part in the transition. Its change management capabilities manage the challenges and complexities associated with IT infrastructure modernization. But what truly augments the capabilities of Ivanti ITSM is Virima-powered Ivanti Neurons for Service Mapping.
Change impact analysis
One crucial component of change is to see the impact of a proposed legacy asset change before implementing it. Ivanti Neurons for Service Mapping with the added advantage of Virima Visual Impact Display ( ViVID™) maps allows you to easily understand the impact of changes on other services and execute the migration with minimal disruption.
The ViVID service maps overlay the Ivanti ITSM pending and recently completed changes on the map. This helps IT teams to easily comprehend the change collision possibilities backed by near-real-time data and consequently, facilitates a democratized change approval. But before all this, in the change planning, ViVID helps you recognize the move groups and ensure you’re keeping the asset affinity intact while transitioning the services.
Change monitoring, and reporting
Apart from creating a collaborative nexus for every change stakeholder, the ViVID maps also help deal with any issues that may arise during the transition process.
Moreover, a current CMDB maintained with the Virima discovery integration to the Ivanti CMDBi ensures the configuration changes confirm both post and pre-change implementation. But more than that, the constant rediscovering of assets and tracking of relationships and dependencies for the Ivanti CMDB not only supports this transition but also keeps you ready for the next transition.
An augmented Ivanti Neurons for ITAM platform
The next important thing in this IT modernization effort is a unified IT asset management platform. It should inventory and categorize your organization’s existing assets and keep track of them from procurement to decommissioning.
Virima’s robust discovery integration to Ivanti enhances Ivanti ITAM capabilities to maintain accurate records of asset change; track the movements of assets, record configurations, and document any updates or modifications made during the migration. The documentation proves to be valuable for later compliance and auditing.
Read, IT asset management for cost optimization
A pathway to IT modernization: The unified IT platform from Virima and Ivanti
The unified IT platform of Virima and Ivanti helps organizations move from legacy to modern IT infrastructure by enhancing transformation processes and filling critical knowledge gaps. Foremost, Virima’s hybrid discovery and service mapping capabilities bundled into the Ivanti Neurons for Service Mapping solution provide a comprehensive, accurate, and dynamic picture of the present IT environment and what it will become.
With it, you can identify the legacy assets that need updating or replacement and identify move groups for transitioning the services. Additionally, the Virima Visual Impact Display with Ivanti Neurons for ITSM overlays is truly a game changer when it comes to taking the risk out of planning for complex changes.
Book a demo to learn more about how Virima and Ivanti’s partnership and unbeatable unified IT platform can help your organization make the transition from legacy to modern infrastructure go much more smoothly.
