When you need to make system-wide changes to your IT infrastructure, you hope that your change management plan will allow you to modify what you need with the least amount of expense and the greatest degree of efficiency and accuracy.
But how can you tell if your IT change management plan is effective? What are some of the metrics you might want to use?
The following are some metrics to consider:
- The number of attempts it took to make a successful change to the system.
- The number of problems the change created, along with the magnitude of those problems. For example, did various pieces of software start to crash or malfunction in other ways?
- The amount of time it took to implement the change.
- The amount of time it took to respond successfully to any problems.
- The number of problems that were completely unforeseen (as opposed to problems you might have expected and planned for when implementing the change).
- The quantitative effects of the change on business operations. For example, how much more quickly does it take you to complete certain tasks as a result of the change? How much money have you saved in costs?
When you change your IT infrastructure, you will ideally work off of a plan that guides you on how to make those changes as painlessly as possible. This will help you avoid a variety of problems, including costly downtime and software incompatibility.
You might think that you don’t need an IT change management plan at the moment; maybe you can’t think of any major changes you want to make to your IT infrastructure. But you need to prepare yourself regardless. New technology or software might emerge that you need to quickly adopt to give your business an advantage. You might want to replace old hardware soon. Or the government might pass new regulations that require changes to your IT set-up.
Don’t hesitate to contact us for assistance with your change management plan. Your company can’t develop and thrive without any changes to its IT configuration. We can help you manage and implement those changes effectively.