Go-Live Isn't the Finish Line
Technology projects tend to focus heavily on deployment. There are project plans, schedules, installation windows, cutovers and launch dates, followed by the celebration of go-live. But for the equipment that was just installed, go-live isn't the end of the project as much as it is the beginning of its working life.
Devices fail, locations change, equipment moves, cables get damaged, networks expand and hardware eventually reaches end-of-life. A deployment strategy should therefore ask a deceptively simple question before the first installation begins: What happens after we leave?
Remote management has changed IT support tremendously, but eventually every organization reaches the same sentence: 'We need somebody onsite.' The question is whether you build that field strategy before or after something breaks.
- Mike Geary, Director of PMO at SG Network Services
Eventually Someone Has to Go Look at It
Cloud-managed platforms such as Cisco Meraki have dramatically expanded what enterprise IT teams can diagnose and manage remotely. Connected devices from manufacturers such as Zebra Technologies and Elo Touch Solutions can similarly provide centralized management and visibility across large fleets of technology. That's a major improvement in how distributed enterprise technology is supported.
But every remote support process eventually encounters something that cannot be clicked. A cable needs to be traced, hardware needs to be replaced, power needs to be tested or a device needs to be physically inspected. Eventually somebody on the support call says, "We need someone onsite." That's where field services become a physical extension of the enterprise IT organization.
Deployment gives us an opportunity to learn the environment before we're supporting it under pressure. If we capture the right information on Day One, we're already better prepared for Day Two.
- Hector Rivera, Manager, Service Delivery at SG Network Services
Day Two Should Start on Day One
If a nationwide retailer installs new network equipment across 800 locations, there will eventually be support requirements across those same 800 locations. Planning that support model only after failures begin is backwards. The deployment itself is an opportunity to capture asset information, photographs, network-room details, equipment locations and documentation that will make every future service event easier.
That same approach creates consistency. Without a coordinated program, one provider handles New York, another handles Texas, somebody knows a local technician in Arizona, and eventually internal employees are being sent to locations because nobody else is available. A structured Day-2 program establishes consistent dispatch procedures, technician expectations, documentation standards and escalation paths before an outage puts them to the test.
Technology Has a Lifecycle
Eventually, every deployed technology reaches another transition. Equipment gets upgraded, moved, reconfigured, replaced or decommissioned. Retired technology may also require secure data sanitization, physical destruction, asset tracking or certified recycling as part of an organization's IT asset disposition strategy.
As enterprises continue putting more intelligence at the edge, the number of physical devices requiring lifecycle support will continue to grow. At SG Network Services, we think about technology from power-on to always-on, because successful deployment isn't simply getting technology working on Day One. It's keeping it working on Day Two and every day after.
