Top Considerations for Successful IT Infrastructure Upgrades

Regularly upgrading IT infrastructure is essential for staying competitive, secure and efficient in IT operations. However, like with every IT project of a certain size, there are roadblocks to consider. Things like incomplete asset visibility, cost overruns and the looming threat of downtime can delay or even prevent infrastructure upgrades.

This article will break down the top five pain points organizations face during infrastructure upgrades and explore solutions to make the process run more smoothly.

1. Lack of Visibility Across Complex Environments

Modern IT environments have become a highly complex mix of cloud infrastructure, on-premise systems, IoT devices and operational technology (OT). Maintaining a comprehensive overview of it all has become one of the main challenges IT teams face today. However, this oversight is essential to infrastructure upgrade management efforts, as it helps teams identify EOL devices, performance bottlenecks, critical dependencies, configuration drifts and more. Without it, infrastructure can be delayed by inefficiencies, unplanned downtime or security risks.

The best way to tackle this visibility issue is to implement continuous discovery and inventory tools that provide a real-time insight of the entire IT environment. These tools automatically detect devices, their software and users, as well as configurations and network connections. Further details like warranty tracking, hardware and software EOL status, performance metrics and software and firmware versions are helped to prioritize and plan infrastructure upgrades and to do capacity planning.

Best Practices for Better Visibility

• IT hardware: Audit devices regularly to detect configuration drift and ensure compliance. Review hardware lifecycles to plan replacements proactively. Leverage warranty and support options before they expire. Assess hardware resource usage frequently to address underutilized or overutilized devices.
• Network equipment: Maintain a network topology map to identify dependencies and bottlenecks. Monitor performance and capacity metrics to ensure timely infrastructure expansions. Review lifecycles regularly and plan replacements proactively. Schedule regular firmware updates for network devices.
• Software: Implement an automated change management process. Regularly review software lifecycles and plan replacements. Review the compatibility of business-critical services with newer operating systems to avoid disruptions during upgrades.
• Operational technology (OT): Regularly review hardware lifecycles and plan replacements proactively. Schedule regular updates for OT devices to maintain security and ensure optimal performance.
• Public cloud resources: Use cloud monitoring tools to maintain an accurate inventory of instances, storage, and workloads. Regularly assess cloud resource usage to identify unnecessary expenses.

2. Difficulty Tracking Compliance Requirements

As IT complexity grows, so does the pressure to adhere to industry standards to guarantee security and operational efficiency. Industry standards like ISO27001, SOC2, DORA, and FEDRAMP offer great guidelines, but ensuring compliance across a complex IT environment is a major challenge. These frameworks often require detailed records of systems, configurations, and security practices, which can be difficult to maintain without centralized oversight. Non-compliance, however; can lead to penalties and reputational damage.

The best way to ensure compliance with regulatory frameworks is to have a compliance management solution that integrates with IT asset tracking and security tools. Compliance tools offer features like automated compliance checks, audit trail generation, and alerts for non-compliance risks. By linking them to inventory and monitoring tools you can streamline your audits, ensure adherence to regulations, and mitigate risks proactively.

Best Practices for Compliance

• IT hardware: Keep an up-to-date inventory of hardware to track compliance-related details like, and end-of-life dates, encryption status, access management, and more and automate compliance checks.
• Network equipment: Implement automated configuration audits to verify compliance with security standards, encryption protocols, and access policies. Document and regularly review network device configurations to streamline audits.
• Software: Use software management tools to monitor license compliance, version updates, and patching. Ensure applications meet relevant compliance standards by incorporating automated reporting tools for audits.
• Operational technology (OT): Track firmware versions and device configurations to ensure compliance with industry-specific regulations. Identify non-compliant OT devices that require upgrades to meet the required security and operational standards.
• Public cloud resources: Continuously monitor cloud resource configurations to detect non-compliance. Establish automated compliance guardrails within cloud platforms to prevent unauthorized access, ensure encryption and maintain audit trails for resource changes.

3. Shadow IT Creates Gaps in Oversight

Research conducted by Cisco shows that 46% of organizations report that shadow IT makes it impossible to protect all of their data, systems and applications all of the time. Unauthorized devices, software, and cloud services complicates inventory management, and leaves IT teams with blind spots that make it difficult to secure and optimize the environment. When it comes to infrastructure upgrades, shadow IT gets overlooked and left behind, causing vulnerability risks and operational inefficiencies.

Shadow IT can easily be resolved by implementing discovery tools that continuously monitor for new devices and applications. Complemented by a “never trust, always verify” they help you take control of unauthorized additions to your network. Advanced discovery and inventory tools offer features like automated asset detection, passive discovery, continuous tracking, and detailed device profiling that help IT teams reclaim full visibility across the IT landscape.

Best Practices for Shadow IT

• IT hardware: Implement continuous passive discovery tools to detect unauthorized or untracked devices connected to the network.
• Network equipment: Use port connection information and network diagrams to detect unauthorized devices or connections and restrict access through network segmentation. Enforce policies that require authentication for all devices connecting to the network.
• Software: Implement software discovery to identify unapproved or rogue applications. Implement strict application whitelisting and user training to prevent unauthorized software installations.
• Operational technology (OT): Conduct regular scans of OT environments to identify unauthorized devices or systems introduced without IT oversight. Integrate OT visibility tools with IT monitoring platforms to centralize control.
• Public cloud resources: Use cloud access security broker (CASB) tools to monitor and control access to unsanctioned cloud services. Enforce zero trust principles by implementing strong access controls and real-time monitoring.

4. Cost Control, Budget Allocation and ROI

Many organizations lack a clear understanding of their true infrastructure costs, which makes it difficult to evaluate ROI or justify the costs of infrastructure upgrades. Without this information, organizations often end up overspending on maintenance and underestimating the need for upgrades, missing out on opportunities to optimize their IT spending. Additionally, organizations are worried about the cost of service interruptions and downtime when carrying out upgrades.

However, outdated infrastructure has its own costs in the form of additional maintenance and legacy support costs. Older systems become less efficient and less reliable as time goes on. Moreover, they may no longer be compatible with newer systems and applications. And finally, they may not meet compliance requirements which could result in fines.

In order to really understand the cost of IT infrastructure, it is advisable to integrate financial tracking tools with an IT asset management system. The combined data of these tools provides better insights into the total cost of ownership of your IT infrastructure, and helps to weigh it against the cost of a much needed infrastructure upgrade.

Best Practices for Cost Control

• IT hardware: Use financial tracking tools to calculate the total cost of ownership (TCO) for hardware. Prioritize replacing hardware with high operational costs, risk or low efficiency.
• Network equipment: Replace aging or EOL network devices to minimize risk. Align upgrades with business growth and scalability requirements.
• Software: Track software licensing costs, renewal schedules, and usage metrics to identify redundant or underutilized applications. Consolidate software licenses and decommission unused software.
• Operational technology (OT): Assess the operational costs of OT devices, including extended vendor support and energy usage, against their criticality to processes. Replace outdated OT systems when the risks or costs outweigh their utility.
• Public cloud resources: Use cloud cost management tools to monitor and control resource consumption. Conduct regular ROI assessments for cloud services to identify underutilized resources.

How Can MSPs Address the Pain Points Associated with IT Infrastructure Upgrades?

MSPs can effectively address pain points related to IT infrastructure upgrades by implementing tailored strategies for optimizing solution integration. By assessing client needs and current systems, MSPs ensure seamless upgrades that enhance performance and minimize downtime, all while maintaining clear communication throughout the process to alleviate client concerns.

5. Difficulty Identifying Outdated and Unsupported Systems

As mentioned above, maintaining full visibility of the entire IT estate is challenging, and legacy systems and unsupported devices are at an even higher risk of being overlooked and forgotten. However, they can pose a serious risk to your security and should be the first systems to upgrade or replace in your IT infrastructure upgrade plan. They are prone to failure, are no longer supported by vendors, and may not meet modern compliance requirements.

Automated asset discovery tools will not only make sure that you don’t lose sight of these outdated systems, you also want to choose one that can track detailed lifecycle information. These tools can keep you informed on any devices nearing their end-of-life, unsupported software versions, or systems with known vulnerabilities. On top of that they are also a valuable tool in tracking shadow IT. By integrating your discovery tool with your ITSM platform, you can even automatically fuel your service tickets with detailed asset data to ensure a proactive replacement and upgrade process.

Best Practices for Outdated Systems

• IT hardware: Use lifecycle management tools to identify hardware nearing end-of-life or lacking vendor support. Prioritize replacement of critical devices that impact operations or security.
• Network equipment: Regularly audit network devices to track firmware versions and support status. Integrate these audits with monitoring tools to flag unsupported or legacy equipment.
• Software: Use software inventory tools to detect outdated or unsupported applications. Schedule updates or plan replacements for software that no longer meets security or compliance standards.
• Operational technology (OT): Conduct routine assessments of OT devices to check for unsupported firmware or discontinued vendor support. Develop upgrade plans for critical OT systems while ensuring minimal operational disruption.
• Public cloud resources: Use cloud asset management tools to identify deprecated services or instances running unsupported configurations. Automate lifecycle tracking and integrate cloud asset data with on-premises systems to ensure timely updates and replacements.

In conclusion, while IT infrastructure upgrades are crucial for maintaining competitiveness, security, and efficiency, organizations face several challenges in executing them successfully. From lacking visibility in complex environments to managing compliance, shadow IT, cost control, and outdated systems, these pain points can cause delays and inefficiencies. By leveraging advanced tools for asset discovery, continuous monitoring, and financial tracking, organizations can gain better control over their infrastructure, minimize risks, and optimize costs. Proactively addressing these issues ensures smoother upgrades, reduces vulnerabilities, and ultimately strengthens the IT environment for long-term success.

By Francis Rombaut