Getting IT right

What makes an IT deployment successful (or a big fat failure for that matter)? The answer is complex. Factors determining the success of a deployment include management buy-in, employee buy-in, finding the right fit from all those solutions out there, getting the right implementation partner...

Thankfully, there is a way out which many CIOs adopt. They talk to their fellows who have done similar implementations before. Which is where this issue of Network Magazine comes in. We have compiled about thirty of the best case studies to be featured in these pages during the period January 2004 up to September 2005. Obviously time marches on and deployments don’t stay static. Therefore our team of reporters went back to the companies and updated these case studies to refresh them and the upshot is a compendium of dos and don’ts on implementing just about any IT solution—networking to e-governance, systems to enterprise software, security to business continuity—it’s all here.

Looking at all these deployments what comes across is that a successful implementation requires careful planning and superb execution. Oftentimes this involves overhauling some of the existing architecture as Honda-SIEL did when it replaced its existing hub with a L3 chassis-based switch to create a slew of VLANs. In the case of Goodlass Nerolac Paints it had to put a server farm in place before it could create a centralised ERP architecture.

Getting users to accept change can be tough. At L&T Hazira this required the creation of a storage policy document so that users, accustomed to keeping their data on server-attached storage, were able to make the transition to using an IP SAN.

Sometimes the basic implementation isn’t enough. Take the case of the BSE that consolidated its servers only to find that it had to go further and create virtual partitions so that applications got the resources when they needed them. In a stock exchange where some applications run throughout the day while others are run only at the end of the day, this sort of flexibility is everything.

There definitely is no ‘one size fits all’ when it comes to IT. Which is why we have put together a diverse panoply of situations that span the gamut of IT implementations. We hope this will help you in your next deployment. Do write in and let us know if you feel we missed out on any area that you want us to cover.

Prashant L Rao
Head of Editorial Operations