Managing change and upskill when you are moving to composable infrastructure

But how many times have you been on the phone to a call centre, renewing your home or car insurance, booking a holiday, or talking to a utility provider, when you hear the phrase “sorry, the computer isn’t doing as it’s told, I thought these things were supposed to make life easier”. Or something very similar.

How many times have you bought a new piece of technology based on a promise in the advertising, but failed to find out where that option in the menu is. How successful was your last move to a new mobile phone handset? Sometimes, you’ll ask the assistant in the phone shop to help you with the upgrade, they’ll make it look easy. That’s because they were trained to do it, they practised it in a test environment in case they got it wrong, and they repeat it regularly until it becomes second nature.

So, why do some IT organisations move their infrastructure onto a new platform and assume the rules that worked with the old “handset” are still suitable. The truth is, like every new thing, it won’t be just like the old thing that it will replace, or you wouldn’t have replaced it. It will take time to learn how it does things, most importantly how it does things differently. Do you really want to do that on a live production system, or have an opportunity to practice in a test environment with someone who has the necessary skills already?

Moving to a composable infrastructure solution with HPE Synergy will include steps that might only need to be completed once. A good example of this would be the initial implementation. Is it worth learning how to complete the initial set up, or should you use HPE Pointnext Install and Start-up Services? We’re back to the person in the phone shop again, and whether you feel confident enough to complete the task alone.

When the installation team are walking across the car park to their cars, will you be at the window watching them go, or will you be at the admin screen starting the journey to composability? Again it’s all about confidence. That confidence could come from a number of sources, but the one that 80% of IT managers cite as a critical success factor in new projects is TRAINING.

HPE Education Services recognise it’s about making changes to the skillset and the mindset that will lead to a successful technology refresh, which is why Management of Change and Technical Training are inseparable. We recognise that people learn in different ways, not just by reading the manual. We recognise that there are many steps on the journey to composability and companies need to free up resources from day-to-day maintenance tasks and allow them to push the company towards innovation.

For technical training, the option to attend a five day class in a local city, with all the associated time away from the office, travel and accommodation costs is less compelling these days. The impact to the business alone may be a reason for mangers to question the alternatives; read the manual or scan the internet for documents and videos. But HPE Education Services have better alternatives, developed, tried and tested over 40 years of experience.