An upgrade is mandatory for all long-standing technical products. Several catalysts can push the urgency button on the upgrade of your company’s technology toolkit. One major catalyst can be data security. Another one might be related to the bottlenecks that impact the performance of your processes. When is it the right time to improve your startup’s tech stack, and how should you do it?
Before you improve or upgrade your tech stack, you should know when to make the investment and how to find the best solutions according to your startup’s needs. It’s vital to discuss the organizational needs with all employees to ensure a seamless transition and set your startup up for success.
Ways To Improve Your Startup’s Tech Stack
Organizations that plan ahead and schedule technology upgrades can eliminate problems before they arise. While the process of upgrading your full tech stack is often thought of as risky and costly, it can be made much simpler by following some steps.
Here are some ways to improve your tech stack and escape technological obsoleteness.
1. Identify the shortcomings of your existing tech stack
What are the bottlenecks or issues that you face in your existing tech stack? Where do failures mostly occur? Which technologies need to be replaced with newer options? Once you have identified the pain points, you need to consider the budget of your startup and the best replacement tools and technologies that are also affordable. Whenever you select a new product, make sure you weigh its shortcomings so it doesn’t have to be replaced very frequently.
2. Assess the business and technical drivers for the upgrade
Technical inadequacies aren’t the only reasons that lead to an upgrade. Business requirements are also important factors behind the decision. Translate your business needs into technical requirements to find out the right tools and technologies for you. For example, if you’re looking for an alternative search platform, you might find several options like Sphinx, Solr, and Elastic Search. You can also tap into expertise from digital technology companies like Argano to help you build a fully integrated digital foundation tailored to your business needs.
3. Understand the products
Once you’ve finalized the products, understand them completely to ensure they are versatile enough to adapt and scale as your startup grows. Flexibility is a critical factor for a startup with a rapidly evolving business landscape. The technology you choose will greatly influence your company’s capability for change. Test the finalized products to see if they check all the boxes and fulfill your business needs.
4. Build a strategy for integration
Once the new products are finalized, identify the integration points and devise a migration strategy. During the migration process, there should be a way in which the old and new systems interact so your business processes can run smoothly. The migration strategy should be planned after carefully evaluating the environment.
5. Evaluate the risks involved
Migration can be a tricky process, and many things can go wrong. Make sure you evaluate all possible risks before the integration or migration process begins. Identifying the key risks will help the integration process to run smoothly. Create a contingency plan and list the risks and mitigation actions. There must also be a backup plan in place so the team should know what to do in case things don’t go as planned.
6. Retrospect
Once your integration is completed, hold a retrospective examination to evaluate the system before and after the migration. This will help you understand how well your startup is performing now and how well your technology meets your needs. It will also give you insights into what might be required in the future. For example, if your new technology is already being pushed to its limits, you’ll be looking at an upgrade sooner rather than later, so you’ll want to budget for that.
7. Periodic re-evaluation
As technologies get older, they need to be replaced. There is a constant need to upgrade the tech stack so your startup doesn’t face any technological hurdles or bottlenecks. What works great right now might not be the best in a few months or years. Keep evaluating your needs and if they align with your current tech stack.
Points To Keep in Mind
Before you proceed with the integration, make sure you keep a backup of the original system so if there’s an issue, the new upgrades can be rolled back and the old system can again be used.
Also, ensure everyone in the organization is on board with the upgrade project. The role of employees is significant in any technical endeavor.
It’s important to train the employees for the new and improved system. No matter how technically advanced your startup’s processes might become, humans are still an important asset.
