A detailed network implementation plan provides a roadmap for new infrastructure rollouts or significant technology upgrades, making it a crucial project component that should never be overlooked. Here, we explore exactly what it takes to craft a successful plan, share top tips for key stakeholders, and uncover how this crucial early step can enhance IT infrastructure design and implementation.
What is network implementation?
Put simply, it’s the entire process of creating, installing, configuring, and launching a network in line with your organisation’s needs, keeping you connected, secure and resilient at all times. But only with a detailed network implementation plan can this process be truly mastered.
Why planning is the secret ingredient
Think of your network implementation plan as a cake recipe – something all singing, all dancing, like a three-tiered red velvet showstopper with edible gold leaf and cascading cream cheese frosting that melts in the mouth. You wouldn’t try to bake it without the right ingredients, accurate measurements, or a step-by-step guide – let alone a clear view of the final result. Otherwise, you might end up with a fragile sponge that falls apart the moment you cut into it, covered in patchwork decoration that hides even deeper flaws. And the stakes are so much greater with your network.
Ensuring you have a highly comprehensive network design implementation plan will mitigate these risks. By mapping out every stage in meticulous detail, you can anticipate potential challenges, allow time and resources for rigorous testing and migration, and align all the relevant team members with the project’s objectives. The result is a streamlined transition that minimises downtime, prevents costs from spiralling, and delivers the peerless performance your business depends on. With a poor plan – or worse, no plan at all – even the most experienced IT professionals can find themselves in chaos.
Preparing for success
Whether you’re designing a new network or delivering critical infrastructure upgrades, you need to begin with a plan. This acts as your foundation – essential building blocks to stabilise everything that comes next.
A network implementation plan will enable you to build a reliable and secure network that can perform under pressure, ultimately streamlining the service you provide for your own clients. It’s not a step that should be bypassed or skipped over. And, while it may seem like a daunting undertaking at first – especially if you’re not well-versed in the intricacies of such a project – with the right partner in place, it can be simple, efficient, and effective all round.
Who benefits from a network implementation plan?
Your plan will not only support the team directly handling the network design and implementation, but also provide clear guidance for affected departments, helping to manage expectations across the company and with your customer base. As well as offering clarity on the potential risks, any expected downtime, and the impact on your stakeholders, your plan will ultimately support confident decision-making across operations, finance, and IT – delivering a headache-free transition that carefully balances budgets while minimising disruption and maximising network performance.
The four key components
Your IT infrastructure implementation plan should include four fundamental elements that will support your success. An audit of your current system is a non-negotiable starter and enables a deeper understanding of your current and future needs. Risk mitigation planning is equally sacrosanct and will build confidence among your team and key stakeholders. The third element, testing, will ensure your network is fit for purpose, safe, and secure. Finally, we always recommend a phased migration approach for a smoother and more efficient rollout.
1. Auditing
Your plan should begin with a thorough audit or assessment of your existing systems. To assess the needs of your new or augmented network, you’ll need to first understand how performance, capacity, security risks, and system health stack up, as well as the current state of both hardware and software. Your audit should consider your future requirements too. For example, how much scalability are you building in to prepare your network for growth? Which legacy systems could become bottlenecks or security risks if not assessed? Are there any emerging technologies or integrations you should plan for?
Once you’ve built a complete picture of your needs, you’ll be able to define the scope of the project and set objectives.
2. Risk planning
With clearly defined objectives in place, you can begin risk planning and management. Begin by identifying vulnerabilities in your current network and assessing any threats that can compromise the integrity of your systems. Consider trends in your industry, such as recent data breaches, and review internal historical incident reports to discover the specific challenges impacting your business. This assessment will be used to design a new network that addresses any security flaws and is, at its core, resilient and efficient.
As part of your risk planning, you should document risks, their likelihood and impact, and clear mitigation strategies on a risk register that is agreed by all relevant stakeholders. You’ll also need to plan for contingencies throughout the network implementation process in the event of any unforeseen issues – such as downtime, configuration errors, hardware failures, or security gaps – and allocate the necessary resources to implement these mitigation strategies effectively.
3. Testing
Your plan should include rigorous testing against your objectives, both during and after network implementation, to make sure the infrastructure is fit for purpose and truly futureproofed.
These tests should incorporate elements such as:
Performance testing, which evaluates how your network behaves under pressure and allows you to understand the speed, reliability, and stability of your new or updated system.
Local area network (LAN) connectivity testing to explore cabling, miswiring, and open circuits. This is done by a network tester, which sends an electrical pulse into the cable and uses the resulting ‘reflections’ to build a picture of the physical structure of the network.
Wide area network (WAN) connectivity testing, assessing the reachability and latency of your WAN. This is done by running ping and traceroute tests, confirming a destination is reachable and mapping the path your data packet takes.
Load testing. This shows what your system can really handle. It simulates real-world user activity to test that your network can run smoothly under everyday demands.
Security testing, which will uncover any vulnerabilities in your network and ultimately inform your network security implementation. Continuous testing allows you to stay ahead of evolving threats, while further steps, such as network segmentation implementation, can bolster your resilience by creating segments or zones within your network to isolate threats more easily.
Crucially, testing isn’t a one-time task to tick off upon project completion. It should be woven into every stage of the process, incorporating a detailed testing log to capture any defects or issues as they arise, so they can be tackled well before the implementation stage.
4. Phased migrations
When working on major upgrade rollouts, such as deploying Cisco’s application-centric infrastructure (ACI) or integrating a new software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN), we recommend phased migration to decrease the risk of downtime and network disruption. On particularly complex deployments, you can also consider running pilot migrations – designing simulated migration sequences and mapping out dependencies – to increase the likelihood of a smoother, more streamlined implementation.
Fundamentally, a phased migration allows you to address any incidents in isolation, making resolution faster and more efficient while limiting the impact on wider network operations. And, since each phase is isolated and independently tested, it’s easier for rollouts to be reversed if needed.
In many instances, we’ll even run existing networks in parallel with an organisation’s new network infrastructure implementation to minimise disruption, particularly in high-risk environments such as healthcare, finance, and manufacturing. Running parallel networks has the additional benefit of being able to troubleshoot in a live environment, with a trusted backup system in place.
