Migration | Redwood https://www.redwood.com Redwood Software | Where Automation Happens.™ Thu, 12 Jun 2025 23:38:00 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.8.3 https://www.redwood.com/wp-content/uploads/favicon.svg Migration | Redwood https://www.redwood.com 32 32 Beyond lift-and-shift: Smart migration strategies for modern workload automation https://www.redwood.com/article/3s-smart-workload-automation-migration-strategies/ Fri, 13 Jun 2025 16:00:00 +0000 https://staging.marketing.redwood.com/?p=35636 A large United States-based manufacturer recently approached Redwood Software with a high-stakes decision to make: Renew their legacy workload automation (WLA) contract at five times the cost or modernize and move to the cloud. Their IT leadership had already committed to a cloud-first strategy aligned with their broader digital transformation goals. Renewing with their vendor would have meant staying tethered to costly on-premises infrastructure and putting off much-needed modernization.

The business case was clear for moving to a cloud-native WLA solution. But the clock was ticking. With just three months before their existing contract expired, the company needed to evaluate new platforms, prepare for migration and go live in that tight timeframe without disrupting critical business operations.

That’s when they turned to Redwood.

Our team of migration experts quickly mobilized, leaning on Redwood’s proven methodology, cloud-native platform and proprietary migration tools. We helped this company not only meet their deadline, migrating from a legacy platform in just 14 weeks, but also use the migration as a strategic opportunity to improve automation processes, retire technical debt and set the stage for long-term success in the cloud.

This isn’t an edge case. Whether you’re facing similar licensing deadlines, preparing for a RISE with SAP transformation or simply looking to modernize a fragmented automation landscape, you’re not alone — and you don’t have to start from scratch.

At Redwood, we understand that migration isn’t just a technical change. It’s your chance to rethink how automation supports your business and make sure you’re ready for what the future brings.

Speed is essential — but so is strategy

Time constraints are common in these scenarios. Redwood frequently works with organizations facing license renewals that force a go/no-go decision, RISE with SAP transitions that require cloud-readiness and/or internal mandates for tool consolidation and legacy system modernization.

These deadlines create urgency, but a rushed migration without strategy leads to risk. It can carry over inefficiencies and complications into your next-generation platform. Too often, we see companies fall into the trap of replatforming without rethinking.

In our experience, there are two primary mindsets when it comes to WLA migration:

  1. Lift-and-shift first, optimize later: Move jobs as-is to meet tight deadlines, with plans to modernize after go-live.
  2. Modernize as you move: Take the opportunity to streamline architecture, remove redundancies and improve process logic as you migrate.

Most organizations fall somewhere in between, and that’s exactly why Redwood approaches migration by tailoring it to your environment, not a one-size-fits-all script.

Migration as momentum: Essential considerations

0625 Beyond lift and shift Inner v2
  • What kind of change are you driving? Are you simply replicating jobs or using this transition to streamline, modernize and reduce complexity?
  • How will you optimize the new platform? Are you planning for better performance and improved reliability from the start?
  • Is your automation strategy aligned with broader goals? Will the migration support larger initiatives like cloud adoption, tool consolidation or SAP transformation?
  • Who needs to be involved: Are departments, service providers or external teams part of the process, and are they looped in early?

Redwood evaluates your:

  • Source platform and job volume
  • Critical business processes and dependencies
  • Timeline flexibility and go-live constraints
  • Appetite for technical debt cleanup

This ensures we don’t just recreate your existing environment but deliver a better one.

Specialized migration expertise = smarter, faster results

Rather than thinking of migration as a one-time event, consider it the start of a smarter operating model. Redwood’s Professional Services team brings decades of experience helping enterprises like yours transition from legacy WLA platforms to our modern, cloud-native solution, RunMyJobs by Redwood. Here’s what that means for your business.

IT infrastructure savings

Migrating off legacy systems sooner lets you decommission outdated infrastructure, eliminate those redundant support contracts and reduce operational overhead. This is especially important if you’re heading toward hybrid or full cloud adoption.

Business process improvements

We don’t just move your jobs; we evaluate them. During migration, we help you identify inefficiencies, unnecessary handoffs and outdated dependencies. This is your chance to streamline.

Operational efficiencies

Redwood provides pre-built templates, connectors and industry best practices to fast-track implementation. These accelerators and our unique testing frameworks help you get to production faster.

The groundwork for long-term gains

One of the most overlooked benefits of a well-executed migration is how quickly you can begin realizing value, and not just from the software itself. Value comes from removing friction. Thus, you need a team with a track record of doing just that.

With Redwood, you begin seeing results almost immediately:

  • Noticeably stronger stability: Our migration process is designed to minimize disruption and deliver a stable production environment from day one. You don’t need weeks or months of post-migration troubleshooting to feel the benefits.
  • Improved visibility: Instead of toggling between tools and spreadsheets, you have a single source of truth for managing jobs enterprise-wide. Thus, fewer blind spots and better operational alignment.
  • Reduced manual effort: With intelligent automation and reusable templates, your teams spend less time on repetitive tasks and more time on process improvement.
  • Accelerated business outcomes: Faster financial closes, improved service availability … whatever you’re after, Redwood removes the bottlenecks and gets you there quickly.
  • Greater agility: Once you’re on a modern, cloud-native platform, you can scale, adapt and evolve your automation environment in lockstep with your business. Adding new systems or integrating third-party tools becomes significantly easier.

Modernize on your terms

Migrating to a new WLA solution involves much more than moving scripts or job chains. Your goal should be to enable a new level of orchestration across your enterprise. That’s why it pays to work with a partner who specializes in this exact domain.

Redwood’s Professional Services team is focused solely on successful automation implementations. We offer:

  • Proven methodologies for assessment, migration and rollout
  • Proprietary tools to streamline job mapping, testing and cutover
  • Flexibility to adjust your scope in real time
  • Risk mitigation with detailed validation and go-live readiness
  • Post-migration services to keep advancing your automation maturity
  • Training and enablement via Redwood University

At Redwood, we don’t just bring technology. We also offer unmatched focus, tools and experience. Organizations across industries have trusted Redwood to help them leave behind legacy WLA platforms. 

If you’re feeling the pressure of an expiring contract, a cloud deadline or a business that’s outgrown your current WLA solution, Redwood’s proven migration approach is here to move you forward with a clear vision. 

Hear directly from Daniel Sivar, Technologist at American Water, about how Redwood guided the largest regulated water and wastewater utility company in the United States through “managed waves” to ensure a successful migration.

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Migration Blogs | Migrating To RunMyJobs By Redwood nonadult
What to consider before consolidating your workload automation (WLA) platforms https://www.redwood.com/article/what-to-consider-before-you-consolidate-your-workload-automation-wla-platforms/ Fri, 26 May 2023 15:56:11 +0000 https://staging.marketing.redwood.com/?p=31650 Consolidating WLA solutions and job schedulers into one vendor increases efficiency, improves employee satisfaction and deepens vendor partnership. Before you kick off your WLA consolidation process, you should know the key factors that lead to a successful consolidation and how to call them into play using Redwood Software’s three-step migration process for RunMyJobs by Redwood.

Why migrating your automated jobs to another platform can be stressful

An operational WLA platform is responsible for automating several business-critical processes. That means any disruption to its operations will have an adverse impact not only on your business but also potentially on your trading partners and other organizations that are dependent on those processes. The longer the disruption, the greater the impact.

When you consolidate vendors, you need to move processes from one solution to another in what is known as a WLA migration. WLA migrations normally involve installations, jobs and data transfers, configurations, testing phases and so on, and they may entail a period of downtime. Some migration approaches require longer downtimes than others. If the migration isn’t well planned or properly executed or is just too complicated because of the target WLA platform, the process could be susceptible to errors and data loss, which could, in turn, cause further delays.

How to ensure a successful migration

Every organization that has considered implementing a WLA migration will tell you it can be concerning. The path can be long, and if things go sideways, it’s a massive headache. Due to the very nature of WLA platforms, i.e., being the main facilitator of every automated business process, the criticality of a WLA migration can’t be overemphasized. That said, there are a couple of things you can do to ensure a successful migration.

Avoiding data loss

Poorly planned WLA migrations can be susceptible to data loss, which can manifest in two areas:

  1. Loss of job data: This can happen if the job/calendar/event isn’t properly re-implemented in the target WLA platform.
  2. Loss of business data: This can happen if incompatibilities (e.g., dissimilar data formats or database schema) between the source and target WLA platforms aren’t resolved prior to migration. 

You can mitigate the risk of job data loss by instituting careful acceptance testing. Similarly, you can mitigate the risk of business data loss by planning cutovers and implementing dry runs. A good WLA vendor will help you build a timeline and plan for this. 

Minimizing service interruptions

As with other major migrations in IT, WLA migrations may entail service interruptions. Some service interruptions are planned, while others are not. Planned interruptions are part of the process, and are carried out in a controlled manner within a predefined schedule. 

An unplanned interruption, on the other hand, can happen due to unforeseen events. To minimize unplanned interruptions, you should carry out dry runs. This will allow you to discover and address potential issues before the cutover. 

Here, again, a WLA vendor with good migration support can help, sharing best practice advice from experience with hundreds of migrations and identifying processes and systems that will need the most focus. 

Eliminating productivity, revenue, opportunity and reputation loss

Data loss and service interruptions can bring down your overall productivity, which will, in turn, delay product and service delivery and potentially impact revenue. If that happens, you might miss sales opportunities or your customers may be disappointed. 

To eliminate potential productivity, revenue, opportunity and reputation loss, you need to be more deliberate in carrying out a WLA migration. Redwood’s three-step migration process for RunMyJobs can help you in that regard.

RunMyJobs’ 3-step migration

RunMyJobs’ migration strategy has successfully migrated hundreds of customers across the globe who are using a wide range of tools and systems. Migrations are carried out by an in-house team of experts — not outsourced to third parties lacking the experience and expertise required for these highly sensitive undertakings.

Redwood provides complete support throughout the migration process and beyond — contrary to some WLA platform vendors that convert a couple of jobs as examples and then leave it up to the customer to do the rest. Redwood works with you hand in hand every step of the way. 

A RunMyJobs migration consists of three simple steps that are designed to mitigate risks, drive efficiency and build on existing automations. 

Let’s talk about the steps.

Step 1: Configuration

Every RunMyJobs migration starts with a collaborative planning phase, where we assign a dedicated team of migration experts to work with your team. You will have an engagement manager, technical conversion manager and other support team members — each one highly seasoned with 15 years average experience. Your assigned team will conduct a thorough analysis of your existing systems, jobs, schedules, dependencies, configurations and other relevant components in order to identify areas that require special handling and incorporate risk-mitigating measures.

A non-production, low-level environment is created to safely import your existing workload automations without impacting current operations. We will continue to collaborate with your team on a phased cutover plan, typically prioritizing the least mission-critical processes, but can adopt other prioritization schemes (e.g., per department) that make the most sense for your organization. 

At the same time, your team will be provided access to relevant courses, certifications, videos and other resources through our on-demand Redwood University Training. This is an added layer of education and training in addition to the hands-on training by the Redwood team throughout your migration process. This is the beginning of your learning journey that will have you and your team confident and competent in the platform from day one, ensuring you’re getting the most out of your new WLA.

Step 2: Data import

Importation is easy using our proprietary Migration™ tooling, delivering an accurate migration from all major platforms, including:

  • Autosys
  • Control-M
  • Dollar Universe
  • Automic UC4
  • Tivoli
  • Tidal
  • APM/APX
  • Unicenter WLM/TNG
  • Hitachi JP1
  • SAP SM37
  • ActiveBatch
  • and many others

Key elements of your existing automations, such as job names, object definitions and job sequencing, will be carried over, creating familiarity for your team as you explore new features and functionality.

During this step, your team will gain hands-on experience in a sandbox test environment, building proficiency before launch. Our team will guide your team members in setting up job schedules, configuring jobs, as well as in defining security permissions, process dependencies and alerts. We’ll help your team identify process improvement areas and implement SLA management. 

Step 3: Acceptance and go-live

While in the low-level environment, your team will verify and validate whether all sequences are running as expected. If issues are encountered, we’ll work with your team to remediate those issues.

Once everything has been verified, your team will move up to a test environment where all processes will once again be validated. Only when all processes pass QA testing and we are all 100% sure you’re ready to cut over to production will we execute the final cutover.

The final cutover won’t be a single procedure. Rather, we’ll systematically and carefully move individual process automations into production. This is to ensure any issues are quickly detected and easily resolved. We’ll repeat each procedure for each process until all are live. Timing, which will be agreed upon upfront, can vary from one organization to another. Depending on the size and complexity of your WLA environment, these WLA migrations can take a few weeks to a few months.

Post-migration: Ongoing optimization and support

Our presence doesn’t stop when migration completes. As long as you are a customer of Redwood, we are by your side, helping you every step of the way, ready to answer any questions and provide support. Should you need assistance — whether to perform additional optimizations, resolve issues or simply answer questions — our 24/7 support team is available. This ongoing connection will help ensure your continued success way beyond the migration.

Redwood continues to innovate the platform to be easier to use, more flexible and with new additions driven by user input. We offer educational materials and webinars to keep you aware of anything new. 

Final words

Consolidating WLA solutions can be a complex and delicate undertaking. However, with the right migration process and a well-planned strategy, the risks of data loss, service interruptions and impact on productivity, revenue, opportunity or business reputation can be successfully mitigated. 

RunMyJobs’ three-step migration process is designed to help organizations consolidate their WLA solutions with minimal disruptions. By collaborating with your team, preparing and testing the new WLA platform, and monitoring progress throughout the cutover, RunMyJobs can help you achieve a successful migration that delivers improved service levels and eliminates manual work. Contact Redwood today to learn more about our WLA migration process and how it can benefit your organization.

Read more about consolidating your WLA solutions

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How to prepare for workload automation migration https://www.redwood.com/article/how-to-prepare-for-workload-automation-migration/ Thu, 20 Apr 2023 15:04:18 +0000 https://staging.marketing.redwood.com/?p=31490 Migrating to a new workload automation solution is a daunting task. With questions about timeline, cost, logistics, data security, compatibility, functionality and more, IT teams know that undergoing a migration process is a significant project. The complexity of coordinating systems, workflows and stakeholders across the business adds another layer of challenges.

With the right strategies, tools and planning, you can mitigate the risk of downtime, disruptions to operations and data loss and confidently pull off a successful migration project.

Why migrate automation platforms?

IT processes and environments haven’t maintained the status quo in recent years; they’ve gotten more complex while also growing radically. New variables brought about by hybrid and multi-cloud workload automation environments and a mix of legacy systems and modern tools with non-scalable dependencies have made migrating to new automation solutions a greater undertaking than it once was.

A simple workload scheduler may have done the trick years ago, but now you might find your team once again engaging in manual processes and patchwork solutions. Without a single point of control to handle on-demand orchestration, many organizations are abandoning their legacy scheduling tools and migrating to a SaaS-based workflow automation solution.

Not only can these tools modernize your tech stack and business processes, but they’re designed to streamline your workflows across functions and IT environments.

The modern automation methodology

Today’s workload automation solutions are becoming even more powerful, delivering advanced process automation and orchestration capabilities. The Gartner® model for modern workload automation involves using Service Orchestration and Automation Platforms (SOAPs).

According to the 2025 Gartner Magic Quadrant™ for SOAP report, SOAPs have five mandatory features that differentiate them from legacy schedulers and workload automation platforms:

  1. Management of workloads in complex technology and deployment topologies
  2. Management of workflows that span the operating environment
  3. Broad integration capabilities
  4. Workflow design
  5. Error handling and recovery

Additional common features include jobs-as-code development capabilities, generative artificial intelligence (AI) support, event-driven automation and data pipeline support.

In the same report, Gartner predicts that by 2029, 90% of organizations that currently deliver workload automation (WLA) will use SOAPs to orchestrate workloads and data pipelines.

Preparing for migration

Before migrating your workload automation platform to a SOAP, your teams will need to:

  • Audit your apps, tools and platforms to determine your needs.
  • Determine the types of business processes, job scheduling and workflows you would like to implement automated workflows for — even if you can’t automate those things yet.
  • Vet SOAP vendors with in-depth research, taking care to assess the platform’s user interface, downtime SLAs and contingency plans, migration services, conversion tools, capabilities and ability to integrate with your vital tools.

Important considerations

There are some key features and functionality to keep in mind when investigating cloud-based workload automation tools. Make sure the solution can:

  • Provide real-time metrics overviews and dashboards.
  • Integrate with your data center.
  • Enable self-updating agents across Microsoft Windows, Linux, AIX, HPUX, macOS, OpenVMS, Solaris and the like.
  • Easily onboard users with an intuitive UI that enables self-service across IT and business operations.
  • Integrate seamlessly with ERPs (like SAP and Oracle) and provide APIs for simple web services integrations.

Optimize the migration process

Ensure you have an optimal migration experience by completing the following steps: 

  1. Define the architecture of your new SOAP.
  2. Test automation workloads to ensure they meet your business requirements.
  3. Transition your data to your workload automation database.
  4. Compare your new workload definitions and ensure workload validation.
  5. Ensure every requirement has been met.

Go live and never look back

While a smooth automation migration does require some planning, it is possible. Careful, step-by-step implementation using a trusted migration process and tools will help mitigate risk and ensure a successful transition.

Get a glimpse of what it’s like to migrate while fully supported by Redwood. Book a demo today.

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Don’t let fear of migration hold you back https://www.redwood.com/article/dont-let-fear-of-migration-hold-you-back/ Mon, 29 Aug 2022 18:08:32 +0000 https://staging.marketing.redwood.com/?p=30944 the right migration partner will help you overcome those fears and gain that glorious freedom Aristotle was talking about.]]> As Aristotle once said, “He who has overcome his fears will truly be free.” Aristotle may not have imagined his quote being used in a blog about workload automation migration fears, but his words ring true nonetheless. And having a fear of migration is legitimate. What you currently use for automation might be “ok” and working “fine” for now, so why would you risk potential disruptions, increases in cost and all that stress?

Because, the right migration partner will help you overcome those fears and gain that glorious freedom Aristotle was talking about. Freedom to spend your time innovating instead of fixing. Freedom knowing you won’t be getting surprise bills for things you thought you already paid for. Freedom to grow and adapt without sacrificing security or reliability.

We don’t settle for “ok” or “fine,” and we don’t think you should have to either. Redwood Software wants to address your biggest migration fears and instill in you the confidence, comfort and control you deserve from your migration partner.

Fear #1: I don’t have time for this.

We’re going to be honest… doing migration well does take time. BUT, it takes less time than you think when you have the right partner — and the key word is partner. We all know that when you have the right people by your side working collaboratively with you, things can get done faster. And you don’t have to skip steps or sweep potential issues under the rug to do it. The right migration partner is focused on minimizing time, effort and risk without losing sight of the bigger picture — doing it right.

A good partner will start the migration process using a combination of automated migration tools and internal professional services to make sure all the jobs that you want to migrate can be migrated. Even better, that team of professionals can help you consolidate and streamline jobs, reducing complexity and sometimes even reducing the number of job definitions by a third or more. There will be a dedicated, in-house team always ready to help, optimizing the process and reducing wait times, while keeping you fully operational throughout the migration. And a good partner won’t leave you waiting on them for brainstorming and implementing updates because they “own” the process. Instead, the focus will be on enabling you to take control of your own automation infrastructure, because the best person to be in charge of your business is you.

Redwood has over 30 years of experience doing all those things, and we value building collaborative partnerships with our clients above all else. Our highly skilled, professional migration team is made up of experts who have provided enterprise migration assistance across a wide range of applications, platforms, implementations and industries. We tailor each migration process to your unique environment and business goals and construct a thoughtful, streamlined plan that best meets your needs. And we aim beyond just getting it done on time — we also get it done right. So, trust us, your time will be well spent.

Fear #2: It’s too expensive.

Sure, you have to put some money in to get something out of it. But, we can tell you that your initial investment in moving to Redwood’s workload automation orchestration solution, RunMyJobs by Redwood, will pale in comparison to the results you’ll see from your increased productivity and efficiency after you migrate. Oh, and you won’t be hit with surprise audits and fees from your vendor either. We work with transparent, execution-based pricing, meaning you pay for what you use and nothing more. This pricing predictability allows you to confidently direct your resources toward innovation and business growth instead of worrying about cost overages.

In addition, the cloud-native, designed-for-SaaS RunMyJobs architecture eliminates burdensome infrastructure costs and operational efforts, and, to top it all off, you get fully automated updates, guaranteed uptime and 24/7 support. After moving to Redwood, companies have seen a 60% reduction in TCO, an 80% reduction in job definitions and a 20% increase in uptime, just like computer processor magnate AMD experienced after they migrated to RunMyJobs. Really, you can’t afford not to migrate when you think about it.

Fear #3: My infrastructure is too complex, and I might lose functionality.

We know the whole reason you need to migrate is to gain something, not lose something. Maybe you’ve outgrown your automation tool(s), or maybe you’re just wondering if there’s something better out there. Either way, you have a lot of moving parts, so how can one solution make sense of it all? Going through every single level of your automation infrastructure step-by-step to find out exactly what you need out of your automation solution is absolutely fundamental to the success of the migration process. Our Redwood team works with you directly to plan and execute the entire process so nothing gets lost in the shuffle.

And we don’t stop at knowing the best practices for hundreds of use cases and applications (although we know every last one of them) — we also constantly look for ways to improve, invigorate and disrupt the status quo of it all. We can integrate anything you throw at us, and we can probably make it faster, better, stronger… you get the idea. That’s how you know we’ll make sure you gain functionality from migration. We aren’t looking to just lift-and-shift you over. We think dealing with complexity is overrated and achieving more with less effort is fantastic. So, we work hard to make you more efficient and just plain awesome at automation, while ALSO giving you unprecedented control over a simpler, but more functional platform in the process. We think that’s pretty cool.

Fear #4: Things might go wrong, and disruptions could spell disaster.

As a trusted migration partner, the priority is keeping you up-and-running during migration without causing disruptions. It may seem like a high standard, but here’s the thing: it’s an achievable one. The testing and validation steps of Redwood’s migration process are so important to us that we don’t go live until we know every wrinkle has been smoothed out with the work we do. And we pride ourselves on the fact that our customers do not experience business-critical disruptions caused by the migration process.

We’re prepared because we’ve seen it all, and we prevent costly mistakes that can happen when you don’t have an experienced partner on your team. Pro tips for automation are our specialty, and we are beyond happy to share them.

Fear #5: All of this is too overwhelming.

Redwood is all about building an actual, ongoing relationship with you. Our consulting expertise is available to help guide you and give you plenty of thumbs up along the way. We want to make sure you are set up for success.

Also, our solution grows as your business grows. You don’t have to be afraid that, as soon as you get done migrating, you’ll already be behind the technological curve again. Our unparalleled scalability means Redwood can be your forever home. Whatever you need to get out of your automation solution, we’re there for you for the long haul.

With Redwood by your side, the dreaded migration process doesn’t have to be dreadful at all. We can overcome any fears you have together, so you can be free. Let’s make Aristotle proud.

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Ditch your migration anxiety. Switching to a modern WLA solution is easier than you think. https://www.redwood.com/article/ditch-your-migration-anxiety-switching-to-a-modern-wla-solution-is-easier-than-you-think/ Thu, 30 Jun 2022 12:49:00 +0000 https://redwood.local/?p=2804 workload automation (WLA) and scheduling software. In fact, 60% of organizations say they are using more than one WLA tool, according to a new survey of IT and business professionals by industry analysts EMA. This accumulation of WLA tools builds up over the years through mergers, acquisitions or different departments making their own product selections in isolation. But these siloed islands of automation store up all kinds of technical debt and inefficiencies that impact the business.]]> It’s not uncommon for IT organizations to have a mixed bag of workload automation (WLA) and scheduling software. In fact, 60% of organizations say they are using more than one WLA tool, according to a new survey of IT and business professionals by industry analysts EMA.

This accumulation of WLA tools builds up over the years through mergers, acquisitions or different departments making their own product selections in isolation. But these siloed islands of automation store up all kinds of technical debt and inefficiencies that impact the business.

Ditching this mixed bag of legacy tools for a modern cloud-based WLA solution such as RunMyJobs by Redwood scheduling eliminates risk from process downtime, reduces costs as on-premises installations are switched off and removes the need for the customer to update and patch systems — we take care of that for you.

But as compelling as these benefits are, WLA migration can seem daunting. This migration anxiety is understandable given the need to untangle years of ad-hoc automation, scripts, processes and dependencies. Not to mention the importance of preserving data integrity, downtime and security.

That mixed bag of legacy schedulers still works — on the surface, at least — and staying put can feel like the safer option, right?

Wrong. The EMA research shows that the risks of staying with your current WLA products may be higher than the risks of migrating.

The perceived risks of migrating are certainly higher than the actual risks. Forty-six percent of those migrating to new WLA software said they found it easier than expected or a non-event.

Almost the same number of respondents (45%) admitted that the migration was more difficult than expected or disruptive. But here’s the rub — they also said that disruption was worth the effort. They were still glad they did it. In other words, the benefits outweighed the risks.

One of the reasons migrating to a modern WLA solution is easier than you might think is the use of workload conversion capabilities that automate and take the manual pain out of the switch.

At Redwood Software, we go even further. Our Migration Factory provides a four-step collaborative process to make migration fast, easy and effective:

  • We work with you to create a clear overview of the existing WLA environment.
  • We use automated migration tools to demonstrate the conversion process and present a tailor-made RunMyJobs implementation and migration plan.
  • As a combined team, we deliver your solution into a test environment. Then it’s tuned to fit perfectly for your needs. Training and enablement follow.
  • Finally, we implement to the production environment using a go-live checklist and a monitored first production period. Together we’ll plan support and outline future projects.

Redwood understands the migration concerns our customers have. That’s why we created our proven process to deliver fast, simple and easy-to-understand conversions.

With Redwood, it’s no sweat.

Find out more about how Redwood can help you make the move to a modern cloud-based WLA.

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The top considerations when migrating workload automation https://www.redwood.com/article/the-top-considerations-when-migrating-workload-automation/ Mon, 19 Jul 2021 10:35:39 +0000 https://redwood.local/?p=16343 You understand the benefits that modern SaaS-based workload automation solution can bring to your organization, and you’re ready to move away from your existing technology.

Now it’s time to think about migrating to the new solution. This process can seem daunting, especially if you have a vast inventory of processes built on various on-premises legacy solutions over many years. We at Redwood Software can help. You may even be surprised at how less daunting the process can be.

The three most common questions we hear from customers around migration to our workload automation solution, RunMyJobs by Redwood, are:

  • What work is involved, and how will it get done?
  • How can we make sure our operations continue without interruption?
  • How do we validate that we’ve migrated everything correctly when it’s complete?

Our migration approach for RunMyJobs addresses these questions.

It starts with a Process Automation Assessment. That aims to provide insights into your current automation set-up and covers the following important considerations:

  • How to align your automation strategy — for example, processes in other areas of the business that can be automated in the future?
  • Who’s involved in the automation, e.g., different departments, service providers, other stakeholders?
  • How to make optimal use of Redwood products for better performance, usability, development effort and maintenance effort.
  • How to put the right governance in place.
  • Do you want to use the migration as an opportunity to drive change?

Careful consideration of each of these areas is crucial to helping you decide the best migration approach for your organization — as well as how to evolve your automation capabilities in the future.

For the migration, we help you to define standards and configure the basics. Our tools and capabilities will then help you to automate as much of the work as possible, including the creation of repeatable processes.

To make sure your operations continue without interruption, we recommend a phased approach that includes running processes in parallel and starting with small wins to build understanding and confidence among your team.

For validation, we test, review and adjust the implementation, as well as provide training to ensure you can quickly get value from the automation solution once the migration is complete.

With over a quarter of a century in automation experience, we at Redwood have the knowledge, expertise and know-how to make your migration as pain-free as possible.

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The challenges of moving from legacy schedulers and WLA tools (and how to overcome them) https://www.redwood.com/article/the-challenges-of-moving-from-legacy-schedulers-and-wla-tools-and-how-to-overcome-them/ Tue, 30 Jun 2020 11:44:28 +0000 https://redwood.local/?p=2798 migrating away from old technology will be familiar to many: data integrity is paramount, downtime is an unacceptable outcome,]]> We’ve recently discussed how some companies end up with a mixed bag of workload automation (WLA) tools, and the reasons this can happen. It’s all very well talking about this after the fact, but the reality is that many businesses — all too many — are caught between the “old” world and the “new.”

The concerns about fully migrating away from old technology will be familiar to many: data integrity is paramount, downtime is an unacceptable outcome, and security can’t be compromised at any point.

Untangling years of ad-hoc automation, scripts, processes and dependencies is already a daunting task; turning that process and institutional knowledge into new ways of working that take advantage of technology is quite another. The sheer perceived complexity of this task, combined with those other concerns, are why many businesses get caught between different technologies and workflows.

See Redwood Software’s WLA migration process

With more than 50,000 employees, and as the largest operator of hotels and restaurants in the United Kingdom, Whitbread’s 1.3-million business-critical file transfers had to continue without fail each month during the company’s transition to RunMyJobs by Redwood scheduling. In total, Whitbread’s workload was spread across more than 800 different servers.

“Our polling services gather information from each and every one of our hotels, restaurants and coffee shops every day… It’s a very complex spiderweb of processes and dependencies,” John Fitzsimmons, Technical Program Manager at Whitbread Group PLC, says.

Worried by the pitfalls of outdated automation technology, Whitbread chose to migrate to RunMyJobs solution using our simplified four-step process, which includes automatically converting 90% of existing scheduling tasks.

“Our organization has an exacting process for IT transformation that involves our design authority, service integration and security teams. It demands conformity to Whitbread PMO project delivery framework and governance procedures,” Fitzsimmons explains.

Despite the scale of the operation and exacting criteria, Whitbread’s full migration took less than five months from planning through to live deployment.

“Early in the project we built, tested and migrated 1,900 scheduled business jobs away from RemoteWare and AutoSys. We finished 11 phased and grouped migrations between May and October. Since then, we’ve run almost three million jobs without a single problem or issue with RunMyJobs… We finally have our single solution.”

With 25 years of experience, we know — and say frequentlythat simplicity should be at the forefront of any scalable activity. With the RunMyJobs migration process, we lead by example. Don’t take our word for it though; instead, let’s leave you with Whitbread’s words:

“RunMyJobs changed a risky project into an opportunity for ongoing excellence.”

Now, that’s what we’re all about.

Try the world’s only cloud-based enterprise solution for job scheduling and process automation today. Get started now with a free trial of RunMyJobs scheduling. You’ll be able to use the service for 30 days with support and help from Redwood.

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