What are the risks of migrating from one system to another and what mitigation strategies can be adopted?

Risks of migrating from system to another:

1. Data Migration (Includes Historical Sales and Financial Data, Account wise Transactions details and Customer details that are most important with other data)
2. Database Integration (Old Database integration with New System, In most scenarios only master data are exported to new system)
3. Employees adaptation to new system environment (Legacy system is old so most of the employees have hands on experience to resolve transaction issues that could not be experienced with new system)
4. Infrastructure Cost (New System tend to come with new technology that may require one to change entire hosting server and thin client infrastructure that may cost huge in addition to new system license and support services cost)
5. Additional Resources (Additional human resources may be required in addition to existing one to support, training and work on new system with dedicated team)
6. Implementation cost (Cost of User License and support services may increase)
7. Documentation and Training Material (Documentation and Training Material are provided post implementation for future purpose but sometime it is not easy to locate and understand the pain areas)
8. Post implementation support (Implementation partner and new system should have sustainable track record for successful development, implementation and rendered services during tough market situation, i.e. market recession leads to shut down of lots of companies)

Mitigation Strategies:

1. Engage end users to understand the pain area and desired functions in new system.
2. Make robust plan to run both systems parallel for at least6 months
3. Invest in branded solutions and established name for implementation and support services
4. Track all historical data that are required repeatedly over the time and make plans to integrate with the new system
5. Follow Systematic Procedure (Step by step, Module by module or department wise implementation instead of whole system implementation at a time)