Unexpected efficiency increases Information Infrastructure enhancement projects often have unanticipated benefits due to increased communication and collaboration. Examples of the practical benefits may be encouraging to organizations considering new integration projects. Archiving projects, for example, are typically initiated to improve application performance or reduce storage costs. An often unplanned benefit is improved efficiency for information compliance, since information is collected in a common repository organized by date. Archiving also tends to simplify application maintenance because the application is less likely to grow larger than the infrastructure is prepared to handle. IBM client example: A health care provider implemented a new PACS (Picture Archive Communications System) to improve information availability and promote image sharing between facilities. Improved application availability and performance saved an estimated 7,000 hours per year of clinician and radiologist time, which made the project a success. An unexpected additional benefit has been a reduction in ongoing capital expenses. The new solution uses lower cost hardware in a grid design, so upgrades cost much less than the old system. IBM client example: A midsized internet retailer developing their Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) realized that their storage infrastructure could be used to deploy new web servers on demand, within about 5 minutes. Previously, new web servers took hours to manually configure. IBM client example: A large museum implemented storage virtualization to improve information availability and storage capacity. The resulting increase in service levels helped them understand their overall information infrastructure requirements better. Before the project, several departments were bypassing the central IT department and buying their own storage. Now, the museum is better able to plan for information growth and protect information assets.
It's easy not to see one of the biggest trends ahping life for the IT organization: the demand that IT support the business and business users.
Gartner, Roundup of Business Intelligence and Information Management Research, 4Q08 / Bill Hostmann / 24 December 2008 Source: IBM
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