INFORMATION CONVERGENCE: Transforming the information-centric enterprise

Once upon a time, enterprise business operations and IT data centers were
independent islands. The enterprise generated and 'owned' the information of
the business and the applications and the data center processed and 'owned'
the data and its supporting infrastructure, generally in ignorance of the
requirements of each other. 'We never communicate' seemed to be the mantra
of the day. Data and information were managed and retained by separate and
distinct priesthoods, each with unique languages further separating their
domains.

The time for this old-world operating model has now passed. It no longer
works in the emerging new-world-order in which the drivers of regulatory
compliance, legal risk, and security risk (including privacy and
confidentiality) have elevated the importance and value of information. The
dynamic driving this change is what I call 'information convergence'. The
point this term illuminates is that the world is converging around the value of
information, not that information is converging around or into something else.
Instead, information is the new central actor, defining the enterprise
organization and its business. On one hand, information is power and a
competitive weapon. In this sense, information is the chief asset of the
business. Yet, on the other hand, information is also the chief risk. It is a
legal and security liability, however we're required to keep it exposed for
what seems like forever. In the end, it is this paradox that is the catalyst for
change; change, which is transforming the information-centric enterprise.

Information convergence

With information convergence as the driver, the appropriate response is to
transform the enterprise from independent islands into a unified
information-centric organization. Information, not applications, is the new
central actor for operations and management. The impact and burden of
compliance, legal, and security risk, have changed the world forever. (While the
case today for the US, the full impact of compliance won't really be felt
across Europe until 2007 so, use the US enterprise experience as a warning of
impending change.)

Information, to an organization, is now the filter through which
enterprise-wide, cross-disciplinary management and operations decisions can be
made. It is the common denominator that bridges and enables convergence of
information management, information technology, and information security
practices, allowing each area of responsibility to communicate and collaborate
together in a business context. This collaboration starts to shift the
organization into becoming an information-centric enterprise.

Information-centric enterprise

An information-centric enterprise aligns its operations and responsibilities to
best address the needs of the business. That this transformation is occurring
should not be a surprise. Already 50 to 60 percent of enterprise CIOs in the US
have responsibility for information management, information technology, and
security. Here is initial evidence that the responsibility for the corporate
assets called information will unify in all organizations when compliance,
legal, and security risk dictate it. Collaboration is the new mantra of the
information-centric enterprise. It is the new standard of excellence.

Beyond convergence

The concepts expressed by 'information convergence' and the transformation
to information-centric enterprise are not new. They parallel other 'convergence'
trends identified by many industry and business communities, experiencing
similar shifts in operations. Here are several examples in which you'll note a
common theme, 'meeting service requirements of the business.'

• Enterprise convergence: The goal of enterprise convergence is to
  share IP network resources and services among different applications. The
  challenge for enterprises is not just to enable the infrastructure to
  support one specific application but to enable it to meet the specific
  service requirements of all deployed applications. (Telecommunications
  community)
• Security convergence: The identification of security risks and
  interdependencies between business functions and processes within the
  enterprise and the development of managed business process solutions to
  address those risks and interdependencies. (Security community)
• Content convergence: Databases, business intelligence, ERP, and
  enterprise content management applications are working to integrate
  unstructured data into business processes and provide structured management.
  (Information management community).
  
  The model of 'convergence' merely speaks to the drivers; to the dynamics
  and nature of change. What matters most is the outcome of a convergence
  trend. And, this is where the real values emerge. The key differences in
  information convergence as compared to these other models are that
  underlying the more strategic and high profile business drivers behind
  information convergence are two important organizational and operational
  shifts.
• The first step in the transformation to the 'information-centric
  enterprise' is achieved through organizational collaboration of five to
  six disciplines: the business group, finance, legal, records and information
  management, information technology, and information security. Their first
  job is to cooperatively classify information and define the requirements.
• Second, long term change will be achieved through a new, standards-based
  management practice being brought forward by the Storage Networking Industry
  Association (SNIA) called Information Lifecycle Management (ILM). ILM is not
  just about best practices or better storage or application infrastructure.
  It represents a new, business-centered way of operating the datacenter based
  on information. ILM's unique value is its ability to reduce complexity and
  operating costs far more than any other emerging management practice. ILM
  promises to become the cornerstone management practice of the
  information-centric enterprise. Combined, these two factors are core to the
  future of datacenter operations.

The role of SNIA

How is SNIA involved with information convergence and the transformation to the
information-centric enterprise? Two ways stand out:

• First, SNIA is developing standards for the new operations management
  practice called ILM. The principle behind ILM can simply be stated as
  information-based management. The standards in development will instrument
  information, data, and security services, allowing policy engines that
  utilize rules set by information-classification processes to operate
  services automatically across the lifecycle of the information.
• Second, SNIA is hosting many educational programs around information
  convergence and the information-centric enterprise because these trends
  underpin and are precursors for the adoption of ILM as a management
  practice. Foremost among these efforts by SNIA is the new Enterprise
  Information World Conference developed to teach collaboration and
  information-based management practices. (www.enterpriseinformationworld.com)

MICHAEL PETERSON

The author is Program Director, SNIA Data Management Forum