Information lifecycle management (ILM) is often proposed as a strategic response to control cost. In IBM’s view, it has a role to play in leveraging information for greater business value as well. However, ILM is multi-faceted and can seem complex to deploy. In working with clients across industries and around the world, IBM is often asked where to start.
To help answer this question, we developed the tiered information infrastructure approach, which pulls together straightforward ILM tactics that also make a lot of sense from the business perspective. Based on our experience with clients, we believe this approach comprises achievable steps on the way to achieving the broader strategic goal of implementing ILM. The tiered information infrastructure (TII) approach responds to several present-day realities:
- Information is being created at an exponentially increasing rate, and the wide variety of information requires that IT deliver widely differing service levels.
- The value of the information to the business shifts over time, sometimes within days or weeks of being created.
- The per-gigabyte cost of new storage consistently declines due to technological progress.
- While the cost of new storage declines, the overall cost of managing information is increasing. Labor cost increases are driven by the need to maintain service levels despite the surging data volume.
