Enterprises drowning in their own application data
ConvergenceAsia staff
07/04/2010

Informatica, the independent provider of enterprise data integration software, has announced the availability of a new independent research study entitled Information, Unplugged: 2009 OAUG ResearchLine Survey on Enterprise Application Information Lifecycle Management, which details the enormous challenges IT is facing because of the surge in data flowing through today’s enterprise applications and databases.

The Oracle Applications Users Group (OAUG) survey also revealed the need for “a more focused effort” toward applying information lifecycle management (ILM) techniques to databases and applications to proactively manage data growth. Taken together, techniques like database archiving, database subsetting and data masking can counter the progressively negative impact data proliferation has on application performance, information availability, IT costs and business risk.

Produced by Unisphere Research, which surveyed more than 225 members of the OAUG, the Informatica-sponsored study exposes the lack of an overarching strategy in many organisations to deal with the rising tide of information. The research shows that “most organisations are only just beginning to take the steps necessary to address these challenges,” and an astounding 35 per cent of respondents lack “a grasp on how to manage the growing data volumes within their enterprise applications.”

“The results of this OAUG ResearchLine survey are a wake-up call for business enterprises of all sizes,” said David Ferguson, president, OAUG. “Armed with the timely feedback, progressive organisations would be wise to seek a proactive and holistic ILM path for managing the growing terabytes of enterprise wide data. The survey’s call to action underscores the value when applications and data are managed effectively from development, test and early production all the way through to archive and retirement.”

Most respondents try to combat performance issues with solutions of limited effectiveness such as tuning the application stack, which yields diminishing returns, and upgrading or expanding their hardware environments, which adds complexity and costs.

- 87 per cent “blame their performance issues on data growth”
- 27 per cent are currently meeting all service level agreements

Maintenance costs are disproportional to the usefulness of the application. The majority of those surveyed have no formal method for legacy application retirement.

- 42 per cent require one to five full-time employees to maintain a “legacy application”
- One in seven requires even more headcount, and 14 per cent devote a tenth of their annual IT budget to maintaining such applications

Another issue is the use of full copies of production data in internal, offshore and outsourced development and test environments, a practice that increases both enterprise data volumes and business risk. Additionally, the study concludes that “more enterprises need to better ensure that data is stripped of any identifiers that could expose sensitive data on customers and partners.”

- 75 per cent make up to five copies of live production data for non-production purposes
- 78 per cent use real production data in non-production environments, and
- Only 31 per cent use masking to hide confidential information

The data growth problem is compounded by mandates and policies that require data to be kept accessible for extended periods.

- 60 per cent keep data for seven or more years
- 16 per cent keep it “forever”
- 66 per cent say that archived data should be readily available as needed

The study concludes that database archiving will continue to be an internal enterprise challenge… requiring the proper tools and approaches to handle the growing volumes of data. This is due largely to the explosion in mergers and acquisitions in which enterprises have seen dramatic increase in the number of redundant and “unproductive legacy applications that they are maintaining for narrow, specialised purposes.”

“Inadequately managed data growth is fast becoming a problem of epic proportions, with some enterprise applications and databases increasing in size by as much as 50 per cent a year,” said Adam Wilson, general manager, Information Lifecycle Management, Informatica.

“To date, most enterprises have only focused on managing data growth for their email and file systems. Enterprises now need to apply these same principals to the structured data stored in their databases, data warehouses and enterprise applications. Forward looking enterprises should consider implementing solutions, such as database archiving, application retirement, test data management, and data masking solutions that can help them gain significant competitive advantage by spending less time and money maintaining existing systems and more time supporting new, more strategic initiatives,” Wilson added.

Founded in 1990, the OAUG is the world’s largest knowledgebase for Oracle Applications users. The organisation provides users with education, networking and support via a wide range of activities and forums including conferences, publications, special interest groups and online communities.

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