With the explosion of information, the volatility of energy markets, and the economic uncertainties brought on by recession, no one is immune to the global trends that are disrupting and transforming the fabric of business. People, companies, organizations, nations, and economies are becoming more instrumented, interconnected, and intelligent, forcing us to think and act in new ways to make our systems more efficient, productive, and responsive — in short, to build a smarter planet.

Information Overflow

One of the key challenges facing enterprises today is missed opportunity stemming from information raging out of control. Enterprises are handling more information than ever, and they're struggling to keep pace. Too little of the information that's being created in real time is being effectively captured, managed, analyzed, and made available to people who need it.

Yet within this information explosion, something meaningful is happening. The world is changing, and information is at the heart of this revolution, enabling things that weren't possible even a few, short years ago. Today, companies are learning to harness the power of the three major trends that are defining our current information age:

• Instrumentation. The transistor is the building block of the digital age. Could you imagine a world where there would be one billion transistors per human? That world will be a reality sometime in 2010. Remember how you thought of your first cell phone as your "emergency" or "pizza-ordering from the car" phone? There are currently four billion mobile phone subscribers. Within two years, 30 billion Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags will have been produced globally.
• Interconnection. Nearly two billion people use the Internet. Once a static environment for surfing, researching, and emailing, the Internet today lets users "speak" to each other, producing trillions of connections between people and "intelligent" objects.
• Intelligence. Every day, 15 petabytes of new information are generated — eight times more than the information in all the libraries in the United States. With information exploding this way, new computing models are needed to manage the volume, and advanced analytics are required to produce predictive capabilities that yield better results.

Getting Smarter

To use these new capabilities to become smarter, organizations need to do three things:

Focus on value. It's a familiar mantra: Do more with less. Yet, even as available capital shrinks, all organizations must remain flexible. That's why a laser focus on core businesses and initiatives is so important. The time to realign relationships by examining the financial solidity of suppliers, partners, and customers is now.

Exploit opportunities. Smart businesses and organizations are looking to capture market share by disrupting weak competitors and acquiring strategically. At the same time, they're building future capabilities, protecting and acquiring talent, and trying to change the industry with bold moves and global positioning.

Act quickly. Change can be disruptive. Those who manage change successfully do it by clearly communicating simple goals and seeking and leveraging experience. They establish leadership by getting the information to take action and by setting the agenda. And they handle risk and transparency through business performance management, analytics, and risk management.

Data Management and Beyond

Today, many businesses understand the need to drive greater efficiencies by taking action on energy, the environment, and sustainability. Energy costs are rapidly increasing: Application workloads are doubling every two years, and new environmental regulatory mandates are affecting many business and institutional are nas. Meanwhile, the unprecedented explosion of information is accompanied by information processing requirements; paper-based processes are too expensive and too slow. Companies are struggling to manage, track, and retrieve information for regulatory compliance, for insight into energy-related metrics, and for many business purposes.

"Going green" is not merely altruistic; meeting information responsibilities and caring for the planet are not mutually exclusive. Efficient data management is the answer. Data compression, paper reduction, and intelligent archiving can reduce energy requirements and optimize resource utilization, addressing green initiatives while also creating a competitive advantage.

Informix Dynamic Server (IDS) and DB2 have always been central to IBM's "Green and Beyond" vision (see sidebar). The following stories from IBM customers demonstrate the crucial role of data management in green initiatives.

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