Information lifecycle management rises up the agenda

Of SAP users surveyed, 88% expect more data regulation, while 52% are concerned about more litigation, and hence the requirement for better control over data. Macro 4 also says that of the 177 organisations questioned, 56% mentioned the need to support regulatory compliance and 45% also cited avoidance of data availability costs for legal cases, as key drivers for ILM. "The businesses we talked to are resigned to more regulation and litigation, and it looks like many of them are well aware that having an ILM strategy helps them tackle – in a structured way – the data management challenges that result," comments Lynda Kershaw, UK marketing manager at Macro 4. She points out that ILM requirements are supported by SAP through its NetWeaver ILM component, which provides tools and technologies for information retention, destruction and compliance. "Information lifecycle management makes it easier for organisations to manage information over the course of its lifetime," she says. "This includes ensuring that documents and data are retained, in line with statutory requirements, and remain accessible for audit or legal reasons many years after they were created." And she adds: "By taking older data out of the live system, you also help to ensure the SAP database performs at its peak. There's less chance of slow end user responses or batch performance issues, and you can run faster backups and restores, because you've reduced the volume of live data," states Kershaw.