Tech Alert: Will a Point Solution Solve Your Information Management Problem, Delay It or Aggravate It?

When evaluating point solutions for a single information management challenge, IT professionals are encouraged to consider cost, complexity, and strategic scope to determine whether such an approach will address the issue as intended, according to Digitiliti, Inc. (OTCBB:DIGI), the leader in Operational Business Intelligence for small to midsized enterprises. Typical point solutions include storage appliances, search/index appliances, deduplication appliances, backup servers, email archive systems, virtual tape libraries, physical tape libraries, and offsite tape/disk services.

Cost is an obvious factor when organizations consider all-in-one versus single-use solutions. However, when there is more than one data management problem to solve, as is often the case in a growing network, costs add up quickly. Often the price of an all-inclusive system is lower than the combined costs of multiple point solutions, and throwing good money after bad rarely makes sense. A point solution may seem like an affordable compromise if it postpones the purchase of a more comprehensive solution, but should be evaluated based on how long it is likely to delay the inevitable.

Complexity becomes an issue particularly when the addition of a point solution requires a workaround or increases management and maintenance time. The infrastructure required to manage, control, retain and access data using disparate IT products is inevitably complicated. Some functions may overlap, whereas some may conflict. Mastering several point solutions in order to configure, troubleshoot and support them all is far less feasible when an IT department is already overburdened.

The third consideration is less quantifiable but involves a more strategic view of the overall infrastructure and the data. Rather than buying products for problems as they arise, the ability to identify and predict inevitable or even potential problems makes better long-term business sense. For example regulatory compliance is a tactical objective, but taking a higher-level view, the strategic reason for it is protecting the organization from risk, which likely requires more than a point solution. Protecting against risk may involve continuous data protection, encryption, storage tiers, offsite archives, access and revision control, lifecycle policies, content indexing, search and disposition.

Ken Peters, Digitiliti’s executive vice president, advises information management pros to consider how many point solutions it is feasible to budget and handle, and how a problem may be addressed strategically. “In most cases point solutions will increase cost and complexity, and have the long-term effect of a band-aid on a bullet hole. Throwing products at a new crisis, rather than solving fundamental problems holistically, rarely pays off in the long run.”

Digitiliti recently introduced DigiLIBE, a groundbreaking information management solution that solves fundamental problems associated with managing, controlling and quickly accessing unstructured data. DigiLIBE is a simple, integrated Virtual Corporate Library (VCL) system with policy-based applications to protect, control and secure data from its point of origin to final disposition. DigiLIBE addresses information growth across all points of the organization including office files, email, images, primary, secondary, offsite, and active archives. As a single architecture comprised of three simple components – information director, archive information store, and client agents – DigiLIBE reduces the number of disparate IT products needed, and the complexity and costs involved with managing and supporting information growth.

A flash presentation is available at: http://digitiliti.com/index.php/solutions/digilibe.html.

About Digitiliti, Inc.:

Digitiliti, based in St. Paul, Minnesota, is a pioneer and technology leader in the information management business. Digitiliti's fast growth results from its focus on providing SMB/SME companies with enterprise class features and services that are easy to use. Digitiliti services include DigiBAK, a comprehensive off-site data protection solution, and DigiLIBE, a complete information management solution to mine the knowledge in unstructured content.

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