We've accept the availability of tap water on demand as a norm. We have more recently learned accept and even take for granted Information Services such as stock tracking, Google search and package tracking. Yet, the information "plumbing" that would enable any employee to access any needed information within our companies is often incomplete, slow or broken. Let's attempt a deep dive into corporate Information Infrastructure. Let's look at the tools available to map, analyze and improve Information Infrastructure at a firm. Notes are being compiled below. Please assist where they are incomplete.
Free market and free democratic societies increasingly depend on Information Infrastructure. Information Infrastructure (II), like an Energy Infrastructure or a Drinking Water Infrastructure, reaches a critical maturity when it's so pervasive and reliable that it becomes invisible ... i.e. an assumed part of society’s framework. In many countries, II has achieved that maturity.
High performance Information Infrastructures came into being in the financial, energy and manufacturing industries as well in military beginning in the 1980’s.
In manufacturing companies, a PC ordered in via the web is assembled, packaged and made ready for shipping from China in hours.
In the military, information is collected, managed and disseminated so rapidly and reliably that it has become an essential part of battle. With sea based Information Infrastructure, a Captain of a U.S. Naval Ship can request, "an hourly update of all useful information within 350 miles of his position." Integrated Information Infrastructure links the request, information collection, information correlation, report generation and communications into one seamless process.
Information Infrastructure is critical to organizations such as the Salvation Army, FedEx, Dell and Walmart. In these organizations, the flow of information from initial capture though final processing has been efficiently designed and further optimized to create a high performing II. A strong II enhances the overall performance and success of the organization. A strong II enables products and services that otherwise might not make it to market.
The most successful II is also the largest. The Global Information Infrastructure, otherwise known as the World Wide Web (www) integrates more systems than ever thought possible. With the success of the web, the entire world can use a single Information Infrastructure for publishing, organizing and retrieving information. Due of the efficiency of the web's content publishing process, the pervasiveness of the global Internet Protocol (IP) network, and the search innovations of Altavista, Google and Yahoo, the Global Information Infrastructure is not only the largest, but the best performing.
Yet despite many II innovations, many companies don't have a working II. Large organizations often have poorly organized or incomplete infrastructures. In these organizations, saving or capturing important information is often unreliable, directory organization is incomplete, and information search and retrieval is slow.
Deep Dive Materials:
- II Definition
- II Intro
- II Terms (rough)