Intelligent CIO Middle East Issue 09 | Page 14

LATEST INTELLIGENCE PRESENTED BY OPTIMIZE APPLICATION LIFE CYCLE WITH A HYBRID CLOUD STRATEGY A Download whitepaper here 14 INTELLIGENTCIO gility has become a mandatory way of life for businesses that want to maintain or increase their competitive differentiation. Being agile allows businesses to respond to changing buyer behavior and swift changes in market dynamics in a timely manner — in days and weeks rather than months and years, Data, when converted into actionable information, helps businesses gain this agility. Applications are media via which data is captured, converted to information, and leveraged by the business to interact with its customers. As this buyer base shifts to a mobile and social way of life and to an always-connected culture, businesses are forced to think outside the box. To maintain existing revenue streams or even gain new revenue streams, businesses can no longer rely on traditional approaches to attract this buyer base. They have to constantly innovate and quickly adopt new ways to enrich the buyer experience. And they have to do so without jeopardizing the end-to- end user experience, which can be put off balance by even the slightest “digital blip.” This means constantly introducing new products and services or expanding the capabilities of existing products or services — something that businesses cannot do using archaic product and service development processes. Businesses, and more specifically lines of business (LOBs), or business units — which are gaining a more influential role in this new era — are embracing newer information-governed business processes. www.intelligentcio.com