Read interesting articles with news, trends and opinions from ayfie’s experienced team of experts.

What do the NSA and healthcare companies have in common? They both are likely to have searchable indexes of their data that exceed the size of the data itself. 

Topics: Data Sprawl, Enterprise Index, english, blogpost

SharePoint promises a secure place to store, organize, share, and access information from almost any device via all popular web browsers.  In theory, it’s a great goal. In practice, many IT departments are struggling to realize the true value of their SharePoint investment.

Topics: Virtual Migration, Data Sprawl, SharePoint, english, blogpost

Companies hoping to develop new capabilities before their rivals don't have to wait for new hardware or software installation. The current generation of IT solutions is available in the cloud. That means direct access to new capabilities could be on the way, with providers handling the actual management of the programs. There is a downside to this rapid deployment, however - companies could end up experiencing a serious problem with data silos. Too many applications, each producing a mass of information, could clog systems and contribute to the rising threat of data sprawl.

Topics: Cloud, Data Migration, Data Sprawl, Data Access, english, blogpost

The current generation of digital enterprise solutions is being built atop the previous one. Companies have spent a few generations relying on information technology, meaning there are old productivity apps going unused. This is how the march of progress works, but there is a serious drawback. Data saved in old formats and saved in silos related to disused applications may now be hard to find. The IT workers behind the projects involved may have left their respective companies over the years, adding yet another layer of distance. But what if a user today has to find that data?

Topics: Data Sprawl, Data Access, english, blogpost

Businesses trying to create sensible and easy to navigate information environments have to face off against dual disruptive forces. Information is always pouring in, much of it unstructured content - including emails, .pdfs, productivity app data and social media streams - meaning the sheer amount of data is constantly on the rise. Coupled with this is the fact that the existing information is varied in its own right, and every update to software means less of the programs actually used to create that data will still be in service, making legacy content harder to find. It's difficult to support an expensive and disruptive migration for old data. Dealing with data is monopolizing the attention of knowledge workers, making the situation seem nearly intractable.

Topics: Big Data, Data Sprawl, Data Access, Enterprise Index, english, blogpost

Everyday operations for today's companies create massive volumes of usable digital content. Strong use of the information generated can help companies differentiate themselves from competitors and develop projects that are exactly what staff and customers alike call for. There is a catch, however. If the content is hard to locate, all of these advantages will become less pronounced. Spending time and staff effort digging through archives to find a relevant piece of data is a waste of resources, and efficient operations call for the removal of issues like these.

Topics: Virtual Migration, Data Sprawl, Data Access, english, blogpost

Businesses have a complex relationship with their own IT environments. The webs of solutions that make companies function have been growing at a relentless pace in recent years, and businesses' expansions and close relationships with other firms have just entangled matters further. The IT department can cut through the confusion somewhat by deploying applications that see use with a wide cross-section of the user base and provide essential services. One strong contender to fill this role is Microsoft SharePoint, a framework that helps employees collaborate and share information. Used correctly, it can become a frequently consulted portal to help firms form a unified strategy. Of course, some extensions to its native capabilities are necessary to make SharePoint right for such a role.

Topics: Data Sprawl, Data Access, SharePoint, Enterprise Discovery, english, blogpost

Every day employees are tasked with finding data - old reports, proposals, statistics, invoices and more.  Searching through data silos, emails, shared drives for useful information takes time. Much effort is expended for limited results, costing every company time and money. The objective here is clear: If the overall process of searching for particular pieces of data could be streamlined, many daily duties for knowledge workers can be quicker and more efficient, leading naturally to more productive employees and a more agile business on the whole.

Topics: Data Sprawl, Data Access, Enterprise Discovery, english, blogpost

Making sound technology investments and getting strong returns are key pages in the IT playbook. When it comes to managing big data and the massive increase in data velocity, variety and volume, this could be troublesome. No matter how hard employees try, they may find the process of searching through mountains of new information is costing time and money. It's up to these same IT professionals to identify technology approaches that can cut through data sprawl to make finding corporate content more efficient than ever.

Topics: Big Data, Data Sprawl, Data Access, Enterprise Discovery, english, blogpost

The rise in data volume, velocity and variety are causing trouble for companies trying to ensure constant information availability. Unfortunately, the causes of data sprawl are some of the fundamental building blocks of today's enterprise environment, meaning it's not going away. For instance, affordable and new applications to create, capture and store information are creating siloed and confusing data environments that are larger than ever before and very hard to untangle. IT departments need an answer to this situation, and turning back the clock on overall IT development and application deployment is clearly not an option. Instead, they will have to think about how to liberate the data from the present environment.

Topics: Data Sprawl, Enterprise Index, Enterprise Discovery, english, blogpost