Smart computing, often termed intelligent analytics, is all about utilizing the incredible processing power of today’s computing environments to optimize business decisions in real time and convert the ever-growing flood of data into both meaningful information and actionable intelligence. The strategic significance of smart computing in today’s globally-connected business environment is compelling: in less than fifteen years, the number of global web users has exploded by more than a hundred-fold, from 16 million in 1995 to more than 1.7 billion today (Source: CyberSecurity, Cabinet Office). By 2015, there will be more interconnected devices on the planet than humans.

All these interconnected users, devices and sensors are contributing to data volumes that simply cannot be interpreted and acted upon using traditional techniques. The issue is broader than simply a storage issue around “big data”. What’s required is intelligent data analytics that can interpret data streams in real-time and make appropriate and automated business decisions.

We invite you to read the Unisys point of view white paper on Smart Computing and learn where it can be applied within the enterprise for business advantage.

Most of the media focus around smart computing has been focused on vertical industry applications such as smart cities and their underlying components (e.g. grid infrastructure, utilities, education, buildings and transportation). One of the rapidly emerging opportunity areas, however, has to do with IT departments as organizations focused upon rigorous IT cost containment, while at the same time striving to provide greater agility for the business.

For the typical enterprise, the issue comes down to managing the proliferation of IT platforms and end user devices within the data center and distributed environment, and the associated proliferation of information and transactions. By adopting smart computing techniques, organizations can reduce their dependencies on internal IT teams to manage this IT infrastructure and associated data streams related to data processing, information security, and even customer service, so that IT staff can focus on higher-value and more strategic activities in support of the business.

As the consumerization of IT and other disruptive trends such as cloud computing expand our universe of capabilities with data, so must we expand our ability to sort, process, and exploit that data – leveraging new, intelligent and automated agents or capabilities that enhance our traditional human-data interaction models. With ever-increasing data volumes flooding into the enterprise for the foreseeable future, it’s important to act now in order to re-position IT service delivery to take full advantage of smart computing techniques to make real-time, intelligent business decisions. For most organizations, key opportunity areas include data center automation, governance, risk and compliance, security event analytics, fraud detection, process analytics, and help desk incident management.

Whilst there is no single smart computing solution which can support all of these IT domains as a whole, it is vitally important to have a unifying strategy that articulates where smart computing will be applied within the business, the before and after scenarios, and the value the initiatives are intended to deliver to the constituent stakeholders.

The business benefits of smart computing are similar to those of IT automation in general and include the ability to reduce operational costs, improve efficiency, reduce cycle times, and minimize human error by replacing tedious, manual tasks with repeatable, and more traceable, automated processes. This traceability is another key business benefit since it provides an electronic audit trail that can be utilized to record policy compliance and report on service levels.

By adopting smart computing techniques, organizations can reduce their dependencies on internal IT teams to manage their IT infrastructures and associated data streams related to data processing, information security, and even customer service, so that IT staff can focus on higher-value and more strategic activities in support of the business. The challenge is broader than simply a storage issue around “big data”. What’s required is intelligent data analytics that can interpret data streams in real-time and make appropriate and automated business decisions.

At Unisys, we see smart computing as an integral part of our Data Center Transformation and Outsourcing, End User Outsourcing and Support Services, and Security portfolios. In addition to intelligent automation for the data center, we can help you incorporate smart computing within your overall plans for areas such as security event analytics, service deck and infrastructure event analysis, and financial compliance analysis among many others. We invite you to visit the links to our relevant portfolio solutions:

• Enterprise Systems Management
• IT Automation Solutions
• ClearPath Systems and Services