Utilizing application infrastructure intelligence (AII) helps IT decision-makers to quickly reach solid investment decisions based on a supporting framework of processes and structurally defined information. The decisions that have been made can be applied confidently and quickly, even when general conditions change, because they are founded firmly on data and facts. In the following discussion, we will be looking explicitly at the information situation for standardization decisions related to application infrastructure as an example of strategic judgments.

Advanced development of well-known methods to accelerate the decision-making process

The most important goal which IT investment decisions today seek to achieve is the reduction of costs. A major hurdle in this respect is thrown up by the latency periods until the final decision stands. If the people in charge are to make decisions quickly, they require a solid and objective information basis.   

Exact knowledge about all of the components being used in an IT application landscape and the infrastructure which supports them is the task of the classic asset and application management. The further development of this capability into a dynamic modeling of transformation scenarios, including the integration of value proposition indicators, aids an IT decision-maker by offering new perspectives for the optimization of the application landscape. As is shown in the logical structure of AII in Figure 1, support for a decision concerning the defined selection criteria is provided by the linking of planning scenarios with real-time data of the status quo. Defining the selection criteria on the basis of the selected scenarios secures transparency for sustainable, yet fast-acting transformation decisions.