Start Date

12-17-2013

Description

Since the advent of information technology, the availability of up-to-date information has been a key goal. Recently the term “real-time” has been discussed in combination with technologies such as in-memory-computing. However, the promoted acceleration of data availability and response times are accompanied by high investment costs to implement such infrastructures. Businesses are faced with the question of whether the increased real-time capability actually translates into benefits beyond pure up-to-date availability. This paper argues that the additional value for the business is essential and proposes a model for assessing and classifying business processes' real-time level. It aims to assess the information requirement of specific processes and determines the suitable level of data availability. It shows that real-time information is not always required and investments in real-time infrastructures may represent an over-investment. A case study from the automotive industry illustrates the model and presents some early implications for the usability in practice.

Share

COinS
 
Dec 17th, 12:00 AM

Real-Time or Near Real-Time? - Towards a Real-Time Assessment Model

Since the advent of information technology, the availability of up-to-date information has been a key goal. Recently the term “real-time” has been discussed in combination with technologies such as in-memory-computing. However, the promoted acceleration of data availability and response times are accompanied by high investment costs to implement such infrastructures. Businesses are faced with the question of whether the increased real-time capability actually translates into benefits beyond pure up-to-date availability. This paper argues that the additional value for the business is essential and proposes a model for assessing and classifying business processes' real-time level. It aims to assess the information requirement of specific processes and determines the suitable level of data availability. It shows that real-time information is not always required and investments in real-time infrastructures may represent an over-investment. A case study from the automotive industry illustrates the model and presents some early implications for the usability in practice.