Continuous Computing Technologies for Improving Performances of Enterprise Information Systems

Business computing has evolved into an organizational engine that drives business and provides a powerful source for competitive advantage. In order to achieve higher levels of competitiveness, business has to be continuous from a data availability perspective and agile with regard to data access. Simply put, system and application downtime are not an option in modern business since each hour, or even each minute, of downtime may generate negative financial effects. An enterprise information system (EIS) can be qualified as "high-quality" in terms of its architecture, application platform and information it can provide to users but if that information is unavailable when it is needed by customer, manager or any other end user, the value of that EIS simply becomes "zeroed" from end users' point of view. The paper presents a framework for implementation of continuous computing technologies (CCT) for improving performances of enterprise information systems from business continuance perspective. It identifies high system availability and agile data access as two critical attributes (measures of performances) in evaluating performances of enterprise information systems. The framework is based on a MS/OR-based definition of a system given by Churchman (1968, 1971). In addition, it proposes a set of IT drivers for enhancing the performances of enterprise information systems from business continuity and business agility perspectives.