[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]You mean, there is one? Yes, indeed – You see, online dating organizations are all about asset relationships, preferences, likes and dislikes.[/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”4899″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” image_hovers=”false” lazy_loading=”true”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Their job is to figure out who will be attractive to whom, so that they can put candidates together and see how things work out.
The advanced online dating systems use a big data analytics approach to sift through all the information vouchsafed to them by their hopeful clients.
Some of them are using technologies like graph databases, part of the new generation of NoSQL databases, to gain insights that conventional databases would be hard put to provide. IT asset management could now take a similar approach.
A graph database is used to store information on and map relationships across different entities, as well as to offer query functionality for investigating those relationships.
For example, product managers planning new product releases can examine relationships in a similar way to online dating, to see how features might be of interest not only to groups of customers or users already identified, but also to others working with them or connected to them.
In a similar way, IT departments can scour data to find out how many nomadic employees are using iPads for business videoconferencing from which company locations and in which concentrations, and therefore which Wi-Fi access points should be in place and/or upgraded to suitable levels of performance.
Granted, big data is supposed to be big, and graph databases may be used more when hundreds of millions of data points are available. New technology is also an investment that must be justified, in terms of learning and time, as well as in terms of money.
However, larger organizations may already have enough user data sitting in their system and network logs to qualify in terms of the number of data points. Are graph databases a good tool for IT asset management?
Only time will tell, but smart IT managers will keep an open mind on this and other possibilities for keeping IT assets aligned to organisational needs.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]