This presentation provides a technical overview of IBM Optim and its benefits. Three areas of focus: Mitigate Risk: Much of the “data related” risk that an organization carries is related to keeping sensitive data private, preventing data breaches, and safely storing and retiring data that is no longer required on the online systems. Companies must comply to regulations and policies, and lack of proper data protection can lead to penalties, including damaging a company’s reputation. Deal with Data Growth: Another challenge is dealing with the explosive data growth for many applications. Without properly managing the data volume, companies will see the impact in the performance of their system over time. This is particularly a problem when service level agreements (SLA’s) are in place that mandate set response times. Control Costs: The costs of managing data spans across initial design of the data structure throughout all lifecycle phases - until ultimately retiring the data. IT staff is under constant pressure to deliver more for less. Some major costs for managing data include storage hardware costs, storage management costs (archiving, storing, retrieving, etc.), and costs of protecting the data per compliance regulations.