The use of ICT in business systems to enhance productivity is well known. However, significant challenges remain for smarter use of ICT to streamline business and government processes. These include issues such as managing and mining data and the principled and efficient construction of new software systems.
ICT may be useful in streamlining the processes involved in scenarios such as the merger of two large companies; government departments integrating services; and planning and executing large, multi-party defence projects.
Indicators of the ongoing demand for ICT in this Business Area include the increasing volume and complexity of information, increasing organisational interdependencies and the growing demand for business responsiveness.
These problems are all concerned with the underlying software infrastructure. NICTA's focus is two-fold: improving software development methodologies and tools for data analysis. NICTA focuses on the critical early stage of software development in the following areas - software; process; requirements and risk; and architecture.
NICTA's efforts in data analysis include creating data mining tools for automated content analysis and semantic technologies such as ontologies, helping business and government provide linked services to achieve greater efficiency and considerable savings.
Go to our research section to find out about our projects in the Software Infrastructure sector.