SECTION 1: DESIGN DOCUMENT
Section 1: Design Document
IntroductionCloud technology is the latest technology that helps businesses achieve their goals. It consists of a number of servers linked together to provide services to clients. Since a large number of servers are linked, clients have seemingly unlimited storage space. Expansion of businesses generates large volumes of data. Also with cross border expansions and varying time zones businesses face problems in accessing data. These problems can be resolved by migrating to cloud computing. The two main strengths of cloud computing are scalability and virtualization. This report presents a case for adoption of cloud technology.
Need for Cloud Technology
Businesses that have adopted this technology find several advantages. The first and the most important benefit of this technology is its low long-term cost. Although migration costs are high, over the long run cloud technology proves to be an advantage. Initial costs include software-licensing fees, salaries for temporary staff, costs of software development if any is required, and other administrative costs. Software can be commercially purchased if the budget does not allow for development costs. However, commercially purchased software may not necessarily align to business goals. In the long run, some investment towards maintenance will have to be made. However,, this is very low when compared with ROI.
Cloud services are available in several models such as software services, infrastructure services, database services, pay-per-use packages or a combination of one or more of these models.
Besides low costs cloud services offer large storage spaces for data. There are numerous options for back up and recovery, which ensures that the data is secure and available at all, times. The SaaS (Software as a Service) model offers the use of various software, eliminating the need for purchase and license and the expense this entails. Integration of software is also offered by cloud service providers, which eliminates the need for in-house programmers for integration. Another major advantage of cloud computing is the ease of accessing data. Company data once stored on the cloud is easily accessible from any location using almost any device. Since data is accessed and modified at a single storage location, data corruption is greatly reduced and real-time data for decision making is quickly and easily available (Apostu et. al., n.d.).Assessment of Cost Savings
The budget sheet attached shows the projected costs of hardware and software three years after migration. The initial costs of hardware and software represent one-time costs of purchasing or licensing hardware and software. Total costs will vary slightly depending upon the number of client applications required, the cloud model selected, and the agreement with the cloud provider.Possible reductions of human capital from implementing cloud and virtualization technologiesMigration to cloud computing will reduce investment in human resources.
Moving to cloud computing eliminates the need for a dedicated database administrator and the workforce required to monitor and maintain software. While maintenance will be required, the role of the IT department will change. The cloud service provider offers expertise in many areas of IT such as software development and maintenance. Depending on budget and the agreement with the provider, the business can receive high level expertise in the area of information technology. This expertise far exceeds that which the company can afford to hire. As technology advances, the need for technical expertise will increase. The demand for people with knowledge of multiple domains will rise. The cloud providers are predicted to have five times greater knowledge and expertise as compared to traditional services. Firms that adopt cloud computing will therefore have the benefit of this expertise as a part of the contract eliminating the need to recruit IT experts. The turnover in the employment industry is at an all time high. This high turnover is expensive for business organizations in terms of training and orientation costs. These costs will be borne by the cloud service provider thus reducing the burden on the company (Chen & Wu, 2015).
Diagram to illustrate cloud and virtualization align with business processes and organizational goals
RecommendationThere are three main service models in cloud computing namely IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service), PaaS (Platform as a Service), and SaaS (Software as a Service). A fourth more recent model is the DBaaS (DataBase as a Service). These models describe the service that the cloud service provider offers.
IaaS
The IaaS model provides only the infrastructure required for computing. It does not provide application software. Service is limited to server machines and operating systems. Cloud infrastructure can save costs to some extent however, the cost of application development will have to be incurred along with the cost of maintenance. The maintenance of the servers is the responsibility of the service provider. (Amies et. al., 2012).
PaaS
Some cloud service providers offer the platform required for computing in addition to the hardware infrastructure. Platform includes services such as web hosting and some standard commercial applications such as Tally. The client gets a ready platform for computing. However, no tailor made or specialized software such as Enterprise software are available. These will have to be either licensed or developed (Boniface, M. et al. 2010).
SaaS
The SaaS model includes services such as enterprise software in addition to the infrastructure and platform standard applications. Some providers offer a pay as you go model while others quote a monthly subscription. This is the most economical model for medium sized businesses (HVD)
DBaaS
Some service providers provide only database services under the DBaaS model. Design of the database is the responsibility of the provider. The client may access the database using his own licensed or developed applications. Cost of data storage and backup is considerably reduced. Security of data is also ensured however, there are some concerns regarding ownership of data (Shehri, 2013).
Selection of service model depends on need and budget. However, the SaaS model provides software applications in addition to hardware and platform. This model is the most economical in the long run as it reduces the cost of hiring experts to develop software and maintain it. The database service may be considered in combination with the SaaS model in order to reduce costs further.
Conclusion
It is important to plan the migration to cloud computing carefully. Although cloud computing reduces costs in several areas, there are expenses in the form of service providers’ fees and cost of redundancy. These costs must be taken into account while adopting cloud technology. It is also important to consider the impact of migration in all areas of business such as operations and marketing. These impacts include retrenchment and reduced space requirements among others. These are cost effective changes. However, the cost of redundant space and how this space may be utilized must be taken into account. It is also important to ensure security of data. The ways in which data may be breached must be considered and steps should be taken to mitigate any risks. Further research into the possible risks and how they may be countered is necessary.
References
Al Shehri W (2013) CLOUD DATABASE DATABASE AS A SERVICE International Journal of Database Management Systems (IJDMS) Vol.5, No.2, April 2013 Retrieved From http://airccse.org/journal/ijdms/papers/5213ijdms01.pdf
Al Shehri W (2013) CLOUD DATABASE DATABASE AS A SERVICE International Journal of Database Management Systems (IJDMS) Vol.5, No.2, April 2013 Retrieved From http://airccse.org/journal/ijdms/papers/5213ijdms01.pdf
Amies, Alex; Sluiman, Harm; Tong, Qiang Guo; Liu, Guo Ning (July 2012). "Infrastructure as a Service Cloud Concepts". Developing and Hosting Applications on the Cloud. IBM Press. ISBN 978-0-13-306684-5.
Apostu et. al. (n.d.), Anca Apostu, Florina Puican, Geanina Ularu, George Suciu, and Gyorgy Todoran Study on advantages and disadvantages of Cloud Computing – the advantages of Telemetry Applications in the Cloud http://www.google.co.in/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&sqi=2&ved=0CCwQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wseas.us%2Fe-library%2Fconferences%2F2013%2FMorioka%2FDSAC%2FDSAC-16.pdf&ei=PkeOVM6RMNOQuATx_oHYAQ&usg=AFQjCNGnZ48s8X9ZF_H80HDRTQFQhhyABA&sig2=Y7GqBVMtGla56UH4-0aDcg&bvm=bv.81828268,d.c2E
Boniface, M. et al. (2010), Platform-as-a-Service Architecture for Real-Time Quality of Service Management in Clouds, 5th International Conference on Internet and Web Applications and Services (ICIW), Barcelona, Spain: IEEE, pp. 155–160, doi:10.1109/ICIW.2010.91
Chen, S., Wu C., (2015). Human Resource Development in Cloud Computing : An Empirical Investigation in Taiwan, 7(3), 102–114. http://doi.org/10.5296/jmr.v7i3.7373
HVD: the cloud's silver lining". Intrinsic Technology. Retrieved 30 August 2012.
