Cloud Processing.
In this assignment you will continue the development of your recommendation to your client, and will build upon Assignment #1. Your client is unsure whether it’s a good idea to put this new data analytics function into the cloud or not.
So what is the cloud? What does it do? Who are some of the dominant providers of cloud services? What are the different kinds of services available? You should assume your client already knows the basics about the cloud – so you do not have to educate him/her about it.
Importantly, what are the consequences of each potential choice of cloud platform? A choice you make at this point will affect things like downstream capital purchases, hardware/software maintenance considerations, information security, application development, your communications network, staffing requirements, and more.
The Essay (about 2 pages in APA style):
For your chosen business (the business of your client) and the industry he/she is in, determine if it is advisable to plan this new data analytics function in a manner where it will be established at a cloud service provider (CSP)? Explain why. Find similar cases elsewhere.
Will you recommend there be a separate non-cloud data center presence at the client location or elsewhere too in addition to the CSP? Or not?
Will you recommend some form of hybrid arrangement? Find similar cases elsewhere.
If you choose not to use the cloud for this new function (some choose to not use it!), then state why that’s advantageous in this case for your client, and why it’s better to support all new hardware and software requirements internally at the client’s data center(s).
If you choose to use cloud services but for hardware-support only, then specify where the application software components will come from (a new development effort by the company’s application development department? Some off-the-shelf package?) and also where the operating systems will come from and who will support these.
If you recommend a new application be developed by your client for the analytics, estimate the development timeline and the FTEs required. If developing your own application will you recommend Agile development or Waterfall-style development? Why?
If you recommend off-the-shelf products be acquired for analytics, estimate the cost.
If you recommend the CSP’s available applications be subscribed to, then explain how this analytics function will be different from all the other CSP customers who subscribe to the same application.
Specify any other cloud-related services you expect to recommend, including databases, applications, desktops, or others.
Do not simply “educate the reader” with definitions. Do not simply say “SaaS means this, and IaaS means that” because that is simply educating the reader.
