Discussion Board 1

You have been hired by XYZ Firm as an information technology (IT) analyst who will work closely with the new chief information officer (CIO) on a 5-week contract. The CIO was put in place to look for cost savings and value propositions that may exist in cloud-based services.

The firm is fairly large with multiple divisions. The CIO has instructed you to focus on the Widget division at first and the following IT services that are currently supported by the CIO's team, on premise:

Human Resources
Supply Chain
General Office Function (such as e-mail and collaboration tools)

The CIO anticipates some resistance because cloud computing represents a change in what people are used to and needs your assistance.
Primary Task Response: Within the Discussion Board area, write 400-600 words that respond to the following questions with your thoughts, ideas, and comments. This will be the foundation for future discussions by your classmates. Be substantive and clear, and use examples to reinforce your ideas.

Provide a brief overview of cloud computing.

Identify 3 advantages of cloud computing, and discuss how they will support the business case to move to a cloud model.

Also, identify 3 disadvantages of cloud computing and some possible mitigations to these risks.

Individual Project

In the next 5 phases, you will be working on sections that will comprise a final Key Assignment. Each week, you will create a section of your Key Assignment in the form of a report. In Phase 4, you will submit a draft of the work that you have completed in the first 4 phases. In

Phase 5, you will add 1 more topic to the Key Assignment and submit your final work.

Library Research Assignment

Phase 1 Assignment Details

Key Assignment Section 1: Cloud Providers and Cost Savings Analysis

XYZ Firm is diverse in its interests, with many different divisions. The chief information officer (CIO) is looking to you for assistance in lowering costs and providing new value-added services to the business. He wants to use the Widget division as a pilot for consuming cloud services. Throughout your 5-week contract with the firm, you will build a methodology that defines an approach for consuming cloud services.

The first step is to socialize the business to the notion of cloud computing. There is a lot of fear of the unknown, and it is going to be up to you to help the business take the first step. The CIO wants your assistance in preparing a proposal that he will share with the executive leadership.

Write a report that details the possible cost savings with adopting cloud-based solutions and the benefits of using cloud services. Research at least 2 cloud-based providers, and select 1 the following service lines as the basis of your analysis:

Human Resources

Supply Chain

General Office Function (such as e-mail and collaboration tools)

Your analysis should also give consideration to the following topics for the 2 providers you selected in comparison to an on-premise type of deployment:

Speed of deployment
Costs (when possible)
Service offerings
Elastic scaling
Vendor lock-in

Finally, identify the cloud type that might be most appropriate for the service line you selected out of the following:

Public
Private
Community
Hybrid

You may use the following sample as a guide for any cost analysis you wish to consider. The table represents some sample costs that a firm may incur for hosting an on-premise solution to support a business service. The table contains sample cost allocations for IT hosting an on-premise business service.