Question: Cloud Computing Basic Concepts

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.

Asset Expenditure One-Time Cost Annual Expenses Recurring costs (every 4 years)

Hardware 20,000

Software License 5,000

Hardware Maintenance 4,000

Software License 1,000

Administrator Support 10,000

Developer Support 10,000

Facilities Costs 3,000

Software/System Upgrades 4,000