Benefits And Issues Of Cloud Computing Service Models For SoftArc

Task 1: SoftArc office automation requirements

Organisations today are rapidly moving beyond the early phases of cloud computing application, where now they are employing extended office systems that extensively rely on cloud-based solutions. According to DU (2015), this outcome is facilitated by the speed of deployment experienced by this technology as used in enterprises, which is an appreciated experience. Moreover, cloud computing present other extended benefits including operational conveniences as well as cost efficiencies.  Nevertheless, investing in cloud-based solutions eliminates the risks involved when dealing with in-house facilities i.e. on-premise servers, networks and data centres. Similarly, SoftArc intends to extend its service reach particularly to its employees where office automation services can be accessed at any location and with utmost convenience. This requirement can be met by two cloud computing service models highlighted below.

1. Software as a service (SaaS)

One of the key service models offered by cloud computing which involves leasing software packages from a service provider. In essence, the provider will avail all the background content including storage, hardware and supportive applications while the customer freely accesses it through the internet (Microsoft, 2006). This service can completely transform SoftArc outlook on operational activities where its focus would shift from resource deployment and support to managing the overall services offered by the leased applications. Therefore, SoftArc’s office requirements i.e. email and document processing etc. would be provided by a third party while maximising on the internal and external resources owned by the organisation (AMTP, 2017).

1. Infrastructure as a service (IaaS)

A different approach to offering office automation to its employees, IaaS would offer computational resources to SoftArc. These resources include hardware, storage (servers), and network infrastructure among many others. However, unlike SaaS which provides front-end services to subscribers with minimal control, IaaS will increase the user’s control as it requires them to establish their own operational applications within the leased infrastructure. Therefore, although SoftArc will hire a third party to host its services, the application used to deliver services such as emails and word processing facilities will be their own (Rouse, 2017).

Depending on the variables and condition under consideration, the highlighted technologies can have several benefits and issues as outlined below

 McLellan, 2013

(Stafford, 2017)

Based on the resource requirements and capabilities suggested by SoftArc I would recommend the SaaS model for its office automation requirements. Consider, the fact that these resources i.e. email and document processing facilities are to be accessed at any given location. Moreover, the organisation requires minimal control as these services (office automation) are a front end resource that has limited development needs.

SoftArc current data centre set-up is the best example of a locally hosted infrastructure. In essence, this outlook is characterised by in-house solutions where I.T. equipment and infrastructure are deployed within the walls of a given organisation. This technique is the traditional method of hosting I.T. components such as enterprise data centres that then hold services such as web pages among many others (GFI software, 2015). Furthermore, to meet the needs of this deployment technique, the users must acquire hardware resources (e.g. servers), supportive applications (operating systems) and install them in their existing systems. Moreover, all these elements must be contained within the premises of the said organisation which means they can be physically touched. In some instances, some services can be outsourced such as servers or management, however, the physical assets are your sole responsibility.

An outline of the benefits and issues

IaaS on its behalf will incorporate similar services and resources, however, will deliver them in a virtualized manner to the customer (subscriber). Therefore, the user is unable to touch the physical assets but can virtually reach them when needed through the established connections. A third party (service provider) will specifically develop the said solution for the user as contracted by their agreement. Moreover, these resources may be located in several locations but it’s the provider’s responsibility to maintain and manage them including the minor affiliated resource e.g. electricity, security and network functions (Molnar & Schechter, 2006).

1. Vendor options and abilities – SoftArc desires to migrate its web infrastructure to an IaaS provider, this migration has its associated risks more so when you consider that the sole responsibility of the system is placed on the new service provider. Therefore, the company must perform a thorough evaluation of the existing service providers to establish the best fit for their resource requirements. Moreover, they should determine the life span of the chosen provider to avoid future hosting problems (Dhingra, 2016).
2. Security – migrating to a hosted service involves the transfer of a company’s confidential data. Security should be at the top of all other priorities as it designates the responsibility held by a given organisation. Risking customer’s and employee’s data is not only irresponsible but is liable to legal prosecution. Therefore, SoftArc must examine the service provider’s resources and ensure that the existing SLA (service level agreement) covers the necessary security requirements. Moreover, their services should be up to date employing competent disaster management tools.
3. Usability and scalability – The chosen deployment platform should be easy to use with minimal technical problems. Furthermore, the service provider should offer adequate resources that are adjustable over time as the company’s infrastructure requirements are set to grow. This outcome necessitates innovation a crucial component of cloud computing (Toll, 2015).

Based on customer requirements, service providers offer three major services under the cloud computing umbrella, they are Software as a Service, Infrastructure as a service and Platform as a service. SaaS represent the largest market of cloud computing services in the world, a service that involves the delivery of packaged applications through online systems (internet). These services are usually managed by a service provider (a third party vendor) where back-end resources such as hardware, Software and other supportive requirements are regulated. On their behalf, users just deal with the front end operations accessing the said services (Apprenda, 2017). PaaS, on the other hand, is used as a development service where service providers offer application/software development environment to consumers in a simple, easy and cost effective way.

PaaS is known to increase deployment productivity through the maximum utilisation of diverse resources at a convenient price. Finally, IaaS acts as a self-service resource that offers subscribers the ability to access, manage and monitor computer resources such as I.T. infrastructure, networking and storage resources among many others. Therefore, an organisation like SoftArc can lease hardware resources instead of purchasing them. This outcome is similar to plans used to subscribe to utility resources such as electricity.

SaaS offers many benefits that generally lowers the costs of the consumer, however, unlike PaaS it has limited control which lowers the customization options of the user. SoftArc requires an elaborate service that will deploy office resources in conjunction with its data centre infrastructure. Moreover, the said resource should be customizable to fit the needs of the employees who work in collaboration with one another. PaaS has the adequate resources needed to meet this requirement hosting multiple deployment tools that are highly customizable and integrative (Colman, 2013).

1. Portability – PaaS provider lacks a consistent platform and even standards which mean a user can have his services regularly interrupted in case his requirements have diverse platform requirements. A solution to this problem is establishing a common development platform for both user and service provider.
2. Vendor lock-in – PaaS has very few service providers which can rob an organisation the much-needed service diversification. Moreover, users may have to stick with a provider regardless of their poor services. As a solution, an organisation should adopt a flexible deployment pattern that can escalate its services beyond those of a deployment platform (Nolle, 2017).
3. Security – Customer’s data or applications are ran on the same instance of an operating system. Although they are separated using language containers, they sometimes can break the said isolations leaking variable information. The only solution to this problem is to use a competent service provider with better isolation principles (SSH, 2017).

References

AMTP. (2017). Software as a Service (SaaS). Retrieved 27 April, 2017, from: www.itinfo.am/eng/software-as-a-service/

Apprenda. (2017). IaaS, PaaS, SaaS (Explained and Compared). Retrived 27 April, 2017, from: https://apprenda.com/library/paas/iaas-paas-saas-explained-compared/

Colman. E. (2013). What’s the difference between SaaS, PaaS, IaaS? Compute next. Retrieved 27 April, 2017, from: https://www.computenext.com/blog/when-to-use-saas-paas-and-iaas/

Dhingra. R. (2016). 10 Critical Cloud Migration Planning Factors (Ten Factors Series #1). Cloud velox. Retrieved 27 April, 2017, from: https://learn.cloudvelox.com/h/i/264040071-10-critical-cloud-migration-planning-factors-ten-factors-series-1

(2015). Cloud Adoption Playbook – How Cloud Services can Best be Deployed for Business Gain. Retrieved 27 April, 2017, from: https://www.du.ae/Files/du%20White%20Paper%20-%20Cloud%20Adoption%20Playbook.pdf

GFI Software. (2015). On-premise vs. cloud-based solutions. A dilemma for businesses. Retrieved 27 April, 2017, from: https://www.gfi.com/whitepapers/Hybrid_Technology.pdf

McLellan. C. (2013). SaaS: Pros, cons and leading vendors. ZD Net. Retrieved 27 April, 2017, from: https://www.zdnet.com/article/saas-pros-cons-and-leading-vendors/

Microsoft. (2017). Software as a Service (SaaS): An Enterprise Perspective. Developer network. Retrieved 27 April, 2017, from: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa905332.aspx

Molnar. D & Schechter. S. (2006). Self-Hosting vs. Cloud Hosting: Accounting for the security impact of hosting in the cloud. Microsoft research. Retrieved 27 April, 2017, from: https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/db9f/b8fbc92b74d3d84e02240bf98064170ef23a.pdf

Nolle. T. (2017). Application portability in PaaS: Problems and solutions. Tech target. Retrieved 27 April, 2017, from: https://searchcloudapplications.techtarget.com/tip/Application-portability-in-PaaS-Problems-and-solutions

Rouse. M. (2017). Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS). Tech target. Retrieved 27 April, 2017, from: https://searchcloudcomputing.techtarget.com/definition/Infrastructure-as-a-Service-IaaS

Stafford. J. (2017). Automated office suite advances Strategic SaaS. Tech target. Retrieved 27 April, 2017, from: https://searchcloudapplications.techtarget.com/tip/Automated-office-suite-advances-Strategic-SaaS

SSH. (2017). PaaS & security –platform as a service. Communication security. Retrieved 27 April, 2017, from: https://www.ssh.com/cloud/paas/

Toll. W. (2016). 13 Cloud Experts Reveal the Most Important Factors in Evaluating Cloud Infrastructure as a Service Vendors. Profit bricks the IaaS Company. Retrieved 27 April, 2017, from: https://blog.profitbricks.com/selecting-infrastrucutre-as-a-service/

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