Benefits of Using Cloud Computing for Webb’s Stores
A virtualization technology that represents any technique that is used to offer services through online systems i.e. the internet. In itself, cloud computing is offered on a subscription basis where a service provider (owner of IT resources) leases solutions to a subscriber (user). Example; email services that are offered and accessed using browsers. Now, based on the requirements, Webb Stores can have a variety of choices including Infrastructure as a service (IaaS), Software as a service (SaaS) and Platform as a service. In essence, these are the service models offered by cloud computing and they can be used for all operations conducted by the company (Sourabh, 2014).
Now, through cloud computing, Webb’s Stores can have the following benefits:
- Mobility of resources as access can be done from any location.
- Cost efficiency – most resources are leased which eliminates the implementation and maintenance cost.
- Automation of services – employees and other users are able to connect to the company’s services without the help of the administrator(Software, 2015).
- b. Amazon Web Services (AWS) offers enterprise unique solutions that are tailored to provide competent security, privacy and governance requirements. Through these services, Webb Stores can combine its existing physical infrastructure with cloud based resources in order to expand its organization. At the moment, the company has two data centres in Sydney and Melbourne, vital components of business operations. Instead of adopting a new infrastructure, the company can use a hybrid architecture to combine these resources with those of a service provider in order to serve the new location in Victoria. This outcome can be easily achieved by setting up a simple networking infrastructure in the new branch and also by equipping the staff with devices that can access the internet. From these devices, the staff in the new branches can access the resources owned by the company through online portals as provided by AWS(Amazon, 2017). Now, note that this integration would lower the cost of setting up the new branch and would facilitate a simple cloud migration, an endeavour that would have minimal risks.
- c. A hybrid architecture supported by a simple cloud bursting technique would be applied. A hybrid architecture would capitalise on both the benefits of the on-premise equipment such as security and privacy, with those of the cloud-based solutions i.e. mobility and flexibility. Furthermore, a hybrid solution presents minimal risks as few resources would be migrated to the service provider. In addition to this, the simple cloud bursting technique would facilitate a holistic outlook in the access of services as two competent and different resource centres would be used(Nginx, 2015).
Advantages of using SaaS for office automation
SaaS: a popular service model that offers software packages to subscribers through leased facilities. In this case, Webb Stores would lease office resources such as office packages, emails and simple communication tools. These packages would then be accessed using either browsers or specialised applications, designed to access the service provider’s resources (AMTP, 2017).
- Benefits:
- Cost saving – Webb Stores would not acquire the infrastructure needed to support the office operations such as servers and networking equipment.
- Scalability and upgradeability – the company would also increase or decrease its resource requirement based on the terms set with the service provider.
- Resilient – the service provider would have several data centres thus assuring the user of uninterrupted services.
- Accessibility – the leased services would be accessed from any location, and device, so long as an internet connection is available.
- Drawbacks
- Webb Store may be faced with integration problems, as some services may have contradicting standards.
- Security and privacy concerns as the company’s data is stored in foreign equipment(McLellan, 2013).
- c. Name of the service; Microsoft Office 365
- Arguably one of the best office automation product, Office 365 facilitates most of Microsoft’s productivity resources such as Word, PowerPoint and Excel. Moreover, the cloud based office suite allows users to share, create and edit content through all existing operating systems i.e. IOS, Android, Mac and Windows itself. Furthermore, all these services are offered on a real-time basis and are supported by other complementary services such as email and video conferencing tools(Vladimirskiy, 2016).
- How is Microsoft Office 365 better than any other services?
- Easy collaboration – many people can contribute to the development of a single document while experiencing live changes.
- Version updates – after acquiring the resource, all other subsequent updates are given for free.
- Extended features – the service offers multiple features that will always meet the needs of the users as they have varying preferences
- Strong security features – its supported high-end encryption and data analytics(PTG, 2016).
- Disadvantages
- Users can not access their files when they are in the offline mode (the internet is compulsory).
- Secondly, the existing service versions may be incompatible with the existing office resources, therefore compatibility issues.
- Subscription worries more so if the resource is renewed every month (PTG, 2016).
- IaaS migration approach
In this instance, Webb Stores would migrate all computing resources to the cloud, this would include the fundamental infrastructure such as storage and networking equipment. Now, having migrated these resources to the cloud, the company would then establish the supporting/operating applications (software packages) in order to access the leased resources. As a result of these operational applications, the organization would have extended control over their leased resources as compared to a SaaS application that limits users to front-end operations (Molnar & Schechter, 2006).
- PaaS migration approach
PaaS serves as an intermediary service as it’s usually located in the centre of the other service models. In essence, the model will offer both application and software development platform to the customers. Through this platform, customers are able to develop, test and deploy solutions using simple frameworks. Furthermore, with PaaS, the service provider manages the back-end operations such as the maintenance of OS, servers and networks while the subscriber uses the applications at the front-end of the resources (SSH, 2017).
|
Advantages |
Disadvantages |
|
IaaS |
|
|
IaaS offers many pricing options depending on the resources needed by the user. Therefore, a user can lease network resources, storage, and even both. |
The subscriber has to maintain and support front end applications. |
|
Furthermore, with the extended service options, there are also multiple deployment options. |
Security and privacy issues |
|
Resilient and flexible owing to the number of resources owned by the service provider. |
The users can easily loss control over their leased resources. |
|
PaaS |
|
|
It offers a complimentary service that capitalises on both IaaS and SaaS. |
PaaS is still in its maturity stage thus still holds many development issues. |
|
Secondly, it facilitates the customization of resources through its development platforms. |
Vendor lock-in as very few service providers offers it in their solution packages. |
|
A quick and simple model of developing software applications. |
Security issues as resources are also stored in foreign locations. |
(SSH, 2017)
- Recommendation
Webb Stores requires a solution that will replicate the data stored in its data centres. At the moment, this outcome has had many issues which have led to the cloud computing option. IaaS offers the best option as it provides the necessary resources needed to host the content stored in the company’s data centres. Moreover, it provides extended control over the company’s resources, an important feature for accessing the data stored in the virtual storage. In addition to this, the company does not require any software development options which in itself eliminates the PaaS model.
References
Amazon. (2017). Hybrid Cloud Architectures with AWS. Amazon web services, Retrieved 19 August, 2017, from: https://aws.amazon.com/enterprise/hybrid/.
AMTP. (2017). Software as a Service (SaaS). Retrieved 27 April, 2017, from: www.itinfo.am/eng/software-as-a-service/.
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/.
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.
Nginx. (2015). 3 Cloud Architectures with NGINX Plus. Retrieved 27 April, 2017, from: https://www.nginx.com/blog/cloud-architectures/.
PTG. (2016). The Pros and Cons of Office 365 for Business. The Pros and Cons of Office 365 for Business, Retrieved 19 August, 2017, from: https://blog.goptg.com/blog/2016/03/31/the-pros-and-cons-of-office-365-for-business.
Software, G. (2015). On-premise vs. cloud-based solutions. A dilemma for businesses, Retrieved 27 April, 2017, from: https://www.gfi.com/whitepapers/Hybrid_Technology.pdf.
Sourabh. (2014). What is Cloud Computing. Basic of Cloud Computing. Source digit., Retrieved 27 April, 2017, from: https://sourcedigit.com/3623-cloud-computing-pdf-free-download/.
SSH. (2017). PaaS & security –platform as a service. Communication security, Retrieved 27 April, 2017, from: https://www.ssh.com/cloud/paas/.
Vladimirskiy, V. (2016). 10 Popular Software as a Service (SaaS) Examples. Nerdio, Retrieved 19 August, 2017, from: https://getnerdio.com/blogs/10-popular-software-service-examples/.
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