The TradeTraining Corporation recognizes that, despite high unemployment, there are a significant number of trade jobs for people. Jobs in the trades include electricians, plumbers, cleaners, culinary, hair stylists, auto body, etc. . TradeTraining’s business is training people across those different trades (and more) listed above. Courses vary but they all last at least six months, full time, and they frequently involve multiple subjects. TradeTraining’s business includes advertising, tuition finance counseling, hands-on training sites, distance education, internships, and placement.
Suppose that you are the Director for IT at TradeTraining, and that you are also expected to participate in business decisions at the highest levels of the company. Please make sure that you provide your answer representing the organization TradeTraining (not using “I”).
You are free to add assumptions and details concerning TradeTraining provided that they are consistent with the description above and provided that you specify what these are. The organization needs to streamline their operations and improve its competitive advantage. Think about what topics below would help the organization accomplish those goals.
In your own words, describe the relevance and application of six of the topics in the list below from the online notes this week as they apply to TradeTraining. Focus on how a set of topics together would provide competitive or operational advantage for the organization. Remember, to associate the topics to the competitive strategies that we covered in Module 1. Back up your assertions through research from established news articles, business cases, the module notes, etc.
A “topic” here corresponds to a specific technology presented in the notes. “Application” above refers to the manner in which the topic is applied or implemented in this company. In responding to these questions, seek material additional to the online notes (the Web, books, and journal articles) that support each topic.
Technology Topics:
· Cloud Computing
· Virtualization
· Software as a Service (SaaS)
· Big Data
· DevOps
· Microservice architecture
· Mobile Communication
· Communication and Collaboration Systems
· User Communication System
· Social Media Communication
· Internet2
· Green Computing
· Firewalls
· Cryptographic Network Security
· Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)
· Knowledge Management Systems (KMS)
Number the sections in your homework 1 through 8, make the section headings as follows.
The sections of your response should be as follows.
Section 1 Why I think that the following six topics are most important competitively and operationally for TradeTraining IT.
Section 2 Topic from notes
Section 3 Topic from notes
Section 4 Topic from notes
Section 5 Topic from notes
Section 6 Topic from notes
Section 7 Topic from notes
Section 8 Why I think that the remaining topics in this week’s notes are less important competitively and operationally for TradeTraining IT.
An example is “Section 5. Knowledge Management System.”
Please keep your content to about 10 pages of 12-point type, single spacedThis does not include references and other supplemental material.
Hints:
* If the company in question were Apple, I believe that a relevant topic would be “Sustaining Competitive Advantage with IT.” Apple did this by introducing iTunes. The current question for them is how to *sustain* that advantage now that competitors are doing the equivalent thing – that’s the *application* of this topic. An example is a loyalty program.
* Perhaps I would explain that “Wireless networks” is less relevant compared with those I’d select. It is a generic issue for companies and not an exceptional one for a company such as Apple. I might also add that internal blogs are not a priority at Apple, which has a successful top-down culture. (Or it might be my opinion, on the contrary, that the culture must change with the death of Steve Jobs. I would explain this.)
End with a list of references following the standard reference format, as described in References and Citations document.