Reference no: EM131072872 , Length: 20

1. Background

Cloud Computing is a paradigm shift that sees the dawn of a new age of computing driven by distinct benefits. For many enterprises, the cloud is no longer a curiosity, but an opportunity to transform IT. The cloud-computing market is projected to grow from $40.7B in 2011 to $240B in 2020 ("Sizing the Cloud", by Stefan Ried and Holger Kisker, Forrester Research, April 21, 2011). Such rapid market growth is a clarion call to all chief information officers (CIOs) to explore the possibilities offered by cloud and to assess the risks. Most are familiar with the cloud concept because many already use some aspect of cloud applications-for example, Google's Gmail, iTunes University, and Amazon's infrastructure, respectively.

According to the (USA Cloud Adoption & Trend 2012), cloud services are now a reality to be taken into account by any industry, and the trend is upwards in both capability and coverage. The top six industries to widely adopt cloud services are, according to the cited study, Health Industry, Education, Manufacturing, Travel and Hospitability, Gaming and Media, and Government.

The push by the cloud vendors such as Amazon, Microsoft, Google, etc., coupled with the significant benefits that cloud computing promises to deliver, leads us to believe that cloud computing will be widely used in many industries. At the same time, we need to understand that the distinctive features of various industry and organisations require a careful evaluation concerning whether, where, how, and when they might adopt cloud computing.

2. Aims

This assignment aims to give students hands-on experience in:

- Identifying and choosing services and applications that are suitable for cloud deployments;
- Understanding the business and technical considerations before moving to the cloud;
- Assessing the benefits and risks cloud computing to a given business organisation;
- Evaluating different cloud providers in order to choose the right provider(s) to a particular enterprise situation;
- Analysing and designing cloud-based applications

3. Working arrangements

You will work in groups of two or three to do the assignment. Each group is required to work on a selected industry and write a single joint report detailing the possible cloud adoption by the industry and its transformation from traditional IT to cloud-based IT. The report will also address benefits, challenges, risks and other business and technical considerations.

You will also submit a short individual report describing the tasks you have undertaken, the results and problems encountered, when and how long the task took to complete.

Group report - minimum 10 pages and maximum 15 pages

Individual report - minimum 3 pages and maximum 5 pages

4. Requirements

Initially you have to research about distinct features of the industry and how traditional IT is used to drive the business processes. Then identify and propose cloud-based solutions that could replace some of their traditional computing services ensuring great benefits and yielding higher IT efficiency to the organisation.

You may refer to blog posts, publications, websites, etc. to obtain a deeper understanding of the selected industry. Each group within a tutorial will be allowed to work on a particular industry.

Once you have chosen a case study (1 to 7), please email your tutor with your choice. Please note that case studies will be allocated on a first-come first-served basis. Below is a list of industries for you to choose from.

5. Industry Case Studies

You may choose a case study from the following:

1. Higher Education

2. Health Care

3. Travel and hospitability

4. Manufacturing

5. Banking

6. Gaming and Entertainment

7. Insurance industry

Section 1 - Industry Background

Describe your chosen industry using 400-600 words

Describe how traditional computing helps the industry to conduct their business.

What are the challenges and problems faced by the industry?

What are the current industry trends?

Section 2 - Cloud Computing and Its Implications

Why is cloud computing important to your chosen industry?

How cloud computing will shake up the industry?

List and discuss five cloud computing benefits for the industry.

Discuss any disadvantages.

Section 3 - Cloud-Based Services and Applications

List and describe key areas of cloud computing that are relevant to the industry

Assess the suitability against the business needs

Consider financial impacts and organisational capability.

What are the challenges and risks involved in their cloud journey?

Section 4 - Designing a Cloud-Based Solution

Capture requirements and build a business model

Describe the architectural implications of the solution.

Determine the contractual terms

Section 5 - Choosing a Cloud Service Provider

List and describe what characteristics to look for in a cloud service provider?

Describe your strategy/criteria for evaluating the provider?

Identify the possible vendors for the cloud solution discussed in the previous section.

How do they rank according the above criteria?

Section 6 - Implementing the cloud solution

Discuss a number of technical and business considerations that need to be clarified in order to ensure an efficient and successful move to the Clouds.

What are the essential steps to successful cloud migration?

Discuss any changes the industry must make to succeed in the cloud.

Section 7 - Summary and Conclusions

Summary of findings

Conclusions and recommendations

Section 8

References (minimum 8 and maximum 15)

Individual Report Template

You will also submit a short individual report describing the tasks you have undertaken, the results and problems encountered, when and how long the task took to complete, and lessons learned.

THIS IS REGARDING CLOUD COMPUTING. NEED TO WRITE FULL REPORT