I wrote the follow responses to the below questions for school and I decided to share, enjoy.

What are the preliminary steps for adopting cloud-based services within an organization?

What are the main considerations throughout these steps of adoption?

How would you determine if a cloud-based service is the correct solution for a specific application?

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By Frank Aiello

The preliminary steps for adopting a cloud-based services within an organization is to check first the cost difference, then to weigh the advantages verses the disadvantages of using such a service. The costs of buying software for all of the employees that need it verses using a web service (not to mention the time using a cloud-based service), should be easy to figure out, while weighing the pros and cons might not be so cut and dry. Before coming to an intelligent decision the below must be considered and discussed by company leadership, and ultimately a decision must be reaches. Some of the aforementioned “Pros” are listed below:

• Less time is needed by internal personnel to update and familiarize themselves with software. A good example of this is a company wanting to build a database and instead of training all the personnel on how to use MySQL, integrate it etc. A company can just have Amazon’s AWS simple database which will require less time and training to use. The time that is freed up by using such services will allow personnel to focus more on building and maintaining customer relationships.
• Not having to worry about keeping software up to date, (which failing to do so can lead to exploitable vulnerabilities of internal systems).
• In house personnel can contact the ASP for tech support if they need assistance, (instead of wasting time looking around online for an answer for their issue).
• The cost is predictable for the service based on use, unlike dealing with buying software and having to ensure compatibility or buy more software in order to make it compatible (Bidgoli, Successful Introduction of Cloud Computing into your Organization: A Six-Step Conceptual Model, 2011).
  While the “Cons” are as follows:
• The software provided by the ASP is in no way customizable so if a customer needs customization this is not a viable option.
• Saving data on the ASPs’ servers instead of users’ own workstations might leave this data more exposed to theft or corruption by attackers (Bidgoli, 2010).

The main consideration throughout these steps for adoption are the increased security and stability of cloud products, next is the reliability of the companies offering these services. If we want to rely on companies to house our data in their facility we must first look at how they manage their facility. Do they have a UPS system? Do they have duel fed servers from separate services? Do they perform background checks on their employed? What is the facility security rating? How long has the company been around? Private or Publicly traded company? In order for us to begin to trust these companies, the major players have to get behind the technology and it is already in progress. Google, Amazon, and Apple are all on board with the cloud and as such adds stability.

I would determine if a cloud-based service was the correct solution for a specific application in the following ways. First and foremost just like the businesses I would look at the cost of using the ASP vs. the cost of buying software to suit my needs. To stay with the same example used in the previous paragraph, for the IT370 database class offered here at Excelsior, there comes a point in the class where you are allowed to choose which database software you would like to complete the last few assignments using. While I wanted to choose to use Amazon’s AWS simple database to make the class easier, I then decided that aside from being a waste of a few dollars it would rob me of the skills I would acquire learning how to use MySQL. The point here is that cost is king and will in most cases be the first thing I would consider. The next thing I would consider is privacy, so is the information I am willing to place on this cloud-based service private in nature and could the information be used to compromise my bank account or identity? If the answer to this is yes then I would not go with a cloud-based service such as Google Drive, but would go with ether a Decentralized cloud-based, Blockchain based company such as Storj or Sia (Sia.tech, n.d.). Another option would be to store the information locally on my hard drive and encrypt the information with a program such as AxCrypt and if the information is super private I can even keep it offline in a portable hard drive. If however I wanted to put my new Java programing skills to test and build an online game with in app purchases to make some money I would definitely go with a cloud-based service like Vortex to launch such an enterprise, not only to let the professionals manage collecting money, but for the scalability of the cloud in case the game gets huge like Hearthstone.
Works Cited
Bidgoli, H. (2010). Mis -Student Edition (11) . Boston: Cengage Learning.
Bidgoli, H. (2011, Jan 1). Successful Introduction of Cloud Computing into your Organization: A Six-Step Conceptual Model. Retrieved from https://eds-a-ebscohost-com.vlib.excelsior.edu/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=1&sid=97e3965a-008f-4103-93e7-2e505e00f400%40sdc-v-sessmgr01
Sia.tech. (n.d.). Sia.tech. Retrieved from https://sia.tech/