Cloud Computing: The Business Perspective - Case Study Example

Name: University: Instructor Date: Cloud Business 1.0 Business Case Identification The reason for choosing Hertz Corporation is because at the moment the world's leading all-purpose use car rental brand, functioning from almost eight thousand locations in roughly one hundred and fifty countries globally. Presently, Hertz is the leading car rental brand in nearly all U.S. airports as well as at more than 90 key airports across Europe, running both licensee and corporate locations in airports and cities in Middle East, New Zealand, Asia, Africa, Europe, Latin America, and North America. In addition, Hertz runs Hertz Equipment Rental Corporation, which is the biggest equipment leasing businesses in the world, and that provides industrial as well as construction equipment, industrialized pump services, and power generation to main manufacturing Corporations, local and government contractors as well as clients from roughly 325 branches in America, Europe and Asia (reuters.com). What’s more, the Services division of Hertz Entertainment incorporates vehicle renting as well as notable paraphernalia for a number of the became sustainability leader after being the first rental corporation to present vehicles that are powered electrically in at least three continents. Hertz joined the worldwide market for car sharing in 2008, and at the moment on Demand, Hertz has over one hundred thousand members in corporate campuses, universities and cities globally. Northbrook-based Donlen Corporation was acquired by Hertz in 2011, which arguably leads in fleet rental, Navigation Solutions and administration services. Advancement of Hertz through the years and its unrelenting expansion has coagulated the corporation as a worldwide leading competitor in equipment and mobility solutions (reuters.com). In Hertz Corporation internal stakeholders are individuals who are dedicated to serve the company as volunteers, employees, board members, and/or benefactors while external stakeholders are individuals influenced by the organization such as customers, citizens, society associates, and others. Some of information systems utilized by Hertz include performance management system, Enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, Management Information System (MIS), and Decision Support System (DSS). All of the above listed systems are used by Hertz Company to enhance its organisational practices and ensure the set goals and objectives are realized. 2.0 Business Needs The Hertz’s Strategic plan is to serve as road map for coordinating and performing improvement, advertising the entire business tasks athwart the car rental business as well as for heightening the enhancement of novel and thrilling endeavours rooted in recognition of domain in the car rental development prospect and setbacks. In this regard, Hertz’s strategic plan exhibits an active or varying planning course of action and comes in with multidirectional study as well as production outline, mutually with an interconnected set of strategies and goals for achieving those goals. When the strategy was implemented, it was enforced in the veracity for examining and assessing the strategies concerning its efficiency and pleasant appearance. Hertz pursues the model of strategy that can be modernized and altered anytime when needed. Business strategy is just not any set tenet that any inauguration upon its establishment cannot alter: this point out that strategy can be tailored whenever desired (reuters.com). However, unless it is restructured or altered, every stakeholder must pursue that to accomplish the organization set goals. It is worth noting that strategy failure can take place in any business organization, but Hertz by no means has ever endured strategy failure. In Hertz, there is continuous supervision of the enforced strategy so as to recognize the efficiency and effectiveness of the enforced strategy. Given that Hertz has disseminated management structural design, its entire branch across the globe can implement and put into practice any detached strategy plan so as to level the localization pressure. Hertz’s uppermost management goal has for all time been to generate the finest promising artefact for its customers. The main objective of Hertz is to make use of the available wherewithal more productively and efficiently. Currently, the world is recuperating from consequences of depression and there has been a substantial alteration in the customers’ buying patterns, as a result, it inflicts a negative impact on the sales. Due to that organisation’s resource management as well as labour rates must be re-strategized after rethinking once more. Existing in the present economic trench, Hertz understands the significance of utilising their available resources with caution. What’s more, maintaining customer contentment is Hertz’s top precedence and thus extra concentrations is directed to quality services for consumer contentment. In order to accomplish this goal Hertz had to develop a separate division for customer services. 3.0 Target Cloud Environment The modern world has been epitomized by so many alterations in almost all facets and means of life. In essence, computerization and e-technology are some of the sectors that have recorded remarkable growth. Presently, Cloud computing is still gaining a reputation in the midst of large organizations such as Car Rentals. Cloud computing develops a crucial keyword in accelerating information technology businesses, but it possess a distributed architecture established on unfixed nodes, and safety issues outlined in services based on cloud computing (Yang, Nasser and Surridge 1161). In effect, emergence of cloud computing has rapidly changed everyone’s intuition of infrastructure structure, development paradigms, and software delivery. Pursuing the transformation from mainframe computers to server deployment paradigms, cloud computing contains elements from automatic, utility, and grid computing into an inventive deployment architecture. Consequently, Cloud computing, a recent development in the IT sector can permit Car rental organisations to run application online in what is otherwise referred to as a cloud. The “cloud” promotes sharing of resources within and outside the business setting. In addition, cloud acts like a server where car rental organisations can stockpile resources required. However, the main difference between cloud computing and server based technology is that cloud computing permits users to run applications online without the need to download or install them in their computers (Berman, Kesterson-Townes and Marshall 29). Therefore, this makes it appropriate for both users and the service industries to benefit from the high connection speed promoted by cloud computing. Sample of Hertz Cloud service delivery model Sample of Hertz Cloud Deployment Model 4.0 Technical Issues Presently, there are many challenges that need solution before deciding whether cloud computing is a viable choice for Hertz. Companies are justified to be wary of the physical control loss of the information fed on the cloud. Hitherto, bearing in mind the fact those providers failed to assure the company data location on indicated set of servers in an indicated location. Arguably, cloud computing service providers are incorporating measures rapidly with the aim of trying to solve this menace. For instance, Amazon Web Services has of late unveiled the Amazon Virtual Private Cloud that permits an enterprise to integrate its existing infrastructure to several alienated Amazon Web Services computing resources through a virtual private network connection. Furthermore, to fulfil the EU data regulations act, Amazon Web Services presently permits companies to explore physically its uncomplicated database structured storage within the European Union perimeter. In addition, the Cloud product generated by Google for governments is a reaction to calm concerns from government entities concerning the data location. Essentially, large companies such are Hertz are concerned about trusting mission-vital applications to a cloud-computing model where providers fail to perform high quality service and the present guarantees that are demanded in such settings. Besides, companies have a restricted research after adopting Cloud computing such that they do not have workers with needed experience and expertise in the field of Cloud computing. In addition, training skills are needed for the employees to comprehend Cloud computing, and Connection cost is extremely high for new entrant in this field. 5.0 Business Benefits The ability to measure up services at a minimal warning prevents the need for underused servers in peak demand expectation. Consequently, when a company has unexpected application wedge in computing above its installed volume, then it can plea for more computing resource. Cloud computing can provide Hertz with the ability to productively utilize time conveyed computing resources. For instance, internet photo Website Company called Smug-mug has decisive computing workloads throughout the year, but in December and January the needed resources rises to five times the normal workload (Sultan 111). In this regard, Cloud computing permits the company to overcome excess needs during those two months without enduring additional costs of hosting a custom infrastructure for the rest of the year. In addition, Hertz can adopt cloud computing easily since they can utilize their present resources such as infrastructure and employees working in distinct fragments of the companies. In addition, cloud computing can be incorporated by Hertz on its available infrastructure, which can minimize their capital expenditure. Consequently, cloud computing can help Hertz to re-define their functioning structures existing at the stage where cloud computing is implemented in their business (Solms and Viljoen 77). Furthermore, cloud computing provides excellent marketing strategies to affect the customers; for instance, If Hertz adopt cloud computing with suitable enterprise and marketing strategies, they can easily offer efficient cloud service to the customers in short time span.. 6.0 Economic Factors With the increase in ubiquitous furnishing of resources based computing in the past decades, cloud computing has been founded to provide relevant innovation in distinct manner. The advancements achieved in the past few decades in computing techniques, particularly in Grid computing permitted introduction of several computing paradigms. Solms and Viljoen (79) outline these paradigms, and they include utility computing, cyber-infrastructure, ubiquitous computing, e-infrastructure, and Cloud computing. Even though, many scholars believe that these Cloud-established technologies can introduce an effect of radical change in the Internet, actual incorporation of Cloud computing services in business is still way under anticipations. Transformation from classical business IT paradigms to Cloud-established computing remains the enormous challenge in business platform, despite all the progresses that braced this transformation. Furthermore, intricacy in the available value structures and formula for achieving cost efficiency practices are the primary challenges endured in the Cloud computing. Intricacy challenges the main factors that contribute to weak business deployment, less sustainability, and low adoption. 7.0 Summary of Findings and Lessons Learnt Conclusively, cloud computing brace information systems as the advantages outnumber its deficiency. In addition, cloud computing provides deployment architecture that has the ability to address shortcoming identified in traditional information system, but its dynamic attributes can prevent the effectiveness of traditional measures. Consequently, employing trusted third party in the cloud computing assists to establish the required trust level and offer ideal resolution to maintain the integrity, confidentiality, and authenticity of information systems. Cloud computing is crucial in Hertz since it improves service quality by pointing service source influencing issues across all technological domains. Consequently, cloud computing improves predictability, optimizes operations by minimizing manual work, and improves cross discipline collaboration and communication. Furthermore, development of cloud computing has greatly enhanced organization capabilities to produce timely, and offers precise information throughout the organization and its supply chain. Finally, cloud computing shortens purchasing cycles through use of ordering and online catalogues, and enables organization to reduce costs on both manufactured and stock. Recommendations Recognising security threats: Fundamentally, safeguarding an information system (IS), entails recognizing unique threats and problems, which require to be addressed by incorporating suitable countermeasures. Eventually, the recognized security needs and chosen security controls are incorporated to the standard engineering process, to connect the security measures with information system operational and functional needs. In this regard, cloud computing based on its architectural attributes and design imposes several security advantages, such as security centralization process and information segmentation, and redundancy availability (Sultan 275). Basically, cloud computing has unique characteristics that need risk assessment in issues such as reliability and availability, auditing and privacy, integrity, and recovery. Security is associated to the crucial aspects of availability, confidentiality, and integrity; they therefore, become building blocks to be utilized in developing security systems. In addition, these crucial aspects of security, enforce to the three wide categories of assets, which are vital to be safeguarded, Improving Privacy and Confidentiality: Confidentiality can be defined as permission to authorized parties to gain access to protected information/data. However, cloud provides a platform for infringement of data due to heightened number of devices, parties, and applications, which will lead to an increased number of access points. Arguably, authorizing data control to the cloud, conversely leads to a rise in the risk based on data infringement as the data becomes attainable to an increased number of parties, which give rise to issues such as multi-tenancy, application privacy and security, and data remanence (Marston, Li and Bandyopadhyay 178). On its part, multi-tenancy refers to cloud attributes of resource sharing such as programs, memory, and data. Essentially, cloud computing is established on business paradigm in which resources are divided at the host level, network level, and application level. On the other hand, multi-tenancy refers to an operating system multitasking, which is a technique through which diverse processes or tasks share similar processing resources such as system unit. Multi-tasking presents numerous confidentiality and privacy threats such as object reusability, which is a vital attribute in cloud infrastructure, and can generate a serious vulnerability. Data remanence refers to the sediments presentation of information that has been erased because of lack of hardware separation amid several users on a single infrastructure (Yang, Nasser and Surridge 1161). Employing Trusted Third Party: Hertz should employ trusted third party in the cloud computing who will help to establish the required trust level and offer ideal resolution to maintain the integrity, confidentiality, and authenticity of information and communication. Trusted third party promotes secure communication between two parties that trust the third party. Trusted third party supplies legally and technically dependable ways of conducting, promoting, and creating independent evidence concerning arbitration on electronic services. In addition, trusted third party can be trusted for low and high level confidentiality, generation of security domains, certificate –founded authorization, client and server authentication, and information cryptographic separation. Hertz can as well integrate the network reserve and functions on a single shared base contrary to previously where they were aligned individually. Furthermore, deploying all the company’s attributes on shared base can assist the company to provide service based on demand, reliability and can minimize the company’s capital expenditure and operational expenditure cost. With cloud computing Hertz can generate novel services on the infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) single shared base. In addition, Hertz can penetrate novel market without difficulty as the services can be provided in the cloud without investing in developing the infrastructure itself. Moreover, Hertz can use Amazon S3or EC2 services to offer services, and companies can provide services required by the utilization has heighted drastically in the past few years (Berman, Kesterson-Townes and Marshall 32). Thus, Hertz can offer services from the cloud directly with assistance from application service providers (ASPs), Network Authentication, and Authorization Service (NAAS). Hertz can merge with the cloud service providers to try to reduce the load of administering the resources. Consequently, virtualization idea can assist Hertz to place user information in the data centres. 8.0 References Berman, Saul J., et al. "How cloud computing enables process and business model." Strategy & Leadership 40.4 (2012): 27 - 35. Fitó, J. Oriol and Jordi Guitart. "Business-driven management of infrastructure-level risks in Cloud providers." Future Generation Computer Systems (2012): 269-78. Marston, Sean, et al. "Cloud computing — The business perspective." Decision Support Systems 51 (2011): 176–189. reuters.com. Hertz Global Holdings Inc (HTZ). 13 May 2013. 22 November 2013. . Solms, R. von and M Viljoen. "Cloud computing service value: A message to the board." S.Afr.J.Bus.Manage 43.4 (2011): 73-83. Sultan, Nabil Ahmed. "Reaching for the “cloud”: How SMEs can manage." International Journal of Information Management 31 (2011): 272–278. Sultan, Nabil. "Cloud computing for education: A new dawn?" International Journal of Information Management 30.2 (2010): 109-116. Yang, Xiaoyu, et al. "A business-oriented Cloud federation model for real-time applications." Generation Computer Systems, 28.8 (2012): 1158-1167. Read More