Information Systems - Essay Example

Case Two: PeopleSoft Offers Hosting Services The availability of the different levels of service offered by PeopleSoft, and one of the three hostingoptions supported by the Surebridge, Inc., is very important as it allows the customer to choose an option that suits this particular company’s needs best. Each of the hosting options has its own advantages. In particular, hosting at the customer’s facilities allows the customer company to reduce its costs, streamline business operations and IS management, receive additional services and technical expertise of the Surebridge, while at the same time preserving the overall control over the IT and its IS infrastructure.

The spare capacity if available can be used for different purposes. The remote hosting at the third-party facilities as well leads the company to the curtailing of the costs while maintaining the internal control over hardware, software and communications and keeping its established relationship with the third party. Hosting at the Surebridge’s facilities, on the other hand, has the advantage of sparing the customer worry about establishing and maintaining its own IS infrastructure, investing into hardware etc.

Moreover, customer receives over-the-clock access to the monitoring tools and gets a dedicated manager who is well aware of the company’s specifics and recent history. To make a sound choice, more information about both the options and the company’s particular needs is desirable in order to successfully match one with another. On the Surebridge’s side, additional required information would include price, total cost of ownership, connectivity and speed of connection, security standards with regards to transfer and processing of the commercial data, set-up time, reliability of the back-up system and assurance of operations continuity, additional services provided.

On the company’s side, it would be necessary to know whether its operations and needs are quite similar to those of other companies in the industry, or does it need the customized solutions and treatment. It is also important to know if the company already has a modern IS infrastructure and some trained personnel, or an agreement on hosting with a third party in place. Moreover, the required speed and volume of processing stemming out of the scope of the company’s operations and necessity of the computers and IT infrastructure to be deployed for other purposes should also be considered.

A possibility to visit Sharebridge’s facilities would be an exciting experience. I would like to start by looking at the closed-circuit television system which monitors the access to get an overall feeling of the facilities every-day operations flow and size. I would like to see their around-the-clock Network Operations Command Center, the offices where customer service personnel work, and their back-up system. I would ask about their history, client base, and most common and most unusual problems the company has experienced through the time of its operations.