Executive Summary

James Murray

September 2, 2021

Project Description
The project’s name is cloud computing system installation and is meant to ensure the company’s cost related to the expansion of its operation remains as lower as possible. It involves enabling the company to efficiently deliver its services through the internet much easier and cheaper (Azure, 2019).

Statement of Need
Currently, the company is looking for ways it can expand its operations in other regions. Therefore, it is struggling with incurring high costs if it decides to acquire additional equipment to support the expansion. One of the significant benefits of shifting the company’s operations to the cloud is utilizing software from all devices regardless of being used via browsers or native apps. It makes it possible for users to carry settings and files over to different devices more efficiently (Azure, 2019). It will also help the company save capital and space since cloud space will replace physical equipment, especially storage.

Cloud Service Providers

Provide an overview of the top three cloud service providers. List the services offered and briefly describe the advantages and disadvantages of each provider.

I. Software-as-a-service (SaaS): It involves licensing customers to use a software application over the internet. It operates on a demand model or subscription basis for payment purposes. The advantage of SaaS is that it helps to achieve cost-efficient. For instance, since it is a subscription-based software licensing, a company can comprehend and allocate costs for separate units of its business (Frankenfield and Mansa, 2020). It also offers multiple pricing tiers, allowing organizations to pay lower costs of accessing fewer application features. Nevertheless, the disadvantage of SaaS is that security is not often guaranteed since the publishers are not responsible for data security when using the model.

II. Infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS): the provider delivers everything, including operating systems, storage, and servers, through the connectivity of IP addresses. The advantage of IaaS is that it can scale up and down more quickly in response to the requirements of an enterprise (Frankenfield and Mansa, 2020). The disadvantage is that it has a multitenant architecture which contributes to issues related to data security.

III. Platform-as-a-service (PaaS): PaaS is more like SaaS only that instead of software delivery, it creates the delivered software through the internet. The advantage of PaaS is that it can improve the productivity of a developer. It offers support to the business agility to enable it to develop with more functionality in frequently delivery rapidly (Azure, 2019). The disadvantage is that it does not provide cloud support to all of the business’ infrastructures.

Recommended Plan
The provider that I would recommend is PaaS, as it is the model that can rapidly grow and scale better to save both time and resources/costs for the company.

Impact of Recommended Plan
In essence, the organizations that use PaaS tend to rapidly scale and grow faster because they do not own any resource that makes the service providers. It is therefore relatively cheaper and efficient for the company’s services provision. The potential risk of the provider is that it can lead to data security issues if security needs are not well-considered and scrutinized.

References
Azure. (2019). What is cloud computing? Retrieved from;

https://azure.microsoft.com/en-gb/overview/what-is-cloud-computing/#benefits

Frankenfield J., Mansa J. (2020). Cloud Computing. Retrieved from;

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/cloud-computing.asp