Question: Read Chapter Extensions 1 and 2 if you have not already done so. Meet with your team and build a collaboration IS that uses tools like Google Docs, SharePoint, or other collaboration tools. Do not forget the need for procedures and team training. Now, using that IS, answer the questions below. The cloud is causing monumental changes in the information systems services industry. In every city, you will still see the trucks of local independent software vendors (ISVs) driving to their clients to set up and maintain local area networks, servers, and software. You'll know the trucks by the Microsoft, Oracle, and Cisco logos on their sides. For years, those small, local companies have survived, some very profitably, on their ability to set up and maintain LANs, connect user computers to the Internet, set up servers, sell Microsoft Exchange licenses, and install other software on both servers and user computers. Once everything is installed, these companies continue to earn revenue by providing maintenance for problems that inevitably develop and support for new versions of software, connecting new user computers, and so forth. Their customers vary, but generally are smaller companies of, say, 3 to 50 employees-companies that are large enough to need email, Internet connections, and possibly some entry-level software applications such as QuickBooks
1. Using the knowledge of this chapter and the intuition of the members of your team, summarize the threats that cloud services present to such ISVs.
2. Suppose your team owns and manages one of these ISVs. You learn that more and more of your clients are choosing SaaS cloud services like Google for email, rather than setting up local email servers. a. What, if anything, can you do to prevent the encroachment of SaaS on your business? b. Given your answer to question 2a, identify three alternative ways you can respond. c. Which of the three responses identified in your answer to question 2b would you choose? Justify your choice.
3. Even if SaaS eliminates the need for email and other local servers, there will still remain viable services that you can provide. Name and describe those services.
4. Suppose instead of attempting to adapt an existing ISV to the threat of cloud services, you and your teammates decide to set up an entirely new business, one that will succeed in the presence of SaaS and other cloud services. Looking at businesses in and around your campus, identify and describe the IS needs those businesses will have in the cloud services world.
5. Describe the IS services that your new business could provide for the business needs you identified in your answer to question4.
6. Given your answers to questions 1-5, would you rather be an existing ISV attempting to adapt to this new world or an entirely new company? Compare and contrast the advantages and disadvantages of each alternative.
7. Changing technology has, for centuries, eliminated the need for certain products and services and created the need for new products and services. What is new, today, however, is the rapid pace at which new technology is created and adapted. Using cloud services as an example, create a statement of the posture that business professionals should take with regard to technology in order to thrive in this fast-changing environment. Notice the verb in this assignment is thrive, and not just survive.