Hello. I am Matthew Schieber and I will be presenting the material covered in chapter 7, building and sustaining the dynamic enterprise.
This chapter looks at the different areas which help to create todays dynamic enterprises. The chapter looks at service oriented architecture, hardware and software infrastructure, cloud computing, metrics that affect IT success, and business continuity planning.
In chapter 6 you were briefly introduced to what service-oriented architecture (SoA) is. Basically it is the development of code which can be used over and over again, not just once like how programming was done in the past. It is a new way for organizations to create software that can quickly change with demands from customers, hardware requirements, end users, information needs, and software development. It is a means to ensure every organizational component is able to work together.
With technology changing at an accelerated rate every year it is becoming a nightmare for organizations to keep up with changes in both hardware and software. Every organization has infrastructure to support the business, without it a business would not be able to operate. This is everything from running Ethernet cables, to highways, to the different business processes organizations create. Many organizations are turning to ERP systems to ensure each technology component is able to communicate with other components.
For ERP to work in a SoA atmosphere everything must be able to integrate together, everything must be plug-and-play components or services. All modules of an ERP vendor must be interoperable, software from multiple ERP vendors must be interoperable, and the infrastructure beneath must be hidden from users and customers. To put it in a different perspective all of the business components must be able to operate and fit together like Lego blocks. All of the blocks are able to fit together and can create any structure with the only limit being your imagination.
Now looking at the hardware side there are different ways in which a network can be done. On way is by creating a distributed network in which the processing power of the organization is spread out to multiple locations. Resources are transferred around to prevent one location from being over used and another location from being under used. Typically all of the organizations data is stored at each location. After the terrorist attacks on 9/11 many organizations went to this model as a means to prevent service interruptions if a key location was suddenly gone. The other locations would be able to adjust and handle the network traffic.
Another type is the client/server network in which a server provides services to other computers. This is the network type Northwest uses on campus and is the underlying network for the Web.
The last type is a tiered or layered network. Here each tier performs a specific function with no limit to the number of possible tiers. This type of network is easily scalable, offers greater performance, and many other benefits.
One of the newest technologies becoming available for organizational use is cloud computing. Cloud computing is a service provided strictly via the Internet. It allows small organizations to have access to the latest IT technologies without the costly expense of buying and maintaining their own equipment, known as fixed costs. Instead services are charged on a pay-as-you-go basis, meaning you only pay for what you use, known as variable costs. It almost completely eliminates the fixed costs associated with IT. Cloud computing is also extremely flexible capable of easily adjusting with the size of the organization.
There are several types of cloud services available on the market. The first type and most well known is software-as-a-service. Instead of buying a piece of software it can be rented by the month but still allows multiple people to have access at the same time.
Another type available is platform-as-a-service which contains the same features as software-as-a-service with some added features such as the ability to customize reports and change how the software works so it better fits with the organization. Basically the difference is with SaaS you only pay to be able to use the software with PaaS you pay to be able to change the software.
The third type now available is infrastructure-as-a-service. Here all of the IT infrastructure needs are provided such as storage hardware, network equipment, data backup, operating system, and everything else needed. The only investment needed on your end is the end device such as a laptop or smartphone.
No matter the type of cloud service cloud computing is either done publicly or privately. The public cloud is the one you use most often and hear about in the news. It is a service offered to anyone and any business. A private cloud, however, is only used by the internal network within an organization. It is not available via the Internet.
To sum up the last few slides cloud computing has many advantages. It lowers total capital expenditures by removing fixed costs. It lowers barriers to enter markets that may small businesses were not able to enter. It gives users access to the latest software and allows real time scalability to adjust with the size of an organization. The bottom line is that cloud computing is here to stay and something that you as a student here at Northwest uses everyday. Your student email is a cloud service and gives you access to Microsoft’s cloud for email and document storing called SkyDrive.
To know if an organization is being successful in using its technology companies have to develop benchmarks and compare actual results to those benchmarks. These metrics can be categorized into two areas. The first being efficiency which measures if something is being done right. The second is effectiveness which measures doing the right things correctly.
When looking at metrics related to infrastructure most are related to efficiency. Some of the more common ones are throughput which is the total amount of data the can be pushed through the system. Transaction speed looks at how long it takes to complete one transaction. An important one is system availability. In todays competitive environment even being offline for a few minutes could cost businesses millions of dollars in lost revenue. Some other metrics your will commonly see is accuracy, response time, and scalability.
When looking at metrics related to the Web the number is almost limitless. Web metrics look at both efficiency and effectiveness metrics. Some of the more common ones are number of unique visitors, which is actually used to rank the most popular Web sites. Another is the total number of visitors. A key metric to sites such as Amazon is conversion rate which looks at the total number of people who visited the site and compares it to the number of visitors who bought an item to come up with a percentage.
Looking at metrics related to call centers most are related to efficiency metrics. Again there is literally hundreds of possible metrics but the ones used most commonly are the abandon rate which looks at the number of people who hang up. Another looks at how long it takes to answer a call and how long it takes to resolve an issue. An important metric related to effectiveness is first call resolution which looks at the number of issues that were resolved the first time.
The last section of the chapter looks at business continuity planning, more commonly known as a disaster recovery plan, which are guidelines an organization uses to help recover from a disaster. A good and well defined plan is done in six steps. The first step looks at the strategic plan of the entire organization. It determines what is and what is not important to the organization. Those areas deemed important should have plans created.
The second step the analysis phase takes the longest to complete. Here a lot of research and analysis is done. An impact analysis looks at what the risks are, how likely the event will happen, the importance, and what the consequences would be. Another is a threat analysis which looks at events such as fires, power outages, terrorist attacks, and other threats to help understand what would happen if events such as those actually happened. An impact scenario analysis looks at the worst possible scenario and how to recover from it. With all of the information gathered together it is then put into a requirement recovery document which is used to help develop a workable plan.
The third phase actually creates a disaster recovery plan which details how to recover from a disaster and lists ways to minimize the impact should a disaster happen. Items inside a disaster recovery plan can include things such as where a hot or cold site should be located, where items should be backed up to such as a collocation facility, and any other specific instructions needed.
The fourth phase is to actually implement the created plan. This includes training employees, building separate sites, contracting items to other companies, and so forth.
Many companies fail to create successful business continuity plans because they fail to complete the last two steps. It’s important to remember that simply implementing a disaster plan and providing initial training is not enough. To see how well the organization would react if a disaster did happen is to test it. Simulations show how well employees are prepared and if there are any problems with the plan itself that may need to be corrected or refined.
The last step is to maintain the plan. Change the plan as the business itself changes because nothing ever stays the same. Since no organization has a team of people completely devoted to business continuity planning testing the plans provides the best maintenance opportunities and to adjust to new threats as needed.