BDAN 350Project 1The use of cloud computing for small to medium enterprises (SME) has allowed for them to access technology thatwas previously cost-prohibitive. This technology provides the SME ability to better manage their cashflows, havemore flexibility in their IT services, the ability to provide better data governance and security, and provide themwith the ability to be lean and nimble. You have been contacted by Auto Parts Inc., a small business in BowlingGreen, Kentucky, to consult on moving them to the cloud. Auto Parts Inc. manufactures vintage car parts and sellsthe parts in their local store and online. Their business has done well enough that they plan on expanding to have10 storefronts in major cities throughout the United States over the next five years. They have already presentedcases on moving to the cloud using the traditional three cloud service providers (CSPs), Amazon, Azure, andGoogle’s cloud services. They want you to present a case on moving to a different cloud service provider on one ofthe following CSPs: Alibaba Cloud, Oracle Cloud, IBM Cloud (Kyndryl), Tencent Cloud, OVHcloud, DigitalOcean, andLinode (Akamai). You are tasked with selecting one of the cloud providers and reviewing it in the following areas:technical capabilities, security and compliance, costs, support, and the CSP business and financial health. Once youhave reviewed the CSP you are to provide a report with your findings and provide a recommendation on if thecompany should move its IT services to the CSP.Once you have completed the previous steps you will create a report with the following sections:1. Introduction: motivate the reason for the paper and what will be learned2. CSPs Background: this is a short summary of the CSP being presented and type of cloud services that theyprovided.3. Technical Capabilities of the Cloud:Some things to consider in this section.a. Do they use standard interfaces and APIs for easy integration?b. Do they have the capability of providing hybrid cloud computing options and do they have theflexibility to host different cloud environments and systems?c. Are they backing their capabilities with SLAs?d. Are they willing and capable to architect solutions tailored to your business?4. Security and Compliance of the Cloud:Some things to consider for this section:a. Security infrastructure and procedures followed by the vendorb. Identity management and authorizationsc. Physical security controls including the process for natural disastersd. Policies for data backup and disaster recovery5. Cost Breakdown of the CloudSome things to consider in this section:a. Consumption timelines as long-term contracts are better-pricedb. The flexibility offered by service providers in scaling up or downc. Check for hidden costs6. Support Services provided by the CSPSome things to consider in this section:a. Time guarantees for solving technical issuesb. Access to support services – 24×7 or 12×5c. Cost of opting for dedicated resources7. Financial and Business Health of the CSPSome things to consider in this section:a. The company’s financial recordsb. Management structure and other third-party relationshipsc. Reputation, reviews, and referrals from existing customersd. For any legal run-inse. All available third-party audits
BDAN 350Project 18. Conclusion: Conclude the paper, reiterate the key findings and provide a recommendation.9. Appendix: Any extra information that was not placed in the report but may provide pertinent informationto the company (For example a screenshot of the cloud’s cost breakdown).The report to be written in a professional manner and should include but is not limited to: having a title page, yourname and 800#’s, titled sections, and not having spelling and grammar errors. The paper is required to be writtenin Times New Roman font, 12-point font size, 1.5 line spacing, no spacing before or after paragraphs, and normalmargins (Top, Bottom, Left, and Right all 1″). Finally, the paper is to be a minimum of four full written pages but nolonger than eight pages. This is the written content of the paper and does not include the title page, pictures,graphs, appendices, etc. Not following all of these requirements will result in a deduction of points
