The Case Assignment for this module involves thinking systematically about the IT services movement in general and about cloud computing as a particular instance of that approach. You’ll start by reading a number of sources discussing both of these topics and making a number of assertions on their behalf. As we noted before, if you don’t really pay attention to this material, it’s really unlikely that you can write an acceptable paper on the topic below, let alone an exceptional one. We spend quite a lot of time trying to identify useful sources for you that bear on our topics for analysis; while we strongly encourage you to conduct your own further research and identify additional useful sources, this should be an add-on to the basic material rather than a substitute for it. Our Module 2 sources include:

Navavati, M., Colp, P., Aiello, B., & Warefield, A. (2014). Cloud security: A gathering storm. Communications of the ACM.  57 (5), 70–79.

Lango, J. (2014). Toward software-defines SLA’s. Communications of the ACM. 57(1), 54–60.

Galup, S. D., Dattero, D., Quan, J., & Conger, S. (2009). An overview of IT service management. Communications of the ACM, 52(5). 124–127. [ACM digital library]

Carter, P. E. (2010). IT service value creation in a global environment. Journal of Global Information Technology Management, 13(4), 4–29. [ProQuest]

Katzan, H. (2010). On an ontological view of cloud computing. Journal of Service Science, 3(1), 1–6. [ProQuest]

Chang, V., Bacigalupo, D., Wills, G., & Roure, D. E. (2010). Categorization of cloud computing business models. 

Here is an interesting TED talk from Tim Berners Lee who invited the World Wide Web.  He provides a thought provoking talking on open source data on the web provide through cloud computing.

You may also find it useful to review the corporate statements on IT services provided by  some of the biggest corporate names in the business; this is how they are pitching the idea to their current and hoped-for corporate and government clients:

IBM IT services

HP services

Oracle services

In addition, the optional readings expand on many of the central points; you may also want to do some independent research of your own to clarify any issues that concern you.

As you work your way through this material, you will undoubtedly find yourself wondering why we decided to lump these two topics into the same module of this course. IT services is a general philosophy of organization of IT management, while cloud computing is a rather specific set of solutions to some not terribly well-defined problems; solutions that remove from the organization both costs and responsibilities. Often, cloud computing appears to be a solution in search of a problem. The reason why we’ve chosen to combine them here is because, as you have noted from the sources, the proponents of cloud computing often herald it as a particularly strong instance of the IT services approach. Cloud computing removes the responsibility of managing all that technology from a particular firm. Of course, it also removes from the organization control of its information future and even of its basic data in many cases; it also can cost quite a lot of money which disappears into the services sector rather than into the hard assets category. While clearly confiding your IT management to cloud-based providers reduces the influence of technologists relative to that of information users, it is considerably less certain that users are always better served in the cloud then they would be if they kept their old techno-geek folks still chained in the basement to the old mainframe.

Case Assignment

Your task is now to try to resolve this question at least in part. When you have read through the articles and related material, please compose a 4- to 6-page critical analysis paper, following the general point/counterpoint model described below, on the topic:

“Cloud computing and IT Services”

• Provide a discussion on the benefits and issues of cloud computing. When should a firm purchase its IT services from the Cloud? What is the implication for  IT oversight and the firm’s governance of those systems? If the firm moves to an Open Source environment, how will its data be secured and strategic advantage gained over the competition?

Assignment Expectations

You Will Be Particularly Assessed On

• Your ability to see what the module is all about and to structure your paper accordingly.
• Your informed commentary and analysis—simply repeating what your sources say does not constitute an adequate paper.
• Your ability to apply the professional language and terminology of IT systems and services correctly and in context; you are expected to be familiar with this language and use it appropriately.
• Your effective and appropriate use of in-text citations to the assigned readings and other source material to support your arguments. Refer to Trident’s “Writing Style Guide” for guidance on APA formatting and style. The guide can be accessed under “My Resources” in the TLC Portal.