Case Study #4: Cloud Computing

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INTRODUCTION

According to Kundra (2010), the United States government is the world’s largest consumer of information technology and yet its poor project implementation and lack of upgraded technology has led to decreased efficiency and a lack of productivity. To mitigate these issues through upgrades can be costly, however, there is another way to address the issues plaguing the technological departments of the federal government. Cloud computing. Cloud computing is a movement within the IT field that allows organizations to increase or decrease the capacity of what is essentially a shared folder as needed without having to update their technological devices or invest in hardware storage devices (Kundra, 2011). The following case study presents to its readers the benefits of ten case studies as well as the reasoning for the benefits identified in a specific study. This case study is designed to analyze ten cloud computing case studies and share the benefits organizations can experience through the use of cloud computing.

CASE STUDY ELEMENTS

Case Study Title Benefits

DoD US Army AEC (Example) Assets will be Better   Utilized, Efficiency Improvements will Shift Resources Toward Higher-Value   Activities (Example)

Department of Defense US Army AEC Faster application upgrades, increased efficiency, reduced hardware and IT staff costs, increased productivity.

DOD PSDT USAF Improved asset utilization (increased 70%), improved productivity in application management, focus shift to service management

DOE Cloud Computing Migration Linked to emerging technologies, purchases only the services needed, can increase capacity at any time, improved productivity in network

HHS Supporting Electronic Health Records Near-instantaneous increases in capacity, quick response to urgent agency needs, improved productivity with end-users

Department of the Interior Email Aggregated demand and accelerated system consolidation

GSA USA.gov Purchase and use of needed services from the cloud provider only, near instantaneous increase in capacity, focus shifted to service management, more responsive to urgent agency needs, improved productivity in network.

NASA World-Wide Telescope Quick response to urgent agency needs, near instantaneous increases and reductions in capacity, accelerated system consolidation, improved productivity in application development and network.

NASA Become a Martian Improved productivity of the network, purchased only the services needed, near-instantaneous increases in capacity, focus shift to service management,

SSA SOASK Increased productivity, service management, tap into private sector innovation, purchase of only services needed, ability to respond quickly to urgent agency needs, aggregated demand

FLRA Case Management System Tap into private sector innovation, improved productivity in application management, quick response to agency needs, improved asset utilization (time of app to deploy is 25% of original time), better linked to emerging technologies.

CLOSER LOOK

HHS Supporting Electronic Health Records

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has employed the use of cloud computing in order to support and enhance the implementation of its Electronic Health Records (EHR) system (Kundra, 2010). In the table above, the benefits that HHS has experienced are outlined and now the reasons why these benefits have been identified will be shared in the table below:

Benefit Identified Reasoning for identification

Near-instantaneous increases in capacity The system can be updated as centers begin using it and future updates are expected to quick and seamless, providing more storage capacity or decreasing as is necessary.

Quick response to urgent agency needs The review process that was conducted to determine how long it would take to implement the technology necessary determined that over a year would pass before HHS would have access to its new systems, however Salesforce (the cloud computing agency) was able to implement their solution in less than three months.

Improved productivity with end-users Implementation of EHR systems is coordinated through this system, streamlining the process for all involved and Salesforce works collaboratively with the end user in order to provide the services needed.

CONCLUSION

Cloud computing is a service that can enhance the performance and productivity of any organization when used correctly and through secured access points. The case studies above give various examples of how organizations from various backgrounds can benefit from the same type of system by tailoring it to the needs of their consumers. While HHS consumers were able to benefit from the uniform implementation of EHR systems, customers of the SSA were able to greatly benefit from the cloud based website created and maintained by the SSA by bypassing long wait times and receiving near instant answers. Whether cloud computing is a service the organization is considering for internal purposes only or it is a service that will be used to benefit the individuals it serves as well, it is a system that all organizations should take into consideration. The increased efficiency, productivity, and storage coupled with the decreased need for continuous technological upgrades and increased staffing, cloud computing is a strategy whose benefits exceed its disadvantages when properly implemented.

References

Kundra, V. (2010). State of public sector cloud computing. CIO Council. Retrieved from: https://cio.gov/wp-content/uploads/downloads/2012/09/StateOfCloudComputingReport-FINAL.pdf

Kundra, V. (2011). Federal cloud computing strategy. Washington, DC. Retrieved from: https://learn.umuc.edu/d2l/le/content/47852/viewContent/2363992/View