Case Study - Ism

Question #5

There are a few key concepts that were successful in Dr. Schadt’s implementation. Dr. Schadt utilized a web-based architecture where many of its elements reside on the internet allowing for a source of capacity-on-demand (Pearlson & Saunders, 2013). This allowed Dr. Schadt to work on his research without the use of a supercomputer. In Dr. Schadt’s case he chose to use Amazon’s services to crunch the data while he was traveling. This is very beneficial to any company as it can allow its employees to be mobile and still have their work accessible.

The way that this is done is through cloud computing. “Cloud computing comes into focus only when you think about what IT always needs: a way to increase capacity or add capabilities on the fly without investing in new infrastructure, training new personnel, or licensing new software (Gruman & Knorr, 2008). This directly relates to the needs of Dr. Schadt. Supercomputers are very expensive and are not practical for a traveling profession such as Dr. Schadt. It is the mobility cloud computing offers that made it so appealing in this case.

The fact that Dr. Schadt purchased computing power through Amazon brings up the idea of utility computing. Utility computing is the idea of purchasing entire capability on an as needed basis (Pearlson & Saunders, 2013). This concept also proves to be cost-effective for Dr. Schadt as he does not need to invest in several supercomputers. He can simply purchase the computing power as he sees fit. It is the combination of mobility and cost effectiveness that ultimately makes each of these concepts successful, not just for Dr. Schadt but for any potential company seeking to make the transition.

References

Pearlson, K. E., & Saunders, C. S. (2013). Managing & using information systems: A strategic approach. : John Wiley & Sons.

Knorr, E., & Gruman, G. (2008, April 7). What cloud computing really means. What cloud computing really means....