IT STRATEGIC SOLUTIONS — MMT2 Task1 Assignment PDF

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Summary

AEnergy Company currently has operations in Fresno, California and Chicago, Illinois. Company management reviewed the company’s client list and realized that much of the company’s growth has been from an increase in clients in the eastern and southern parts of the United States. Management believes ...

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A1. SWOT analysis -

The A Energy Company has many skilled resources with many years of experience that make them valuable and strength to the company.

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The interconnectivity between the two sites allows users to collaborate as if they were working on the same building. This allows the users to focus on product development vs network connectivity issues. They can also use this connectivity to support their product designs.

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The current infrastructure was set up with multiple redundancies in place to ensure business continuity in the case of an infrastructure critical failure. Because each site has the same network set up, they can support each other in case of a network failure.

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Both sites have daily backups. The backups are store off-site to ensure data availability if there were to be a site disaster.

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Smart routers are set up to keep the intra-site traffic to a minimum and avoid the potential for a data loop.

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Secured wireless connections, as well as VPN, are used on both sites.

A2. Evaluate the existing weaknesses of the current IT infrastructure. -

The organization currently only has a single Internet service provider for both sites.

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The IT Infrastructure is complex and not scalable, which makes it difficult to upgrade or duplicate on new sites.

A3. Analyze opportunities for updating technology within the current IT infrastructure. -

The current network must change to accommodate the increased locations and upgrades in technology.

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Moving services like server storage, email, and applications to a cloud service provider, can provide scalable, reliant, and the latest technologies, which can help attract new customers.

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Collaboration tools like Team can be used to improve collaboration between users if they move to a cloud platform like Office 365.

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Building customer service for clients to support the organization’s product and services.

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Creating a CRM (Customer Relation Management) database to help manage customers and improve customer service.

A4. Analyze threats that could result from continued use of the current IT infrastructure. -

The Internet service provider can be impacted by a disaster.

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Major infrastructure failure can impact productivity and sales.

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Organizations may lose valuable people assets to other competitors and lose intellectual property and company knowledge.

B1. Identify two ways to leverage the strengths of IT infrastructure The A Energy company IT infrastructure has many strengths that can be used to improve the companies existing products and services. One of the strengths that I would suggest the organization use to their benefit is a large number of years of cumulative experience their IT Infrastructure team has in many different technology areas. We have already seen how some members of the team have come up with creative ways to improve processes and help the business save money. I believe the organization should create a formal process where the business units responsible for building products include members of the infrastructure team in their brainstorming or developing sessions to ensure the IT department can provide ideas and suggestions on how to make the service or product better based on their unique technology-based

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experience. Implementing this new process in the organization can bring many improvements and potential new services, something we can see in the comments from the executive director to some of the IT team members. The second strengths I think the organization can use to improve their products and services is that fact that A Energy Company has a robust network setup that can allow users to work from home. This benefit can be critical during a national emergency, such as the one the world is experiencing now with the COVID-19 pandemic. Working from home can also be a benefit for employees that travel far to get to the office as that would give them additional time on their day to balance work and life responsibilities. Understanding that this option is not appropriate or beneficial for all employees, it should be offered as an additional benefit for working at A Energy Company, which can attract young talent that usually enjoys the flexibility of working from home or other places instead of the office. B1a. Identify at least two opportunities within the current IT infrastructure The first opportunity I think the organization has to help bring new services to their customers is to use a combination of IT Infrastructure members Parker Fisch and Charli Vargi to design and build a new customer-facing website dedicated to Customer Service and technical support of their clients. The website will be a one-stop-shop for anything related to getting support for the products and services A Energy Company sells. The website will not only have online technical assistance with the latest knowledge base articles, but it will also have an option to open a ticket with the company support department and the option to chat with available technical support reps. This new Customer Service web portal will not only improve customer service but give the organization an edge over the competitors.

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Another opportunity that lies within the IT Infrastructure and team and that can help A Energy Company improve their customer management and service is building or creating a Customer Relation Management database. By the information gathered IT it is not apparent that a CRM database is available and used to manage customer satisfaction and activity. Using the current infrastructure of databases and application servers, Sidney Jeffrey, the Data Analyst, can build this database and develop reports and search forms that can help the Sales and Customer Service department maintain good customer records that can be used to improve sales, use targeted marketing, manage customer services relations, among other things. A CRM system is a critical database for any organization with external clients and this new opportunity will put the organization at the level of other major competitors. B2. Discuss the weaknesses and threats in the current IT infrastructure The current IT infrastructure has multiple weaknesses and threats that can impact the organization. One of the weaknesses that the current IT infrastructure has is the complex setup of servers hosted internally. Although this complex configuration is important to maintain the continuity of the organization in case of a disaster, it is not scalable and can be difficult and costly to upgrade or duplicate on new sites. Another weakness for the current IT Infrastructure is that the organization currently has a single Internet service provider for both sites. If the single internet service provider was to be impacted by a disaster, the organization would lose internet access capabilities on both sites. These two weaknesses can impact both sales and productivity. From a threat perspective, the current IT infrastructure has multiple areas that can present a threat to the organization. The first threat is around its infrastructure. The organization can have a major infrastructure failure, such as a data center physical damage or data destruction, which will impact how fast the organization recovers from this disaster. If the infrastructure is complex and

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difficult to rebuild, it can take the organization time to recover, which will impact their sales and customer base. Another threat is related to their internet service provider and how a disaster can potentially take out this service provider. This can greatly impact the internet access for the organization directly impacting their productivity and sales. Finally, the organization may lose valuable people assets to other competitors and lose intellectual property and company knowledge with those assets. The impact to A Energy Company would be great because most of its employees have been with the company for a long time and hold a lot of critical knowledge and information. B3. Discuss the one weakness or threat with the greatest potential for impact on the IT infrastructure. Multiple weaknesses can have an impact on the IT infrastructure, but the current complexed setup of servers hosted internally is probably the weakness with the biggest impact on the organization. As discussed earlier, although this complex configuration is important to maintain the continuity of the organization in case of a disaster, it is not scalable and can be difficult and costly to upgrade or duplicate on new sites. C1. Research potential solutions and discuss your research strategies There are multiple methods for evaluating new technologies. As part of my process, I start by performing an internet search on the different types and vendors available for a specific technology. This usually gives me a wide range of options that I can review. I also use the Garner services to get the best providers out there and get a top quadrant analysis to see which vendors the leaders and which ones are the challengers with innovative products. This exercise usually allows me to get a list of the top 3-4 providers. As a second step, I would meet with each of them and present them with a high-level summary of our needs as an organization.

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As a next step, I submit an RFP or Request For Proposal or RFP questionnaire to get additional information from each vendor that I was not able to gather from the internet searches. As part of this questionnaire, I would also ask to submit a quote or proposal of their services for our needs. Finally, I would have a list of stakeholders from our organization review all the RFP submissions from the different vendors and rate each one using multiple rating options. At the end of the exercise, the vendor with the highest rating wins the contract. The team usually meets on last time to review the winner and ensure he is the best vendor before we officially notify the vendors. C1a. Give at least two examples of current technology that could address the weakness Multiple current technology options can address the weakness discussed in part B3. The two options that I think can best address the Energy A Company infrastructure weakness are Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and Platform as a Service (PaaS). “IaaS contains the basic building blocks for cloud IT. It typically provides access to networking features, computers (virtual or on dedicated hardware), and data storage space. IaaS gives you the highest level of flexibility and management control over your IT resources.” (AWS, 2021) This option is very similar to the current setup the organization has and most likely will be the one the IT team will be most comfortable with based on their current experience. The second option is Platform as a Service (PaaS). This option “removes the need for you to manage underlying infrastructure (usually hardware and operating systems) and allows you to focus on the deployment and management of your applications.” (AWS, 2021)PaaS allows the IT team to focus on getting the application set up and making sure is working as expected eliminating the need for the team to spend time getting the infrastructure needed to run the apps.

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Although this second option may sound better from an overall efficiency perspective, it is costlier than IaaS and may not fit the needs of all the applications used by the organization. C2. Explain how you plan to stay informed about current technologies. There are multiple ways I stay informed about current technologies. One of the best ways to stay informed is to visit major cybersecurity or IT conferences where vendors generally like to showcase new updated technologies. These conferences allowed me to meet new vendors and stay in touch with ones I already have a relationship with. Another method is by reading IT magazines or online articles that talk about new technologies that I may be interested in. Finally, I depend on my current vendors to keep me updated on the roadmap of their products and services. C2a. Give at least two examples of emerging technology that could help the company gain a competitive advantage. One emerging technology that could help Energy A Company gain a competitive advantage is Robotic Process Automation or RPA. This new technology is used to help automate business processes to ensure efficiency and fast results. Implementing this technology can help the company get an edge by creating products and services that can help its clients get more stuff done with fewer employees or manual delays. RPA can also help the organization by automating internal processes to eliminate unnecessary manual work and ensuring resources are better utilized in processes that cannot be automated. Another emerging technology that can help the organization is the Internet of Things. This technology enables devices or products to be connected to the internet via WiFi. When devices are connected to the network or internet, they can be easily managed remotely without having to get on a ladder or disconnect them from the installed location. This functionality can be

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a great selling point for products because customers will be able to save time in maintaining them and configuring them. D. Recommend one specific IT solution that will best address the weakness The IT solution that I believe will best address the weakness that was identified in part B3 is Infrastructure as a Service. When looking at the current infrastructure and the maturity level of the IT team, I believe that this option will give the best flexibility and scalability without bringing too many new complexities into the environment. This option will also give the IT team the control and management of network settings as well server configurations. D1. Justify your recommended IT solution based on your research. Based on my research, I was able to identify these four benefits of the Infrastructure as a Service over the current infrastructure setup. First, their cost savings of moving to an IaaS solution over the current setup is tangible. The IT Infrastructure team will save in monitoring, the time it takes in setting up new systems, and the data center network and upkeep cost. Second, by moving to the IaaS model the IT infrastructure team will have the additional scalability and flexibility that comes with this type of setup. IT teams will be able to quickly build, update and change server configurations, saving money and time. “This is especially helpful in building and dismantling test and development environments, which greatly benefit from this increased speed and agility.” (Staff, 2019) One of the benefits of IaaS to the business is the support to enjoy faster time to market. Because with this model you can have a server setup with all the requirements literally within minutes, the business can use this model to improve the time it takes IT to support new products or services for external clients. Finally, this new model has better support and features to help with setting up and supporting disaster recovery and business continuity activities and

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requirements. With an IaaS solution in place organizations can easily set up disaster recovery processes and controls without having to spend a huge amount to support the business during a disaster. “If disaster strikes, employees can access the same infrastructure they have always accessed via an Internet connection, from wherever they happen to be.” (Staff, 2019)

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References

AWS, A. (n.d.). What is cloud computing? What is cloud computing? https://aws.amazon.com/what-is-cloud-computing/#:~:text=Instead%20of%20buying%2C %20owning%2C%20and,Amazon%20Web%20Services%20(AWS). Staff, S. T. (2019, December 6). Infrastructure As A Service - 5 Important Benefits for Government Networks. Technology Solutions That Drive Government. https://statetechmagazine.com/article/2014/03/infrastructure-service-5-important-benefits....