FIT5195 Study Guide - Final Guide: Digital Transformation, Thermographic Camera, Sap Hana
26 Jun 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
SECTION: CURRENT AND FUTURE TRENDS IN ENTERPRISE SYSTEMS
3.1 SAAS is expected to be the deployment model of choice for 84% of all new enterprise
applications in the next few years. Describe the benefits and challenges companies can expect to
obtain by adopting SAAS for an enterprise system.
Software as a Service (SaaS) ERP, the best-known branch of cloud computing, is a delivery
model in which applications are hosted and managed in a service provider's datacentre, paid
for on a subscription basis and accessed via a browser over an internet connection. As a term,
'Software as a Service' has been in common usage for nearly a decade, with its cloud-stack
companions ‘Platform as a Service (PaaS)’ and ‘Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)’ gaining
currency more recently. Infrastructure hosted in a third-party service provider's datacentre is
called 'public cloud' infrastructure, while similar technology hosted within an enterprise's
network is called 'private cloud' infrastructure. So-called 'hybrid clouds' mix the two
approaches, with certain workloads or business processes remaining in-house and others --
perhaps less mission-critical -- being outsourced to public cloud services. Public cloud
services can also be brought into play on a temporary basis, to cope with peaks in demand
that would otherwise overwhelm a business's private cloud infrastructure. The goal of
software-as-a-service (SaaS) ERP hosting is to reduce costs software, hardware and support.
For businesses, there are many potential benefits to be had from adopting the SaaS model.
REDUCED PRODUCTIVITY COST: Moving from the capital-heavy expense of
installing, maintaining and upgrading on-premises IT infrastructure to the operational
lower cost of SaaS subscription is a tempting business proposition, particularly in the
short-to-medium term. Although it is important to be aware of the potential hidden
costs in SaaS adoption.
EASE OF EXPANSION/ GROWTH AND INCREASED FLEXIBILITY: As your business grows and
you need to add more users, rather than investing in additional in-house server
capacity and software licences you can adjust your monthly SaaS subscription as
required.
IMPROVED INVENTORY AND ASSET MANAGEMENT: A browser and an internet connection
is all that's usually required to access a SaaS application, which can therefore be made
available on a wide range of desktop and mobile devices, thereby resulting in easier
asset management.
IMPROVED CUSTOMER SERVICE AND RETENTION: Inspired by the success of online social
networks, many SaaS applications offer features (Collaborative and ’social’
functionality) that let their users collaborate and share information. For example,
letting users comment on tasks and plans and share documents within and outside the
organisation.
IMPROVED FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT: As an organization grows, demand for
information grows with it. Bottlenecks become more apparent, and the strains on
financial management increase. Taking steps to automate and standardize processes
can reduce these ‘growing pains'. SaaS-based financial management solutions
automate many business processes and reduce the amount of paper an organization
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
has previously had to manage. Rather than herding documents, the finance
department's operation becomes more about orchestrating workflow.
OTHER BENEFITS: Faster, more accurate transactions, Cycle time reduction, and Fewer
physical resources/better logistics, all leading to improved management decision
making.
Potential pitfalls associated with SaaS:
DATA INTEGRATION ISSUE: Businesses that adopt multiple SaaS applications, or
wish to connect hosted software with existing on-premise apps, face the problem of
software integration. If it's not possible to handle the relevant APIs and data structures
in-house, there's a relatively new breed of Integration-as-a-Service products available
(e.g. CloudSwitch, Informatica etc.).
COMPLIANCE AND SECURITY ISSUE: When your business data resides in a service
provider's datacentre, ensuring that you comply with the relevant government data-
protection regulations can be a problem. You'll need to determine which regulations
apply to your business, ask the right questions of your SaaS vendor and implement a
solution to address any failings.
DATA MOBILITY ISSUE: The SaaS market is awash with start-ups, and some will
inevitably fail. What happens to your data and your carefully orchestrated business
processes if your service provider goes under -- or if you need to change your SaaS
vendor for some other reason? When choosing a SaaS vendor, you'd be wise to ensure
you avoid lock-in by preparing an exit strategy.
3.2 In a recent 2018 survey CIOs ranked analytics and business intelligence as their top technology
requirement (Gartner, 2018). Define business intelligence and explain its importance as a tool for
data analytics for a CIO.
Definition:
Gartner states that BI is the use of information that enables organisations to best decide, measure,
manage and optimize performance to achieve efficiency and financial benefit. Business Intelligence
(BI) is an umbrella term that includes the application, infrastructure and tools, and best practices that
enables analysis of information and access to improve and optimize decisions and performance.
BI for Data Analytics:
The early focus of relational databases was on online transactional processing (OLTP),
designed to support the daily business operation requirements. The operational systems were
typically optimized for fast inserting and updating of data. As companies expanded the
applications they supported and consequently, the data stored, attention turned to providing
user access for reporting and decision support. However, a different architecture was needed
where transactional data from operational systems could be extracted, transformed,
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
