1. Joe Kwo recognizes that the cloud offers both opportunities and risks.

a. How would a move to the cloud make it easier and/or more

profitable for Fintech to provide large volumes of selected data
to its clients?
It would make it easier for Fintech to provide large volumes of selected data
to its clients because they will get valuable insight from their data by using
this service. Another key attraction was that the organization could rent a
service instead of making large up-front investments in hardware and
software. This can potentially save Fintech money and make it more
profitable.
b. What technical challenges does Fintech face in offering the new
service?
Fintech faces several technical challenges in offering the new cloud service.
A few of these include account hijacking, data breaches, and DoS attacks. To
go more in depth, Fintech might face account hijacking, which is when an
organization’s cloud account is stolen or hijacked. Next, they might have to
deal with data breaches. This means the unintentional release of confidential
information. Finally, they might face a type of DoS attack when offering the
new service. A DoS attack will flood the targeted system with traffic in order
overload the system. These are just some of the technical challenges Fintech
may face with a cloud service.
c. What business challenges does Fintech face in offering the new
service?
Some business challenges Fintech may face in offering the new service
would be keeping a good relationship with the customer. There are a lot of
factors that go into good customer relations including satisfaction,
expectations and system reliability. The main challenge is again, making
sure this cloud provider meets or exceeds the customer’s expectations.

2. Assume Joe Kwo must choose a cloud services provider. Based only on
information provided in the case, which provider should Kwo choose?
Why? You will need to compare and contrast the three providers’ offerings
in detail, and prepare to discuss technical and business implications of
their similarities and differences

Looking the three cloud services providers I saw similarities, differences, and
eventually my favorite. Between AWS, Google, and Microsoft, I noticed they
were all pay as you go, but had different total cost per month figures.
Microsoft Azure had the most expensive monthly costs, while AWS has the
least expensive at under $1700. This has major effect on the business
implications as these prices can drive away certain services. Another pricing
aspect was with the payment options, and how AWS was the only one to
offer acceptance of local currency. This might be important for global brands
not based in the United States. All three had similar service level agreement
and resource availability. I noticed training and customer support was more
detailed for AWS as they offered a plethora of different positions. With
regards to the system admin, AWS and Microsoft offered a mobile app for
Android and iOS. I think that is very important in today’s day and age,
especially when these services are going to be accessed from a wide range
of people. The next major factor between the three was the database for the
company. AWS had combination of relational database from Microsoft and
Google. From the cloud and SQL server, they also pose oracle and Amazon
Aurora and RDS. This will help the business keep better track of the data and
have more software resources available for the customer data. Finally, AWS
had more storage available, meaning more data can be stored for the
business, resulting in a more effective and efficient company. Overall, after
comparing and contrasting the three services, I would have to say Microsoft
Azure is the provider Kwo should choose. This provider offers the widest
range of functionality and is perfect for Fintech’s employees, as they are
most familiar with Microsoft products. The Azure SQL database is expensive,
but not as expensive as Kwo’s current systems. If money isn’t a major issue
and you are focused on future plans, the growing infrastructure of Microsoft
is the best one to choose. Lastly, the Microsoft Azure service has more
platforms and languages available, so that will really help the business in
terms of flexibility. Kwo should choose Microsoft Azure because of the
company’s familiarity and investment in Microsoft technology.

3. Add a description to the numbered items in the figure below.

1: EFTPS Transaction Database

2: Data is Extracted

3: Fintech Local Data Warehouse

4: Data is Loaded

5: Local Fintech staff use, Data warehouse for Data Analysis and Reporting

6: Fintech Clients Securely Accesses Specific data in the Cloud