Question

8. Find an article that provides an example of how firms are using and managing “big data” to improve their business model.

10. Discuss the difference between traditional software models delivered by Application Service Providers (ASPs) and Software as a service delivered via the cloud.

11. Imagine walking into the purchasing office of the future. How might you go about completing your tasks for the day using future information technologies?

Answer 1

Find an article that provides an example how firms are using and managing “big data” to improve their business model.

I found an article online that discusses several instances of “big data” being used to achieve business goals. Companies such as Coca-Cola, Netflix, and Amazon to name a few. These companies make enough business that collected the data, which in their case is Big Data allows them to sort, compile, organize and value information received from suppliers and buyers. This information is paramount for these company’s success, providing detailed information to determine the next steps in the companies forward plan. Kopanakis states, “Big data analytics is an important investment for a growing business. Through implementing big data analytics businesses can achieve competitive advantage, reduced the cost of operation and drive customer retention. There are various sources of customer data that businesses can leverage. As technological advancements continue, data is becoming readily available to all organizations”. Keeping up to date and relevant with the fast-moving times, companies rely heavily on big data models to interpret information to make daily and critical business and financial decisions.

Companies like Coca-Cola, Netflix, and Amazon have figured out the way to continually provide the services and supplies that buyers and suppliers desire and need. As long as they can continue to provide these services these companies will maintain their advantages.

Discuss the difference between traditional software models delivered by Application Service Providers (ASPs) and Software as a service delivered via the cloud

Application service provider is more of a legacy software as compared to Software-as-a-service. Below are some of the differences.

SaaS	ASP
These are available only on web.	These are available on premise.
A single application instance serves multiple users.	They maintain separate instance of application.
Maintenance and support are provided by service provider	Maintenance and support has to be done by end users only.
Users can have pay per usage model.	Users need to buy license of the product.
It is highly scalable	It lacks scalable
Maintenance is easy in this model.	Maintenance is difficult in this model.

Imagine walking into the purchasing office of the future. How might you go about completing your tasks for the day using future information technologies?

In a future Purchasing Office I would not have to walk in as all purchasing would be done digitally. My job no longer requires me to work on the day to day tasks but instead oversee that our software system is running smoothly and is up-to-date. Everyone in the company with a delegation of financial authority (DoFA) is a registered and trained user. Therefore, if a requisition is needed the DoFA would connect with the system via the cloud to put in a requisition and select the already vetted products available to them for purchase. If an item is not available there is another process within the system where the software will take the requestors information and properly vet the right product or service based on the company’s purchasing guidelines that were set when the system was being installed. The system will then organize payments, logistics and route notifications for the purchaser to track their requisition. Since implementing this system, the company has been able to drastically reduce net spend by reducing the footprint usually needed for a large headcount to support the purchasing office. In addition, the system includes machine intelligence (MI) that continuously learns based on how it is being used which enables the company to continuously drive effectiveness and efficiency throughout the company.