Integrated Professional Skills in Digital Age

This report discusses collaborative tools that helped businesses during the pandemic, advantages and disadvantages of cloud storage and computing, privacy and security challenges on the internet, and possible measures to protect digital assets.

INTEGRATED
PROFESSIONAL SKILLS IN
DIGITAL AGE

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................................4
MAIN BODY.......................................................................................................................................4
1. Identifying two collaborative tools which minimized the physical contact and helped the
businesses during pandemic.............................................................................................................4
2. Discuss advantages, disadvantages, suitability, and applications of cloud storage and
computing in improving digitalization............................................................................................5
3. Identifying privacy and security challenges that are rising on the internet and possible
measures could be taken by the business in order to protect the digital asset.................................8
4. Justifying the answer in context to the question of cryptocurrency as a bubble bursting .........11
CONCLUSION...................................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES...................................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
Information and communication technology is referred as an umbrella term which involves a
diverse range of resources and tech tools, used in transmitting, creating, sharing, storing or
exchanging informations around the world. This is a denotative term used for information
technology which pays emphasis on the unified communications. It is a term which is used by the
academic researchers from the 1980s (Ohlin, 2019). The ICT tools and resources involve the
internet, computers, recorded broadcasting techs (podcasts, video players, storage devices), live
broadcasting techs (radio, webcasting and televisions) and telephony technologies(mobile or fixed,
video/vision conferencing, satellite etc.). This report will comprise identification of tools that
helped businesses in minimizing the physical contact during the pandemic, advantages-
disadvantages, applications, and suitability of cloud storage, identification of security and privacy
challenges with possible measures taken by the individuals and businesses to protect their digital
assets. Furthermore, the report will discuss the question of cryptocurrency as bubble bursting.
MAIN BODY
1. Identifying two collaborative tools which minimized the physical contact and helped the
businesses during pandemic
Collaboration itself means working with other people by sharing the ideas and determining
the projects which are needed to be completed for accomplishing the goal. Collaborative tools are
the tools through which the employees can operate from any place in the world by simply
welcoming more and more candidates for the enterprises. The pandemic period shifted every
traditional approach of doing business to the modern approach by taking the businesses and it
operations on the online platform, where there is no physical contact and carrying on the business is
safe. Technology has evolved immensely in the past few years and especially after the pandemic
and during the pandemic, the use of technology got more and more (Bahrini and Qaffas, 2019).
With the advanced technology of huge online platforms, there was no stopping and going back in
the economy. The business only got better as there is no physical contact in these methods and have
also turned out to be the cost effective methods for the world today. Here are the examples of two
collaborative tools which were used by the businesses in order to reduce the physical contact.
ZOOM
Uncertainty in the economy which took place recently, completely restricted the physical
contact. This is where the platforms like zoom came in and helped the economy to stand strong and

businesses to retain its functions. It is a software which is cloud based and is used for video
conferencing. This app allows businesses which are indulged in the financial, educational,
healthcare and governmental sectors to help and collaborate in the real time with meetings
conducted through this tool (Demestichas and Daskalakis, 2020). The quality of the internet has a
direct influence on the quality of the apps services. The businesses use this app by making a
particular room for every individual event and start with their webinar, where they discuss
everything about the business's operations and plans on the future happenings and work without
getting in an actual touch. Zoom also provides the options of chat and whiteboard which helps the
businesses to manage and carry on their work smoothly.
SLACK
It is an online messaging platform which is used by the businesses to manage their flow of
work by simply forwarding messages and informations which are needed by the other people of the
organization. The tool is basically an application of the computer which enables the organization to
communicate to both personal level and to the entire group without even getting in any physical
touch. This tool transforms the network of communication and unify the people of the organization
from different places. It is the best suitable for the businesses which avoid physical contact for the
safety issues. Slack helps the entire team of the businesses to operate much faster and enable the
teamwork to stay in sync by converting messages into channels. This helps the people to come
together and share the ideas and also make effective decisions. The platform was widely used by the
businesses during the pandemic times and since then it has taken over the world. Slack is also used
by many big organizations such as Udemy, Pinterest, Airbnb etc.
2. Discuss advantages, disadvantages, suitability, and applications of cloud storage and computing
in improving digitalization
The advent of Information technology and communication (ICT) has transformed the way
businesses all over the world are being conducted. Organizations belonging to every niche or
business segment are constantly dependent these days on the digitalization of their products and
services. This has given rise to the concept of digitalization. It means the continuous use of digital
platforms, devices, and technologies for developing business and marketing models for the
generation of revenue and value based brand awareness. This ongoing trend of digitalization in all
the business spheres is conducted widely over the Internet which is technically known as the 'Cloud'
of all the incessant information (Židek and et.al., 2020).
Digital use of technological softwares serve the main purpose of collecting, storing,
organizing, and distribution of general, specific, and sensitive data to the prospective users. In this

regard, the term 'Cloud computing' means garnering services such as servers, networking,
intelligence, etc. over the Internet to offer innovation, resource pliability, etc. On the other hand,
'Cloud storage' is known as a data computing model that unlike the local servers stores information
on remote ones so that those who manage data can access it by buying cloud services. Given below
are some related advantages, drawbacks, and other dimensions of using cloud-based digitalization.
BENEFITS
Given below are some ways in which cloud computing has positively shaped the Digital
age:
Cost-effective
Cloud based computing offers 3 main types of services namely Infrastructure service (IaaS),
Platform based (PaaS), and Software service (SaaS). It has transformed the digitalized business
conducts primarily by making cost adjustments and reducing cost of production. Several public and
private cloud hosts create multiple data backups which works cost-effectively in times of crisis
(Sunyaev, 2020).
Flaccidity
Flaccidity basically means flexibility which the cloud based services provide in abundance
to those whom it serves. Digital businesses mainly require constant rethinking before launching or
executing their product, market or advertising strategy. Here the cloud softwares act as a rescue
force by IT department to maintain work agility.
Safety and reliability
If a digital company conducts its business operations without any technical help of cloud
storage software then there is a strong possibility that it will face a heavy loss of data in the form of
breaches, internal threats, brute force, etc. But thanks to cloud computing, all sensitive data gets
backed up.
DRAWBACKS & LIMITATIONS
Having discussed the benefits, here are some disadvantages of cloud computing in
digitalization:
Vulnerability to threats
In contrast to the aforementioned points of its advantages, the Cloud technology is not
without any downsides. One of its many drawbacks is that it is prone to external attacks ad security
breach risks. Not to mention its heavy duty network dependency, along with it the cloud based
softwares and servers sometimes don't respond to the deployed safety measure due to which the

digital company faces drastic losses (Aljumah and Ahanger, 2020).
Downtime and migration
Cloud downtime refers to the tech-based power outages or connectivity loss issues that lead
to a slow Internet network. Thus digital firms might have to face service delivery issues due to
ineffective data maintenance. Another related limitation is that of in-migration or switching between
2 or more cloud platforms. When companies move or shift their invaluable data figures and
customer information over to another cloud storage, the servers might crash due to heavy load. Or
worse it might fall victim to fake application providers.
Restricted control
The cloud computing actions take place over several Internet storages that are widely spread
among multiple off-limit remote servers. These programmed data storing and processing servers are
in turn owned by individual cloud service providers therefore making it off-limits for the digital
businesses to actually have any control over it.
ASSESSING SUITABILITY OF CLOUD APPLICATIONS
'Cloud suitability', more casually known as 'clouduitability' is defined as the appropriate
form of applicable technological servive through the IT based cloud storage softwares. Over the
years the Internet has become an unavoidable force ruling even the once-diminished or
technologically redundant industries. Today the information and technology service providing
applications and cloud softwares are rapidly expanding the era of digitalization. In this particular
context, the current cloud environments function as a provisional source platform of running several
industrial applications (Corneo and et.al., 2021, April).
Before a digital organization runs its chosen applications on the Cloud, it is vital to first
choose the proper applications itself. This means that a prior assessment needs to be done as to
which IT applications possess or do not contain the suitability factor for running on Cloud
computing softwares. In the contex of of Cloud suitability it is important to note that there are two
ways in which these apps can be run on it – either they are born or generated on Cloud itself or
more commonly relocated to it. These are some of the applications thar are either suitable or not
suitable:
Suitable:
 Prototyped product
 Social media apps
 Mobile softwares

 Data analytics, Web 2.0, CRM, ERP, HR tools, etc.
Not suitable:
 Privacy-bound information apps
 Hospital, military, or legal data
 National security information-softwares
 RDBMS enterprise, etc.
APPLICATIONS OF CLOUD STORAGE & COMPUTING
Cloud-based services refer to the IT and technical intelligence powered host services that
almost all the local and global businesses make use of with increasing dependency. These services
are availed by digitalized businesses through various modes – public, private, and hybrid cloud
environments that run selected organizatinal applications. As per above discussion it should be
noted that before locating any business app over the Cloud system, it needs to fit the suitability of
efficient working. Once it fits the compatibility criterion then the next step is to sort through a hoard
of applications selecting those that best fit in improving digitalization. Some of these are as follows:
 Data integration and software management resources can be easily put over the Cloud based
platforms thereby facilitating the IT workload (Markandey and et.al., 2018, September).
 Desktop cloud apps like advanced word processors, e-blogging and training tools, cellular
applications, etc. are also appropriate for productivity enhancement.
 Disaster Recovery Service app can help fulfil the scalability requirement of Cloud.
3. Identifying privacy and security challenges that are rising on the internet and possible measures
could be taken by the business in order to protect the digital asset.
Today, Internet is known for the fastest way of communicating and connecting with the world, but
unfortunately this is not the safest. Internet has given us the life that has helped us to be in connect
with each other (Ogonji, Okeyo and Wafula, 2020). Not only this there are other benefits as well for
using social media but there is other side too with it that is internet being full of scams and the
gambles which is a serious data concerns and threat to the individual and the business models.
Some privacy and security challenges are as follows-
Search engines track users-

Search engines are not only tracking the information that of an individual that they are looking for
(Shouran, Ashari and Priyambodo, 2019). But, they have also started tracking websites that any
individual visit after that. Search engines are collecting information from various things:
 Browsing History
 IP address
 Click- through history
 Cookies
This information given the profile of the consumer base, person's preferences and the choices and
this information is used in running ad campaigns. This is known as profiling which is serious
privacy threat and the challenge, as these engines associate someone's personal information.
Identity theft-
Identity theft is happening on the internet for the longest time. Identity theft happens when someone
accessed to somebody's private information for committing fraud (Vegh, 2018). This information
can be anyone's driving licence, personal bank account details, tax numbers, or anything that can be
used for committing fraud. To get the information there are some tricks that can be followed by the
person that is stealing somebody's private information-
Phishing- Criminals act as a reputable institute to collect someone's sensitive information.
Malware- This is the software that access private information to hack the system.
Pharming- Hijacking information can be done by using a virus that is done through the fake site.
Social media use as a data mining and data harvesting-
This refers to the process of mining the personal information from the various social media sites.
Social media data mining collects information from the sources that are publicly available and also
generated from the regular social media interactions. These social media data mining has been
exposed in various scams that have left millions of users exposed. The recent example can be seen
from the Facebook's massive data breach which shred the personal data of 533 million users, with
their full names, their phone numbers, email- addresses etc.
The security tips and possible measures to protect privacy and security of any firm-
Virtual private network-
Virtual private network is the services provided by the Internet which ensures that the connection
between the servers and the users is encrypted through the VPN tunnel. This stops other person to
stop seeing anything that anybody is doing on the internet (Yu, and et.al., 2018). The goal to create

virtual pan network is to prevent the traffic on the important data to made it accessible to the open
internet. VPN also helps in hiding the IP address and all the online activity.
Public internet connection-
Public internet connections are available at many places around the world. But the business entity or
any other individual should avoid as there are cyber attacks through the Wi-Fi and because it is free,
it will attract the people too use it without any cost. Hacker has taken advantage of this mentality
earlier and this incident has happened with many people. So it, is better to not use such connection.
Securing the devices and using antivirus software-
Hackers use different schemes in order to steal the personal data. Considering this all the
individuals and the businesses should user updated antivirus software's on their devices whether It
be the mobile or the computer. Antivirus software checks virus and helps the user to know whether
his private information is getting read by somebody else. This helps user to securing to their
information easily.
Being aware of what you click online-
Individual should be well aware of what they are clicking online. Sometimes clicking anything
online increases the chances of falling into victims and the phishing attack as the person will end up
giving his private information to the scammer. Some phishing threat are hidden under the mask like
the adds. The extra careful attitude is needed in those type of attacks. Don't click anything online
that can be dangerous for the individual identity.
Two Factor Authorization-
The username and password alone is not sufficient in order to store and secure the data into the
cloud services provided by the Google instead the company needs the two factor authorization in
order to protect the information. Two factor authorization makes it difficult for someone else to
have access to stored information digitally.
The above are some techniques and tools that help the user of internet to have security over its
personal data and information that is easily available online at all the times today in the cyber space.
The cyber space is not safe and this is the reason every individual should take some measures
before using it.
4. Justifying the answer in context to the question of cryptocurrency as a bubble bursting
Cryptocurrency refers to the digitalized currency in which all the transactions are recorded
and verified by maintaining a decentralized system. This entire unit does not have regulating

authority or central issuing. It uses the cryptography in order to secure the transactions. But the fact
that, it is a bubble, is most probably the worst secret which is kept within it (Wątorek and et.al
2021). The money which the market gets and rising of the massive prices, is mostly by the investors
who are always investing their capital in the expectation of riding the tide. Initially, the market was
doing very well and giving great returns to the people who were investing in it. But yes it is a
bubble bursting, as the digital coin in the real world holds no actual value and the entire currency
keeps fluctuating. It is the world of digital money which is up, one minute and is completely down,
in the next minute.
The digital coin has no intrinsic value and is nor an investable asset. The utility of the coin
outside the digital ecosystem is zero. Cryptocurrency is a fast growing way of making money for
the youth but, the currency area does not have any underlined asset which makes it very predictable
that the currency can face downfall any time or can also face a sudden rise at anytime in the market
(Liu and Tsyvinski, 2021). This is the major reason why the market keeps fluctuating always.
Recently, in the early May the entire market faced a huge downfall which made many people who
invested their money suffer losses. The daily incomes of many people got vanished and also is one
of the main reason why Tether paid 10 billion dollars at the time of withdrawals.
CONCLUSION
From the above report, it can be concluded that the collaboration at workplace has
significant role, and after pandemic the importance has also increased. Its impact are getting
increase day by day. The cloud computing, cloud storage are becoming new thing in every sector of
the industry. Its advantage, disadvantage, suitability has helped us in deciding that cloud storage is
the next best thing as it has more advantages than the disadvantages. The next and the last thing that
has been discussed in this report is regarding the privacy and security challenge today that every
other individual and business firm is facing because of the scams and gambles that are happening on
the internet (Sun, and et.al.,2018). Though, there is no doubt that internet has changed lives of many
people and it has many advantages but there is always a negative side too. Further, the last issue that
has been addressed is regarding the crash of cryptocurrency and the bubble that busted in May.
REFERENCES
Books and Journals

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Liu, Y. and Tsyvinski, A., 2021. Risks and returns of cryptocurrency. The Review of Financial
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Markandey, A., and et.al., 2018, September. Data access security in cloud computing: A review. In
2018 International Conference on Computing, Power and Communication Technologies
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