Moving Big Retail Centralized CRM and Data Management Server to Infrastructure as a Service (AWS)

Research Report
Moving Big Retail Centralized CRM
and Data Management Server to
Infrastructure as a Service (AWS)
5/22/2019

Research Report
1. Introduction & Description of the Case
The case study focuses on the Big Retail Company called XYZ that has decided to change its
current centralized Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system and data management
server to the cloud-based system. The cloud-based model that is selected is Infrastructure as a
Service (IaaS) cloud that will be Amazon Web Services (AWS) platform.
1.1. Current Issues
There is lot of data that the organization deals with on a per day basis. It includes the
customer information, business details, and product information. The centralized server is
located in a different city and it is becoming difficult for the organization to manage the data
sets in this method. The company is expanding its business and it is becoming difficult to
handle the data sets with the server lying at a centralized location.
Scalability is the primary concern as the requirements for the organization vary as per the
need of the resources and the data sets. It is necessary to have a solution that can be scaled up
or scaled down as per the requirement. The absence of such a solution can lead to the
inability to handle the data and information sets as the dynamic needs will not be met
(Padilla, Milton & Johnson, 2015). The current issues are creating problems with the data
storage, data access, and execution of the business operations. With the expansion of the
business, it has become essential for the organization to move to a cloud-based platform. This
is because the cloud-based platform will provide the required scalability and resources to
manage the data sets. The remote handling and storage of the information pieces will also
become possible (Sill, 2016).
There are certain issues and challenges that may emerge with the adoption of the cloud
services and platforms.
 Price: Cloud-based models are cheaper and there are no infrastructure costs associated
with the cloud models. However, there are training costs, maintenance costs, etc. that
may come up.
 Internet Speed: The variances in the internet speed can have an impact on the
performance of the cloud.
 Security: One of the primary concerns that may emerge with the inclusion of cloud in
the business architecture is the data security and privacy. There are numerous security

Research Report
and privacy risks that the data sets may get exposed to. Some of these include
malware attacks, man in the middle attacks, eavesdropping attacks, denial of service
attacks, and data breaches (An, Zaaba & Samsudin, 2016).
 Resource Sharing: One of the inherent properties of the cloud is sharing of the
resources. It may provide the benefits of optimum resource utilization; however, the
privacy and confidentiality of the information can become a problem (Hentschel,
Leyh & Petznick, 2018).
 Change Management: The cloud services and platforms will be used for the first time
in the organization. This will lead to the emergence of several changes in terms of
operational and technical changes. The mismanagement of these changes may lead to
the reduction in the productivity and efficiency levels. Also, there will be a
considerable share of cost that will be spent on the training modules (Hentschel, Leyh
& Petznick, 2018).
 Ownership Issues: In the IaaS cloud model, the ownership of the data and the
operations will be distributed to the vendor and the XYZ organization. The
determination of the ownership and the permissions may be an issue (Hentschel, Leyh
& Petznick, 2018).
2. Implementation Plan
2.1. Overview
The transition from the on-premises systems to the cloud systems will be done in a series of
steps. This is because the Big Band implementation will have higher chances of failure. Also,
the phased implementation approach will provide the ability to have short-term goals and the
problem-solving will be easier (Mahwish, 2018). The first step in this phase will be the
determination of the cloud architecture and the integration of the enterprise software. This
integration could be done for the SAP software with cloud infrastructure. The next step will
be the development of Microservices architecture at the top which will provide the ability to
create the services in order to make the interactions and integration with the databases in
accordance with the business requirements (Aws, 2019). The overall adaptability and
scalability will improve with this architecture and its implementation. The next step will
include the development of a business layer which will enable the API access for
Microservices and the consumption capacity will increase. Continuous integration and
development will be essential and it will be made possible with the aid of some of the