Cloud Computing: Office Automation Strategies and IaaS Recommendations

This report examines cloud computing strategies for office automation, focusing on the cloud approach and integrated approach. It analyzes the benefits and issues of each, recommending a cloud-based approach for Regional Gardens due to its scalability and security advantages, particularly when considering IaaS. The report differentiates between IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS models, highlighting IaaS as the recommended choice for moving SharePoint services because of its customizability and secure connections, while also acknowledging associated problems like higher implementation costs. The document provides insights into various cloud computing models and their applications within an organizational context, supported by diagrams and references to relevant academic literature.

Running head: CLOUD COMPUTING
Cloud Computing
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Table of Contents
Answer 1..............................................................................................................................2
Answer 2..............................................................................................................................2
2.1. Two approaches of providing office Automation.....................................................2
2.1.1. The Cloud Approach..........................................................................................2
2.1.2. Integrated Approach..........................................................................................2
2.2 Benefits and Issues associated with Cloud Approach and Integration Approach.....3
2.1.1. Cloud Approach.................................................................................................3
2.2.2. Integrated Approach..........................................................................................3
2.3. Chosen Approach......................................................................................................3
Answer 3..............................................................................................................................4
Answer 4..............................................................................................................................7
4.1. Differences between IaaS, PaaS and SaaS................................................................7
4.2. Model Recommended: IaaS......................................................................................8
4.3. Problems...................................................................................................................9
References.........................................................................................................................11

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Answer 1
In attached presentation slides.
Answer 2
2.1. Two approaches of providing office Automation
There are different approaches of providing office automation services that can be
considered by the Regional Gardens in implementing office automation. Office automation in
regional Gardens will integrate the different office functions to the staffs including email, word
processing and spread sheet capabilities and can be accessed by an individual from any place be
it home, office or customer’s site. Two approaches of office automation that can be undertaken
by Regional Gardens are cloud approach and development of an integrated system.
2.1.1. The Cloud Approach
This is a suggested method for implementation of office automation in Regional Gardens
as it is event specific and can be customized for task specific needs. This approach can be a core
building block for the different departmental process and improvement initiatives taken for the
organization wide connection. Cloud office automation integrates the different workflows
within an organization by providing a concrete information management strategy (Xu, 2012).
The staffs can access the information stored in the cloud with the help of an internet
connection. This approach of office automation will provide the benefits of electronic
communication and electronic collaboration of the important information among the staffs of
the organization. Therefore, it is one of the suggested approaches of office automation in
Regional Gardens.
2.1.2. Integrated Approach
This is another approach of providing office automation to Regional Gardens. An
integrated office automation system is generally designed to considering all the elements
between the users, equipments and the services running within an organization. This allows the
staffs of the organization in accessing the different files such as email, word processing and

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spread sheet capabilities. The advantages and disadvantages of using the cloud or integrated
approach of providing office automation to Regional Gardens are elaborated in the following
section.
2.2 Benefits and Issues associated with Cloud Approach and Integration Approach
2.1.1. Cloud Approach
The major benefits of implementing a cloud approach of office automation are as
follows-
1. The cloud platform will integrate all the business operation of Regional Gardens
2. It will store a lot of physical space by storing all the vital information in cloud server.
3. It is easily accessible by the staffs of Regional Gardens through an internet
connection.
The major issues associated with cloud automation are as follows-
1. Data security is a major concern in cloud automation (Chen & Zhao, 2012)
2. Selection of a trusted vendor is major challenge as well.
2.2.2. Integrated Approach
The major benefits of integrated approach are that it increases the efficiency of
automation process as it can be easily customizable. However the one of the major issue
associated with this system is that if the implementation fails, it can prove to be a costly failure
in future.
2.3. Chosen Approach
Analyzing the benefits and issues associated with cloud computing it is recommended
for Regional Gardens to use a cloud based approach of office automation as the data security
issue can be mitigated by implementing proper encryption and access control.

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Answer 3
The differences between IaaS and PaaS public cloud infrastructure are as follows-
IaaS Approach
IaaS or infrastructure as a service provides a virtual
platform on which a particular operating
environment and application are deployed.
It provides self service model for accessing,
monitoring and managing the remote datacenter
infrastructures for storage, networking and
computing needs
It is mainly used if there is unavailability of
infrastructure space.
It helps in enforcing proper control over the
resources.
IaaS providers include Amazon, Azure and so on.
PaaS Approach
PaaS or Platform as a service provides operating
environment that includes Windows, .NET and
application of choice deployed.
PaaS are generally used for applications of
providing cloud components to a software. This
approach makes the process of deployment of the
approach even easier (Paraiso et al., 2012).
It provides access to the multiple concurrent users
and it is one of the major benefits of PaaS.
The providers of PaaS include AWS, Apache Stratos
and so on.
Characteristics of IaaS
 Easier data back and disaster recovery

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 Enhanced security (Jadeja & Modi, 2012)
 Provides dynamic scaling and elasticity
 Includes monitoring tools and customized management
 However, it is costly as compared to PaaS
Figure 1: Representing the different Characteristics of IaaS
(Source: Created by the Author using Ms Visio)
Characteristics of PaaS
 It takes much less time in implementation
 Provides on demand service
 Provides elasticity
 Less costly in comparison to PaaS

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Figure 2: Representing the different Characteristics of PaaS
(Source: Created by the Author using Ms Visio)

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Answer 4
4.1. Differences between IaaS, PaaS and SaaS
The major differences between IaaS, PaaS and SaaS are as follows-
Characteristics IaaS PaaS SaaS
Definition
IaaS or infrastructure
as a cloud provides
virtualized cloud
computing resources
over internet. It
provides an instant
cloud computing
infrastructure that can
be managed over
internet (Moreno-
Vozmediano, Montero
& Llorente, 2012).
Platform as service is a
category of cloud
computing providing a
platform that allows
the developers in
building an application
over internet. The
services of PaaS are
hosted in cloud and
can be accessed by
the users through the
Web browsers.
Software as a service
is a software
licensing delivery
model of cloud that
acts on a
subscription basis
(Aghera, Chaudhary
& Kumar, 2012). It is
hosted centrally and
can be accessed by
the users via web
browser.
Advantages of using this
Approach
This approach reduces
the infrastructure cost
and provides virtually
limitless scalability and
agility in its
implementation
The cost of
implementation is low
Lower upfront cost
Offers Pay as you go
service
Increases the speed of
development and
deployment of this
platform in business
Offers scalability and
integration of
different cloud
offerings
Supports disaster
recovery
It is easily scalable It is easy to use and
quick to deploy
It mainly Focuses on The client need not

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business growth and
Offers strong security
handle the
complexity of
underlying IT
infrastructure
associated with
cloud deployment
Disadvantages
The Clients need to
take in charge of the
back ups
The system is
associated with
security risk (Almorsy,
Grundy & Müller,
2016)
Client has no control
over the data
Customer is
responsible for VM
management
It is not as cost
effective as SaaS
Has limited number
of software solutions
It is most expensive to
implement
It provides a shared
platform
The cloud vendor
has full access to
customers’ data
4.2. Model Recommended: IaaS
IaaS approach is recommended for Regional Gardens for moving its share point services.
This is because the IaaS approach is easily customizable that will be appropriate for providing
services to the employees. Although it is a bit expensive it offers a certain advantages in its
usage. The advantages of using IaaS platform are as follow (Manvi & Shyam, 2014)-
1. It is easily customizable which will be beneficial for Regional Gardens to deploy
Microsoft SharePoint 2010 from its existing data center.
2. It provides a secure connection that can be used for storing confidential data of the
organization.

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3. It offers scalability and flexibility of customizing the services according needs of the
client. Customizable service is a must need for the Regional Gardens for moving its SharePoint
2010 instance to cloud.
The benefits of using and IaaS cloud platform is represented in the image below-
Figure 3: Representing the different advantages of IaaS
(Source: Created by the Author using Ms Visio)
4.3. Problems
The problems or issues associated with IaaS are as follows (Obrutsky, 2016)-
1. The implementation cost of the IaaS is considerably higher in comparison to PaaS and
SaaS.

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2. It offers limited control over the data stored in the system
3. Downtime of technical difficulties is considerably high

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References
Aghera, P., Chaudhary, S., & Kumar, V. (2012, May). An approach to build multi-tenant SaaS
application with monitoring and SLA. In Communication systems and network
technologies (csnt), 2012 international conference on (pp. 658-661). IEEE.
Almorsy, M., Grundy, J., & Müller, I. (2016). An analysis of the cloud computing security
problem. arXiv preprint arXiv:1609.01107.
Chen, D., & Zhao, H. (2012, March). Data security and privacy protection issues in cloud
computing. In Computer Science and Electronics Engineering (ICCSEE), 2012
International Conference on (Vol. 1, pp. 647-651). IEEE.
Jadeja, Y., & Modi, K. (2012, March). Cloud computing-concepts, architecture and challenges.
In Computing, Electronics and Electrical Technologies (ICCEET), 2012 International
Conference on (pp. 877-880). IEEE.
Manvi, S. S., & Shyam, G. K. (2014). Resource management for Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)
in cloud computing: A survey. Journal of Network and Computer Applications, 41, 424-
440.
Moreno-Vozmediano, R., Montero, R. S., & Llorente, I. M. (2012). Iaas cloud architecture: From
virtualized datacenters to federated cloud infrastructures. Computer, 45(12), 65-72.
Obrutsky, S. (2016). Cloud Storage: Advantages, Disadvantages and Enterprise Solutions for
Business.
Paraiso, F., Haderer, N., Merle, P., Rouvoy, R., & Seinturier, L. (2012, June). A federated multi-
cloud PaaS infrastructure. In Cloud Computing (CLOUD), 2012 IEEE 5th International
Conference on (pp. 392-399). IEEE.
Xu, X. (2012). From cloud computing to cloud manufacturing. Robotics and computer-integrated
manufacturing, 28(1), 75-86.