Determining Cloud Technology Impact on Business: Plan.com Case Study

This report presents a comprehensive analysis of the impact of cloud technology on business organizations, using Plan.com as a case study. The research explores the benefits of cloud technology, including improved data storage, information sharing, and enhanced business performance and productivity. The study investigates the need for implementing cloud technology within organizations, identifies different cloud computing models, and assesses the impact on company operations. The report includes a literature review, research methodology, data analysis, findings, and recommendations. It also addresses the significance of cloud computing in the current business environment and its role in improving efficiency and competitiveness. The research aims to determine how cloud technology affects business organizations in storing and sharing information, providing insights into the practical applications and advantages of cloud solutions for small businesses like Plan.com. The report concludes with a self-reflection and recommendations for future implementation and improvements.

Research Project

Table of Contents
1: INTRODUCTION.......................................................................................................................1
Overview of the Research......................................................................................................1
Background of the Research...................................................................................................1
Significance of the Research .................................................................................................2
Research Aim.........................................................................................................................2
Research Objectives...............................................................................................................2
Research Questions................................................................................................................3
Time Scale..............................................................................................................................3
2: LITERATURE REVIEW ...........................................................................................................4
Benefits of cloud technology for small business....................................................................4
Need of implementing cloud technology for Plan.com..........................................................5
Characteristics of cloud technology.......................................................................................5
Impact of cloud technology on company's performance and productivity.............................6
3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY................................................................................................6
Type of Investigation..............................................................................................................7
Research Design.....................................................................................................................7
Research Philosophy..............................................................................................................7
Research approach..................................................................................................................7
Data sampling.........................................................................................................................8
Ethical consideration..............................................................................................................8
4: DATA ANALYSIS......................................................................................................................8
5: FINDINGS TO STAKEHOLDER............................................................................................21
6: RECOMMENDATIONS ..........................................................................................................21
7: SELF REFLECTION.................................................................................................................22
8: CONCLUSION..........................................................................................................................22
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................24
...............................................................................................................................31

TITLE – To determine the impact of cloud technology on business organisations in storing and
sharing information. A case study on Plan.com.
1: INTRODUCTION
Overview of the Research
In this faster development era, digital technology is one of the major innovation which
make individuals' life easier. Cloud technology is a part of digitalisation as it brings efficiency
and effectiveness for people. Its an intergalactic computer network by which people over the
world can interconnected and access data or programmes from anywhere. In context of business
associations, there is trend of using cloud technology for real time applications and get easily
interact with clients. Although, cloud computing has changed the way of organisations' using
computer and internet; mainly the change relates with how information or data is stored as well
as applications are utilised (Beetham and Sharpe, 2013). For competition of this research project,
Plan.com is the chosen organisation that provides solutions and expertise of business problems.
Its has a partnership with O2 B2B networking retaining complete ownership of their network
relationship with customers. In order to manage all data and information of its clients, the firm
uses cloud computing thus to easily access towards customers. Apart from this, the research
project based upon the impact of cloud technology on small business entities and how it helps
company to raise performance and productivity. A literature review will be made thus to gain
viewpoints or opinions of numerous authors in specific area of concern. Furthermore, various
types of methodologies will use in order to obtain better outcomes and draw an effective
conclusion.
Background of the Research
Cloud technology is one of the major aspect for business associations which integrates it
to attain new heights of success in a certain time period. It supports users to get access data,
applications and documents as people does not need to tied with their desktop and it is easier for
them to collaborate from various locations. Along with this, the main objective of every firm is
to reduce computing costs, many of them starts doing so by implementing digital operations or
virtualise technology. It can optimise the capacity of servers to process and manipulate data by
applying cloud technology as the application reduces infrastructure and administration costs,
increase utilisation and faster deployment cycles (Benckendorff, Sheldon and Fesenmaier, 2014).
In simple words, cloud technology provides, companies higher availability, dynamic resource
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polls and virtualisation. The present assignment is based upon Plan.Com which is a wide
network of expertise and works to determine perform telecom solutions for large business
organisations. The main services of the company are – mobile, hosted voice, software and
broadband which makes flexible and easier communication. Apart from this, the research project
help learners to know the benefits of cloud technology and why companies must apply this.
Plan.com will also get benefited by implementation of cloud technology as it increases flexibility
and efficiency of working activities and operations. It also reduces operational and infrastructure
cost of the company.
Significance of the Research
In this over dynamic business environment, every company is tend towards applying new
and innovative technology thus to gain high competitive edge. The present research taken into
consideration about the influence of cloud computing on sharing and storing information.
Nowadays, companies are focused to keep their data or applications safe and secure. In this
manner, cloud computing is an effective technique to manage confidentiality of necessary data
and information. By acquiring this system, small businesses can easily get rid over with problem
of loosing any information or data. Although, the reason behind using this technology is to
improve knowledge area thus to create future projects in an effective manner (Bizirgianni and
Dionysopoulou, 2013). Cloud computing allows organizations to use their hardware and
software investments in more efficient ways. It can be achieved to get rid over from physical
barriers of the isolated systems and automated managing a group of systems as a single unit. This
technology is seen as a virtualised system which constitutes a natural evolution of data centres.
Rationale of research
This research is based on the impact of cloud technology on business organisations. It is
helpful in enhancing the knowledge of researcher regarding the research topic. It will help
investigation to conduct any research in future and through this investigator can gain the deep
knowledge about the concept of cloud technology.
Research Aim
Aim – To determine the impact of cloud technology on business organisations in storing
and sharing information. A case study on Plan.com.
Research Objectives
 To determine the benefits of cloud technology for Plan.com
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 To identify the needs of cloud computing within an organization.
 To find out the various models of cloud computing.
 To locate the effectiveness of cloud technology which may aid in enhancing performance
and productivity of the company.
Research Questions
 What are the main benefits of cloud technology for Plan.com?
 What is the need of applying cloud technology within business organisations ?
 What are the major characteristics of cloud computing?
 How cloud technology affects firm's performance and productivity ?
Time Scale
It is fundamental responsibility of researcher to develop an appropriate time frame thus to
accomplish all activities and tasks in best possible manner. Following is defined proper time
frame of research activities and tasks, such as -
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2: LITERATURE REVIEW
A Literature review is a published information of specific topic. In other words, its a
summary of various sources from where data or information has been taken. The prime motive of
every literature is to solve all obstacles of research and reach at appropriate conclusion.
Benefits of cloud technology for small business
In present scenario, the use of cloud technology is rapidly increases as most of the small
and large business associations are tend to acquire this technology in order to gain high
competitive edge. According to Brynjolfsson and McAfee, (2012) cloud computing services
offer SMEs an opportunity to offload the management of their IT network to external providers.
Cloud technology provides reliability and availability to companies as if network is in cloud then
data is always available. Cloud also helps small businesses with significant savings, as it fully
utilise hardware. Virtualisation raise the value of hardware that implies business can generate
more with less. It leads reduction of rack space, IT requirements and power usage. Another most
alluring benefit of cloud technology is it makes able to easy access work related information and
files from any device, any time or any place. Therefore, increased mobility and flexibility in
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cloud can leads cost saving. Cloud computing services are also liable for integrating data and
information by which business owners can focus on critical areas of business time to time.
Information stored in physical devices can be stolen easily but utilising cloud technology
requires a username or password to login into information. Hence, it is known as more secured
option to store and securing confidential data. Cloud computing services also assists businesses
as they act faster than rivals it results imperative decisions can be also made rapidly. Therefore,
cloud services surely help Plan.com to remain competitive and successful.
Need of implementing cloud technology for Plan.com
Nowadays, cloud technology has improved the way of doing or operate business. All
companies, large and small are tend towards applying new tools and technologies in order to
improve their functional areas. With the viewpoint of Brynjolfsson and McAfee, (2014) experts
believes that cloud computing helps small business to store large amount of data at one place.
Instead of saving information in software or desktops companies can store confidential data into
cloud. Along with this, storing information at one place provides unlimited space utility to
companies. As if entire data would be stored at one place, managers can easily back it up or
recover it at the time of requirement. Cloud computing services are arrived from anywhere from
desktops, tablets, smartphones etc. via internet. Most of business associations applied “Bring
your own device (BYOD)” policy in order to bring mobility at workplace. It helps employees to
easily access information with their mobiles. Therefore, it can be said that cloud computing
services offer greater flexibility as well as location independence to companies.
Another need of applying cloud technology is it enable firms to get their applications
quickly and also improve manageability. The IT department of the company adjust their
resources as per changes in demands while using cloud technology. Cloud technology does not
require much investment thus any small business can easily apply it (Buhalis and Foerste, 2015).
It carries out products at market faster which means agility in delivering services.
Characteristics of cloud technology
There are three different models of cloud technology, such as -
Software as a Service (SaaS) - It refers those applications which are accessible from
various client devices through either a thin client interface, such as a web browser (e.g., web-
based email), or a program interface.
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Platform as a Service (PaaS) - The capability provided to the consumer is to deploy onto
the cloud infrastructure consumer-created or acquired applications created using programming
language, libraries, services, and tools supported by the provider (Cohen and et. al., 2014).
Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) – In this, capabilities provided to clients with
provision, storage, processes, networks and further alternative software that can encompasses
operating system and applications.
Impact of cloud technology on company's performance and productivity
According to Del Chiappa and Baggio, (2015) it is essential for business owners to
leveraging most effective and economical solutions. In this perspective, cloud technology is one
of the imperative tool that resolve all IT problems to a business association. It render ability to
outsource IT operations of an external company which can shift risks and pressure relates with
managing IT infrastructure at workplace. Apart from this, there are certain essential
consequences of implementing cloud technology, such as – cost reduction, privacy, security,
reliability, sharing and collaboration. For example – if Plan.com will use cloud technology then
its employees will be able to work outside as per their convenience by using their mobile devices
or desktops. It leads to raise number of online transactions necessitates a cloud computing
solution. Therefore, firm will be able to perform in better manner. It offers various resources to
business owners in economical, flexible and scalable manner which increases production
capabilities of an organisation and it can easily attain goals and objectives in a certain time frame
work.
3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
For conducting a research, it is necessary for a researcher to make a proper arrangement
first. In context with research methodology, it refers to a procedure of gathering required
information as per set objectives. Through this information, managers of a firm can make
necessary decisions. In addition to this, it provides various ways like surveys, public research,
questionnaire and other techniques through which an investigator can opt the best one for
conducting proper research (Di Pietro, Di Virgilio and Pantano, 2012). Generally, a company
used research methodology for identifying in which part of business, issues are arise which affect
productivity. It helps in getting methods through which such problems can resolve on time. In
order to conduct the investigation, various instruments, methods and procedures are required.
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Along with this, exploration is also separated into various segments through which a research
can land on conclusion.
Type of Investigation
For conducting a research, a investigate can used different types of it like applied,
subjective, qualitative and quantitative. In context with applied research, it is used to address
immediate problems with aim to find solutions of the same. Therefore, it also known as non-
systematic inquiry. While subjective research is mostly based on personal opinions, judgement as
well as interpretation (Dickinson and et. al., 2014). It is commonly found in blogs, newspapers
editorials and more. Besides quantitative research is based on numerical data, it is considered as
a structured way of gathering and analysing data which is obtained from various sources. On the
other hand, qualitative research is taken as best method as it depends on collection of
observational and verbal data which can be interpreted in subjective manner. As per objectives,
this research is done in qualitative manner.
Research Design
It is a set of various methods and procedures used for collecting and analysing different
measures of variables which are given in research problems. Research design also states the type
of study done in a project that may be descriptive, experimental, correlation and many more. In
addition to this, it also provides an appropriate framework which has been formed for finding
answers of set questionnaires. Descriptive research helps in addressing issues as well as finding
solution of the same.
Research Philosophy
Research Philosophy is concerned with ways and nature as well as development or
improvement of a knowledge. In other words, it can be defined as a source through a data is
collected and analysed. It is done in two ways i.e. either interpretivism or positivism. Mostly,
researcher used interpretivism approach as it provides subjective report which helps inn
analysing information of a data in different manner (Egger, 2013).
Research approach
Research approach is generally divided into two segments that are inductive and
deductive. In this regard, inductive approach is used when sample size of a data is small so that
analysis can be done with greater manner. As sample size is small therefore, it doesn't give any
hypothetical outcomes so, investigator are allowed to choose any method for their investigation.
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While deductive research is used for analysing large data so, it starts with hypothesis. Thus,
researcher are required to choose one path only and they are not free to make any alternations in
the same. generalise from specific to general. In this regard, present data is based on inductive
research with an aim to conduct proper research.
Data sampling
It is a statistical analysis which generally used to select and analyse a selected data for
identifying patterns and trend of large sample. It includes various techniques like probabilistic
and non-probabilistic methods of sampling. In this regard, researcher used to take a sample from
large population data and then applied methodology on it. Therefore, overall result of data
depends upon chosen sample (Hojeghan and Esfangareh, 2011). Investigator of this research opt
probabilistic procedure for analysing the data sample. In this research, 50 respondents are taken
as a sample who are the local people of UK.
Ethical consideration
Ethics is considered as the most crucial part of a research in which an investigator is
required to ensure that investigation is being done in proper ethical manner. Researchers are
needed to take appropriate methods for conducting research by choosing the most ethical way as
much as possible. During investigation, project makers used to come across with different
critical situations and face many problems as well. Therefore, it is required by them to address
such problems in an adequate manner. These problems are generally arise when a part of
research has not completed in set period of time or when there is a shortage of funds. Thus, it is
required by a company to arrange proper finance first and try to complete each activity in
predetermined time so that occurrence of such issues can be minimised.
4: DATA ANALYSIS
It is one of the crucial part of every research project which aims is to summarize the
overall information or data that has been collected from various sources. Data analysis comprises
with collect, analyse and interpret data by utilisation of logical or analytical reasoning in order to
determine relationship and patterns. In addition, data analysis helps researcher to get know about
individuals opinions thus to implement best practice within organisations (Hudson and Thal,
2013). For this present assignment, data is gathered through questionnaire.
QUESTIONNAIRE
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Name
Age
Gender
Email address
Q1. Do you think that cloud technology is beneficial for companies to store and sharing
information?
A. Yes
B. No.
Q2. Since how many years Plan. Com is using cloud computing in its business processes?
A. Less than six months
B. Less than a year
C. More than a year.
Q3. What are the reasons behind possible engagement in the Cloud Computing area?
A. Low Cost and Free Technology
B. Content Growth
C. Collaboration
Q4. Which one is the main benefit of using cloud computing for Plan. Com? A
A. Increases productivity and efficiency
B. Reduce administration and infrastructure costs
C. Provide large storage of information and applications
Q4. Which “layer” of the Cloud would you be most likely to approach?
A. Individual software packages (SaaS)
B. Complete operating system and software package available via cloud services (PaaS)
C. Just infrastructure services such as storage and network capacity (Iaas)
Q5. Which IT services/Applications supporting business processes are most likely to be
outsourced to a Cloud Computing service provider?
A. Accounting and Finance
B. CRM/Sales management
C. Human resources
Q6. What are your main concerns in your approach to Cloud Computing?
A. Privacy
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B. Integrity and availability of data
C. Loss of control of services or data
Q7. Which one tool is used by Plan.com to reach large group of clients?
A. Social media sites
B. Email or text messages
C. Pay per click advertising
Q8. Who is responsible in your company for passing decisions related to information
technology?
A. The management
B. The management with support from the IT responsible
C. The management together with the IT responsible
D. The IT responsible
Q9. What are the main barriers of using cloud technology ?
A. Insufficient incentive for using the Cloud services
B. General resistance to change
C. Due to legal regulations - not transmitting data abroad
Q11. Give Recommendations, if Any.
Data analysis
Q1. Do you think that cloud technology is beneficial for
companies to store and sharing information?
Frequency
A. Yes 45
B. No. 5
Q2. Since how many years Plan. Com is using cloud
computing in its business processes?
Frequency
A. Less than six months 5
B. Less than a year 15
C. More than a year. 30
Q3. What are the reasons behind possible engagement in the Frequency
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