Information Systems and IT Department at National Geographic: A Report

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This report provides an in-depth analysis of the information systems management at National Geographic, focusing on the role of information systems and the IT department. The report uses an interview with Marcus East, the CIO of National Geographic, to explore the company's adoption of new technologies, particularly the shift towards open-source and serverless approaches. It examines the IT history of the company, highlighting the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and other tools like Deep Ocean Dropcam. The analysis delves into the themes and views of the CIO, including the strategies for developing a new platform, enhancing the digital experience, and building community products. The report critically appraises the CIO's views, discussing the positive and negative aspects of the proposed changes, such as the move to serverless computing and the adoption of open-source platforms like Drupal. The report also addresses the limitations of the current server-centric information systems and the advantages of serverless systems. Finally, it concludes that the new CIO has a clear strategy for implementing innovations and contributing to the company's growth.
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Running head: INFORMATION SYSTEMS MANAGEMENT
INFORMATION SYSTEMS MANAGEMENT
Name of the Student
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Introduction
Information systems form a vital part of any organization as it is medium through
which data can be collected, stored and processed. The business firms are dependent on the
information systems so that they can carry out various operations as well as manage the same.
Information systems in an organization act as a link in between the customers and the
suppliers and the whole market as well (Laudon and Laudon 2016). These systems aid the
internal departments of a company to function properly. In this paper, the role of information
systems and IT department of a firm will be discussed. The interview of Marcus East, the
CIO of National Geographic has been considered for this purpose. The themes and the views
of the CIO to adopt new technology will be discussed as well. The IT history of National
Geographic prior to this interview will be discussed as well.
Themes and views of the interview
The main theme of the interview lies on the fact that National Geography wants to
bring in improvisations in its technology by incorporating open source along with serverless
approaches so that its various digital offerings can be enhanced. Marcus East was hired by the
company in the year 2017 to the position of CIO so that he could support the company in
accomplishing its dream to bring in the modernizations in its operations that it has planned
for. The CIO was of the opinion that customers are waiting for more opportunities for
becoming a part of the National Geography community rather than just looking at pictures or
reading editorial. Thus to meet its customers demands the company took an initiative to
implement a programme that included bringing in changes in technology
(ComputerWeekly.com, 2020). The changes to be brought focused on three main aspects
such as developing a new underlying platform; modifying the digital experience at the same
time developing community products allowing customers to explore their areas of interest.
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The theme revolves around bringing in improvisation in the information technology by
inculcating new technologies in the various operations of the organization. The CIO is of the
opinion that the customers should be provided with high-quality experience.
IT history of company prior to the interview
The company wants to go serverless and embrace open source. Thus it is clear that the
organization has not adopted this yet. The company makes use of information technology
tools so that it can give its customers a high quality experience. It makes use of the
geographic information system that helps in capturing, checking, displaying as well as storing
various data that are related to different positions on the Earth surface. Geographic
information system forms an important part of the spatial data infrastructure and is defined by
the White House as “the technology, policies, standards, human resources and related
activities necessary to acquire, process, distribute, use, maintain and preserve spatial data”
(Abousaeidi, Fauzi and Muhamad 2016). National Geography can make use of different
information that includes locations which is very much required in case of capturing data
about different things and animals. Deep Ocean Dropcam is another information technology
tool that is used by National Geography. It is a low-cost and low-logistic research tool that is
made use of to probe the deep oceans so that the customers can be provided with important
data. These cameras help the company to provide users with high quality images of the deep
sea floor. The chief executive is passionate about bringing in innovations in the
organizational operations and National Geography has always sought to include new
technology and upgrade its operations. Back in the year 1900 when the company introduces
photographs in its magazine it was thought to be as a very big innovation by the other media
companies but gradually this has become a very common thing. This time as well, National
Geography wants to go serverless and embrace open source to set an example of innovation
in its operations. The company makes use of project management application that helps in
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managing the various operations in the organization. By making use of various such
information technology tools, National Geography has increased the efficiency of the
organization. The team has made use of different technologies at different point of time to
achieve more in less time.
Explanation of the themes and the recent IT history of company
The organization is trying to expand its business operations by incorporating
serverless computing. Serverless computing provides various advantages over the traditional
cloud-based or the server-centric infrastructure (Khanam, Siddiqui and Talib 2016). The
computational servers in the server-centric architectures are enabling the company to run
regular applications and at the same time playing the role of routers to relay the traffic in the
system. National Geography wants to shift to serverless IT architecture as there are many
disadvantages of server-centric architectures. Some of them are as follows:
1. The network is non-transparent to the servers and the servers are largely dependent on the
network and there are many instances of routing cases where server intervention is required.
2. The network protocol of a server needs modification so that automatic fault-tolerant
routing and flow-level load balancing can be implemented (Bharati and Chaudhury 2015).
Modification to be done to the operating system kernel is complicated.
3. In the conventional server-centric IT architecture the storage devices exist only in relation
to one or two servers which they are connected to and failure in both of these computers
would not make it possible to access data (Schwalbe 2015).
Thus the company wants to adopt serverless architecture platform under an initiative
dubbed Cohesive Intelligent Platform. The existing core systems at National Geographic
were hosted in a traditional datacenter and the program with Fox will experience the
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migration of almost all the on-premise capabilities to the public cloud environment (McGrath
and Brenner 2017). Amazon Web Services serves as the primary partner with some of the
services on Microsoft Azure.
Critically appraise the view of the CIO and the strategies that have been
spoken about
Going serverless and embracing open source is the two initiatives that are to be taken
by the company. The CIO has a clear strategy of how to implement a plan by adopting
different strategies. The important feature of this new technology strategy at the National
Geographic is the cloud-first approach that has been adopted by the company in partnership
with the parent company that is 21st Century Fox. East is clear that no such new datacenter
will be built and the additional needs that are native mobile experience that are being
developed will be primarily catered for by serverless environment. The application was to be
developed by using serverless architecture and this will allow making use of various
resources that are required to power the application in a cost-effective manner. Another
highlight of the IT transformation to be brought in by the company was that the company
made use of a mix of more than bespoke systems and other available alternatives in
marketplace that include Adobe, AEM, WordPress and Drupal. The CIO made a thorough
analysis to map various business processes that include workflows of photographers and steps
involved since the moment an image is captured (ComputerWeekly.com, 2020). The CIO is
clear in his idea to replace all the legacy applications by the help of a single content
management system. The adoption of the open source platform Drupal as the core platform
will increase the efficiency for staff as well as the collaborators enhancing the IT portfolio in
cost-effective manner. The company will make all its content available on digital platforms
and also develop certain ways for presenting and monetizing material across the online
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5INFORMATION SYSTEMS MANAGEMENT
audience. The first step towards this is redesigning the website by making use of mobile-first
approach. The feedbacks of the customers are important as well because the shared
experiences of the users will help the company in proceeding with its new venture. The
launch of the website NationalGeographic.com will be launched after collecting consumer
feedback and bringing in optimizations as per requirement. The firm will be launching NG1
mobile application in two new markets (ComputerWeekly.com, 2020). It is currently
available only in Australia. The CIO has also strategies to bring in various personalized
services for the consumers. The artificial intelligence engine will also be included in the
firm’s strategies that will help the firm to look at customer preferences along with the content
usage for providing a bespoke experience online.
Positive and negative points about the theme
The company is not fully dependent on the external partners for bringing in new
developments but it has involved the in-house members as well to ensure that the company
succeeds in its various information technology initiatives. New staffs were hired after a
review was done of 100 strong products and technology team. This is a positive aspect
because the company is confident about its idea to bring in new technological developments.
The company has prepared itself with new staffs rather expertise to come up with the
processes (Rosemann and vom Brocke 2015). Technological executives have been hired from
different sectors other than media space to aid the company in the transformation process.
This shows that the company is particular about the way this important project is managed
and implemented.
The negative aspects in this theme is that the company is wanting to implementing too
many things together and there can be some resistant from the employees for the changes.
This can be a hindrance in completing the project. The biggest reason for failure of big
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companies to bring in new developments is the reluctance of the employees to accept the
changes. Thus, the company and the CIO should take care of this and see to it that the
employees are well explained about the new initiatives that are to be taken.
Issues with the information system
The limitations of the server centric information system are many such as:
1. Number of the storage devices connected to one server is limited.
2. This type of information system architecture is not that scalable.
3. The unused storage that is connected to one of the servers cannot be made use of by second
server.
On the other hand serverless systems and open source can be advantageous to the company in
various ways. This will help the company to save time as well as money as the firm will not
be required to set up and maintain infrastructure (Baldini et al. 2017). The company will have
the freedom to decide how to deploy serverless codes. Thus this can be concluded the new
appointed CIO has clear strategy for implementing new innovations and contributing to the
growth of the company.
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References
Abousaeidi, M., Fauzi, R. and Muhamad, R., 2016. Geographic Information System (GIS)
modeling approach to determine the fastest delivery routes. Saudi journal of biological
sciences, 23(5), pp.555-564.
Baldini, I., Castro, P., Chang, K., Cheng, P., Fink, S., Ishakian, V., Mitchell, N., Muthusamy,
V., Rabbah, R., Slominski, A. and Suter, P., 2017. Serverless computing: Current trends and
open problems. In Research Advances in Cloud Computing (pp. 1-20). Springer, Singapore.
Bharati, P. and Chaudhury, A., 2015. SMEs and competitiveness: The role of information
systems. Bharati, P. and Chaudhury, A.(2009),“SMEs and Competitiveness: The Role of
Information Systems”, International Journal of E-Business Research, 5(1).
ComputerWeekly.com. (2020). CIO interview, Marcus East, chief technology officer,
National Geographic. [online] Available at:
https://www.computerweekly.com/news/252436016/CIO-interview-Marcus-East-chief-
technology-officer-National-Geographic [Accessed 17 Jan. 2020].
Khanam, S., Siddiqui, J. and Talib, F., 2016. Role of information technology in total quality
management: a literature review. Khanam, S, Siddiqui, J. and Talib, F.(2013),“Role of
Information Technology in Total Quality Management: A Literature Review”, International
Journal of Advanced Research in Computer Engineering and Technology, 2(8), pp.2433-
2445.
Laudon, K.C. and Laudon, J.P., 2016. Management information system. Pearson Education
India.
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8INFORMATION SYSTEMS MANAGEMENT
McGrath, G. and Brenner, P.R., 2017, June. Serverless computing: Design, implementation,
and performance. In 2017 IEEE 37th International Conference on Distributed Computing
Systems Workshops (ICDCSW) (pp. 405-410). IEEE.
Rosemann, M. and vom Brocke, J., 2015. The six core elements of business process
management. In Handbook on business process management 1 (pp. 105-122). Springer,
Berlin, Heidelberg.
Schwalbe, K., 2015. Information technology project management. Cengage Learning.
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