IT Infrastructure Management Report: AstraZeneca and IBM

This report delves into IT Infrastructure Management, examining the outsourcing contracts of AstraZeneca with IBM and the subsequent shift to multiple vendors. It analyzes the reasons behind the failure of the initial agreement, the provisions in the revised SLAs, and the use of arbitrators. The report then transitions to a discussion of Mobile Commerce (M-Commerce), exploring its features, uses, and the challenges it faces, including security and design issues. It covers mobile banking, purchasing, and mobile ATM services, concluding with recommendations for the future of M-Commerce and emphasizing its growing importance in the business landscape. The report provides a comprehensive overview of the evolution of IT infrastructure and the rise of mobile commerce.

Running head: IT INFRASTRUCTURE MANAGEMENT
IT Infrastructure Management
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author’s note:

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Task A
1. Mistakes made by AstraZeneca
AstraZeneca is considered as one the leading biopharmaceutical companies in the
world.The company has a deep focus on the global market and thus provide services to their
customers. They have their major research in discovering, developing and commercialization of
some of the prescribed medicines in six major areas of health care.
The major mistake that was made by AstraZeneca was that the company had previously
signed a seven years agreement of outsourcing with IBM in 2007. The contract had included
several services such as hosting of servers and storage services for network communications,
supply chain operations and commercials. But due to outcome based specifications, AstraZeneca
had decided to exit the contract with IBM in the year 2011. The business strategies of the
company were changing and the rules of the contract were not being followed.
2. Mistakes made by IBM
AstraZeneca had signed a contract with IBM in 2007 but in 2011, the contract had failed.
The business strategies inside the company were changing and the contract could not support the
company. The IBM was not able to support the changing systems in the IT systems in the
AstraZeneca Company. They were not able to stress upon the rapid actions on the technical
related problems based on AstraZeneca. IBM should had been able to meet the requirements that
were already set during the procedure of the agreement that was signed in 2007.

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Hence, IBM should focus on meeting with the basic requirements of the technical
services, which they offer to their vendors. This would help in maintaining a better relationship
with their clients and would also maintain the reputation of the company (Alexander, 2013).
3. Outsourcing Contracts
After the company AstraZeneca had signed of their agreement with IBM, they had
decided to adopt a new model of outsourcing in order to replace the services, which were being
provided by IBM. The company has decided to use multiple contracts with other multinational
companies. These contracts have covered the major provisions of standard that are named as
pricing and SLAs and have also designed a policy for cooperation. These contracts of
outsourcing have been designed in such a way that if any urgency occurs within the
biopharmaceutical company, then the vendors would be able to provide such services
(Willcocks& Cullen, 2013).
4. Reasons for the Mistakes made by the Companies
AstraZeneca and IBM have been the major leading companies in their respective field of
services. Although they had signed a contract between them, due to some major changes in the
field of IT services, AstraZeneca had to break the rules of the contract with IBM as they were
unable to provide the latest needs of the services.
In the recent times, there have been many changes in the IT services related to the field of
pharmaceutical companies. They have their needs, which might not have been fulfilled by IBM.
They were not been able to fulfil the urgent services required in the field of IT. They might have
lacked the manpower coverage or due to some technical faults, there services might have got
delayed.

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5. Explanation of the fall of the 2007 SLA
In 2007, AstraZeneca had signed a contract with IBM. According to the contract, IBM
was supposed to deliver IT related services based on the needs of AstraZeneca. Although IBM as
a reputation of their brand image, yet due to some problems, they were not been able to provide
the same services to AstraZeneca. The SLA of 2007 was not doomed to fail. This was an
unexpected situation on their part. IBM is the leading service provider of IT services and they
have a global reputation in the world market. Hence the fall of the 2007 SLA was not expected to
fall from the company. This might have affected the reputation of the company.
6. Provisions in the 2012 SLAs to protect AstraZeneca
As the 2007 SLA had failed due to major issues that were had been possibly been faced
by IBM, AstraZeneca had decided to sign off the contract before the expected period of time.
They had revised their SLA in the year of 2012. They had decided to work on a new SLA and
thus define their own strategy. They have decided to use several contracts with several other
companies such as HCL, AT&T, Wipro, Computacenter and many others. AstraZeneca has
decided to work with these IT vendors as they have thought that these IT vendors would be able
to provide fast actions on the technical related problems under a supportive structure. The
provisions in the 2012 SLAs has included 13 principles, which would stipulate the terms of
collaboration with the company (Simmon, 2014).
7. Reasons for Parties to use an Arbitrator
Different parties prefer to choose an arbitrator instead of filing a case in the court as
because it would be a longer process to deal with the situations. Moreover, if AstraZeneca had
filed a case in the court with IBM, the opposition side could have claimed that AstraZeneca had

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not set their requirements in the contract. They were demanding extra services, which might not
have been included during the signing of the contract. Hence, AstraZeneca had decided to end
the agreement midway and thus search for new IT vendors who would be more efficient in
providing services.

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Task B
Mobile Technologies and Commerce
Abstract
In the recent times, the commerce based
applications have transformed from
electronic commerce to mobile based
commerce applications. The rise in the
number of mobile devices has been a major
factor for the rise in the M-Commerce
applications. This report focusses on the
various trends in the mobile commerce
applications sector. It also discusses about
the features of M-Commerce, their uses in
the global market and the various issues,
which should be addressed in the recent
times.
Introduction
Mobile Commerce Technology is
also popularly known as Mobile Commerce
(M-Commerce). This kind of technology in
commerce helps in the buying and selling of
goods and products with the help of wireless
devices such as mobile phones, tablets,
personal digital assistants (PDAs) and
several other devices. M-Commerce is the
new and latest technology in the field of E-
Commerce applications. This technology
enables a user to access the Internet. With
the rise in the number of devices, which are
getting connected to the services of internet,
it has also been seen that different business
in M-Commerce have also risen rapidly. The
M-Commerce technology has generated
great interest among the users and thus has
led to the development and design of newer
services (Chong, 2013).
Brief Discussion on M-Commerce
The emerging technologies in M-
Commerceis basically based on the Wireless
Application Protocol (WAP). Previously, e-
commerce had been making a major impact
on the business model. The electronic
commerce model dealt with trading services
and products with the help of internet and

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other networks of computers and various
other electronic systems. The activities
include services in the sectors of insurance,
banking, warehousing and advertising.
Various transactions in the field of
transportation would also be completed with
the help of e-commerce. In a broader aspect,
e-commerce had been conducting the
business on the internet.
In the recent times, the increase in
the usage of telecommunication devices and
mobile phones has led to a great rise in the
market of mobile commerce. M-Commerce
is an updated version of e-commerce. It
could be defined as the use of the e-
commerce activities with the help of cellular
or mobile devices.
Features of M-Commerce
The unique features of m-commerce
could be defined as follows:
High Mobility–M-Commerce makes
use of portable cellular or mobile devices.
The users of M-Commerce business models
are not restricted to geographical or physical
locations when using commerce. The
technology and devices that are used by
mobile commerce are available and are
easily accessible. Hence the probability of
the sale has also become much higher.
Requirement of Electricity – A
constant electric connection is required to
power the electric devices in order to
perform the activities in commerce. The
increase in technology has made to
implement improved battery systems, which
might be a medium of backup for the users.
Convenience, Spontaneity and
Comfort – In the recent times, people have
their preferences to perform their purchases
with the help of their desktop or the laptop
computers. They can perform the commerce
activities by sitting in their homes or by
working at their offices.
Many people also find their
convenience to perform their shopping
activities on their cellular devices. Hence

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there is meagre need to rush to homes for
using their laptop or personal computers at
their homes. With the help of M-Commerce,
users need to just use their phones or tablets
in order to perform their shopping activities
(Niranjanamurthy et al., 2013).
Different Uses of Mobile Commerce
Apart from using M-Commerce to
purchase apps, clothes, food it can be also
used to purchase ringtones, games and
online music. Bookings of various tickets
and meter payments of parking could be also
be performed with the help of M-
Commerce.
The common services and products
that are being provided by M-Commerce
are:
 Mobile Banking – With the help of
M-Commerce applications, it has
been made possible for the users to
make an inquiry of the bank balance,
account management and various
transactions made by a particular
user.
 Purchasing and Browsing –
Nowadays an individual would be
able to perform their shopping
activities with the help of various
applications that would be installed
on the mobile devices.
 Mobile ATM – At present, mobile
ATM has seen a major rise as
compared to the Automated Teller
Machines (ATM). Users are now
able to perform various transaction
activities with the help of their
mobile applications.
 Transfer of Money – Nowadays,
money can be transferred from one’s
bank account to another’s bank
account directly with the help of M-
Commerce applications.

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Issues with Mobile Commerce
There are various challenges, which
are being faced by M-Commerce
applications
Privacy and Security Issues – With
the rise in the M-Commerce applications,
there have been major security issues. The
developers of M-Commerce applications
should be motivated to develop such high
levels of security in the applications, which
would be highly difficult for hackers to
penetrate and steal vital information of the
customers.
Design Issues of Mobile Website –
The application developers of M-
Commerceshould ensure that the design of
the websites of mobiles should be efficient
and user-friendly. They should be able to fit
on the small screens of the mobiles and
tablets. Hence the developers of these
applications should focus their attention on
the design of the mobile websites.
Mobile Marketing – This section
should be able to cover email marketing and
content marketing of mobiles. Different
marketers should adopt such strategies in
order to gain a high position in the recent
market. They should have the potential to
attract their customers and also ensure that
the experience of the customers should be
good (Zhang, Chen & Lee, 2013).
Conclusion
Based on the above discussion on the
technology of M-Commerce, it can be
concluded that the use of mobile based
technology and the access to the mobile
internet is growing rapidly. The higher
growth rates varies widely across different
economic regions. The rate of penetration of
mobile phones in the global market has led
to a huge rise in the M-Commerce
marketing model. The new ways in which
different companies are integrating M-
Commerce applications in their business
model has depended upon several factors.

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Based on the current scenario of the trends
in the mobile commerce applications, it can
be foreseen that M-Commerce would be the
topmost preference for a wide range of users
to satisfy their daily needs.
Recommendations
Based on the current scenario of M-
Commerce, it can be understood that the
new form of technology is accelerating
tremendously. Different connected devices
and the IoT have changed the form of
business. As customers are much more
concerned on the M-Commerce way of
marketing, hence it is highly needed to meet
the requirements of the customers and thus
satisfy their expectations. The developers of
such applications should focus on making
the applications much more user-friendly.
They should be able to understand the intent
of the customers and thus deliver better
services. A better relation with the
customers and continuous improvements
would thus enable continuous success in the
industry.
References
Alexander, K. (Ed.). (2013). Facilities
management: theory and practice.
Routledge.

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Chong, A. Y. L. (2013). Mobile commerce
usage activities: The roles of
demographic and motivation
variables. Technological Forecasting
and Social Change, 80(7), 1350-
1359.
Niranjanamurthy, M., Kavyashree, N.,
Jagannath, S., &Chahar, D. (2013).
Analysis of e-commerce and m-
commerce: advantages, limitations
and security issues. International
Journal of Advanced Research in
Computer and Communication
Engineering, 2(6).
Simmon, E. (2014). CLOUD SERVICE
LEVEL AGREEMENTS Meeting
Customer and Provider needs.
Willcocks, L., & Cullen, S.
(2013). Intelligent IT outsourcing.
Routledge.
Zhang, R., Chen, J. Q., & Lee, C. J. (2013).
Mobile commerce and consumer
privacy concerns. Journal of
Computer Information
Systems, 53(4), 31-38.