¶ … Cloud Computing Changes Systems Analysis and Design Instiution/University affiliation

Both information systems and information technology infrastructure have been incorporated into business procedures for at least two decades. In the initial development of information technology, organizations which greatly invested in information technology infrastructure achieved strong growth in market shares and returns. Given that IT is now the core of businesses, nearly all organizations own their own IT infrastructures to manage their daily business activities. In case of malfunctions in the information systems, the regular business proceedings shall be really interrupted. Though the majority of companies are not IT companies, they have to invest a great share in IT so as to run their business operations smoothly (Chou & Chou, 2011).

Information technology has turned into a necessary infrastructure which organizations need to have; however, it does not essentially offer strategic benefits for business. According to Carr (2003), the growth of the power and ubiquity of information technology has relatively undermined its strategic significance. He made a comparison of the status of information technology and electricity. Both are significant for business' survival but neither offers more strategic values for business. Information technology is now a utility for many organizations, just like electricity. The rising increase in the use of the internet has resulted to progression in internet applications. The work and lives of individuals are greatly integrated into the computer network. Presently, the Web is not just a means of communication but also serves as a platform for business and society. To get to the vast number of users or likely users, organizations need to supply their contents and business procedures online. This recently established trend has led to increased demand for distributed computing power that also triggers a new paradigm- cloud computing.

Cloud computing is a means for organizations to supply their contents and business procedures online with the flexibility of computing resources (Armbrust, et al., 2010). From a business outlook, cloud computing is an on-demand access to virtualized information technology resources which are housed by the third party, utilized by others, easy to use, paid for through subscription, and accessible via web (Brynjolfsson, Hofmann, & Jordan, Communications of the ACM). The offering of cloud computing has presented organizations with opportunities of reviewing their IT infrastructure. Given that various cloud computing dealers are capable of providing extendable IT sources founded on subscription, cloud computing could be regarded as a utility model. With the pay-as-you-go design, organizations consume IT resources just like they consume water or electricity.

Cloud computing comprises of both the applications supplied over the internet and the hardware and systems software in the information centers which offer those services These services are known as a Software as a Service (SaaS). Additionally, cloud computing offers two or more kinds of services; they are Platform as a Service (PaaS) and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS). With the major advances in Information and communications Technology (ICT) in the last half century, there is a possibility that computing shall one day be the fifth utility (Sasi & Larance, 2014).

Information system analysts normally develop information systems founded on the differing activities in the system development life cycle (SDLC). These particular system development activities are founded on the presumption that information systems shall be developed in-house. Due to cloud computing, some new system development activities require modification or renewal. The aim of this paper is discuss how system development activities require to be altered to respond to the surfacing of cloud computing model together with the concerns that are associated with applying cloud computing model.

Cloud Computing

Cloud computing is basically a new platform of computing whereby software and hardware are supplied to users in a way which resembles the way utilities like electricity are supplied into households. The phrase cloud originates from the utilization of a cloud image which symbolizes the internet or a large networked surrounding. In cloud computing, nonetheless, cloud does not simply only entail routers, servers, and data pipes; it also entails offering capabilities and services to develop application (Hartig, 2009). The cloud computin phenomenon is still evolving. Cloud computing industry entails various levels of dealers as well as various kinds of services for varying market functions. Therefore, it is difficult to exactly describe cloud computing. United States "National Institute of Standards and Technology" made an effort to describe cloud-computing as being a model for permitting suitable, on-demand network access to a common pool of configurable computing resources (like servers, applications, and networks) which can be quickly provisioned...

This cloud model is made up of five important traits (wide network access, measured service, on-demand self-service, fast elasticity, and resource pooling), three service models (Cloud Infrastructure as a Service, Cloud Software as a Service, and Cloud Platform as a Service), and finally four models of deployment (Private cloud, Hybrid cloud, Public cloud, along with community cloud) (Mell & Grance, 2009). According to Pallis (2010) wireless network ubiquity, progressive advancement in internet computing software and mobile computing, and minimal storage and mobile device charges are the driving forces behind cloud computing. Some of the benefits for cloud users are ability to enhance efficiency by adding more capacity at greatest demand, lowering costs, and being able to eliminate unnecessary capacity easily.
Cloud Infrastructure

A cloud system generally entails elements like network, storage, and processing. Thus, cloud's architecture could be observed from three different layers: application, platform, and infrastructure. Cloud services can hence be split into different groups: software as a service (SaaS), infrastructure as a service (IaaS), and platform as a service (PaaS) (Chou & Chou, 2011).

SaaS

SaaS allows the user to utilize the provider's applications available on a cloud infrastructure. The applications can be accessed from particular user gadgets through a user interface like a web browser. The SaaS model offers the user minimal or no influence on how input data is processed, but offers confidence in the cloud provider's duty and compliance. Firstly, the user could avoid providing sensible information to SaaS. Secondly, he may be capable of "securing" the sensible information prior to deploying them into the SaaS. In the SaaS model, software applications are presented as services on the internet instead of software packages to be bought by individual clients (Motahari-Nezhad et al., 2009). SaaS model permits dealers to create, host, and run software for client use. Instead of buying the software and hardware to manage an application, clients simply need a server/computer to download the application and internet access and use the software. An example of SaaS is Google; Web-based office application (like spreadsheets and word processors).

PaaS

PaaS provides tools supported by a cloud provider, which allows developers to deploy applications (like Mozilla and Google App Engine). The developer is faced with the great responsibility of using the best practices and security tools. The developer, however, has to depend on the reliability of the underlying PaaS. Imagine, for example that some developer has come up with a cloud application that encrypts all data prior to it getting stored within the cloud storage offered by the PaaS. In this particular case, the developer is forced to trust that the infrastructure/platform is not compromised. The attacker might otherwise get a chance to the clear text before encryption takes place. In PaaS, the user is not faced with the responsibility of controlling the basic cloud infrastructure, operating systems, network, or storage, however; the user has control over the deployed applications. An example of PaaS is CodeRun which is actually built on top of the "Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud" (EC2). It permits programmers to easily create, evaluate, deploy, and publish code online, without needing intricate software or powerful hardware. Google App Engine is another example of PaaS; it allows clients manage their web applications on Google's infrastructure.

IaaS

IaaS offers the user computing resources to manage software. An example is the Amazon EC2 Web Services.. An IaaS provider normally assumes responsibility for securing the data centers, systems and networks, and takes steps to ascertain that its workers and operational procedures abide by the applicable laws and regulations. Nonetheless, given that an IaaS provider might have little application-level expertise, it shall be hard for that provider to guarantee data-level compliance, like geographic constraint of data transfers. In this case, the cloud user is accountable for maintaining compliance controls. IaaS is a model that ensures more direct management but also allows the client to be accountable for the application of technical and procedural security as well as resilience measures. Concerning standardization, there needs to be a way for the client in an IaaS cloud environment to communicate his/her security linked needs. In the IaaS model, computing power (like CPU) and hardware resources (like data server) are presented as services to the client. Instead of investing money on the networking devices and committed servers, IaaS clients are capable of availing the computing power and hardware resources on rent. IaaS providers are able to supply hardware resources and computing power to applications on an as-required basis (Motahari-Nezhad, Stephenson, & Singhal, 2009). With this elasticity, organizations are able to…