Information Systems and Amazon

Amazon The systems development life cycle is a means by which the life cycle of software can be understood. There are a number of different conceptions of the systems development life cycle, such as the waterfall, the build and fix, rapid prototyping and more. The concept has been around for over a decade, so doubtless Amazon already is quite aware of it, and utilizes it.

The benefits of understanding this life cycle include that it allows for more effective project planning -- knowing what will need to be done when, based on life cycle analysis. Systems design can also take into account the expected life cycle of the system in question, while resources can be made available at the right times for things like implementation, integration, testing and installation (Kay, 2002). This is especially the case when there are resource requirements that the firm needs to acquire.

This process would be beneficial for all of Amazon's projects, and they probably already use it. Basically, what the life cycle does is that it allows the organization to think ahead for what its resource needs, based on a couple of key concepts. The first is how long a system should last -- the length of its life cycle -- and how much of that system will need to be replaced upon obsolescence. So this is something that Amazon needs to understand quite well. 2.

Business continuity planning "involves developing a collection of procedures for the various business units that will ensure continuance of critical business processes while the data centre is recovering from" whatever disaster has befallen the company (Botha & Solms, 2004). For Amazon, the first step would be to envision the different types of existential threats to the business. These can include such things as natural disasters, to issues affecting the personnel of the business, to economic disasters.

The physical threats are arguably the most important, but there are also major cyber threats as well. Amazon's business continuity plan should lean heavily on duplication, especially of data and of server capabilities. Such duplication can allow the company to continue with its operations should any one facility be out of commission for any length of time. Duplication of data, with segregation, is not necessarily the easiest thing, but it would allow Amazon to turn the switch back on almost immediately after an issue arises.

The design of such a restart could allow Amazon to continue with only some of its data in the short run, but the long-run plan has to include business continuity in the long run as well. 3. None of these technologies means much to Amazon's competitiveness. Amazon is one of the most technologically advanced companies in the world, so realistically these relatively old, standard technologies have little to offer. In particular, Amazon cannot use them to gain competitive advantage because they are commonly available to all of Amazon's competitors.

Where Amazon derives competitive advantage is from its technological leadership. Wifi, Bluetooth and cell phones are all ancient technologies at this point, so the best way to illustrate this is with RFID. RFID was an innovative technology in the supply chain a decade or so ago. The industry leaders were using RFID to identify the location of goods at any point in the supply chain.

The objective of this tracking ability was so that the company could ensure that goods move through the supply chain in the most efficient manner possible. However, RFID is not the most advanced technology in the field -- using it will not necessarily make a company competitive because the most competitive companies have moved beyond RFID. First, sensors are now wireless, rather than using RFID technology, and tracking can be done with GPS, live.

Amazon already uses RFID, as do its major competitors, so really for Amazon to gain any sort of competitive advantage it will need to move to the next generation of tracking technologies. With respect to the other technologies listed, again, Amazon uses them, as do its competitors, because these are old technologies. Cell phones are actually obsolete now -- smartphones have been around for many years. 4. Amazon has an incredible amount of data -- for its business customers often provide addresses, names and credit card information.

Due to its visibility, Amazon is probably also a target for criminals. Thus, the company will need to protect the information that it holds. Naturally, Amazon is not at liberty to say everything that they do, but there are some things known about how Amazon protects critical data and information. The company uses encryption, different security credentials, and operates on the principle of shared responsibility.

Amazon also does a fair amount of penetration testing, to ensure that its networks are safe, and when they are not that the issues are resolved. Vulnerability reporting.