Is Services Infrastructure and the Cloud?

¶ … Services, Infrastructure and the Cloud

IS management review is an essential aspect in realizing the goals and targets of an organization through achievement of quality interaction and communication with relevant stakeholders and consumers. This is a similar case with reference to Hot-Shots Company. HOT-SHOTS Company in Australia, founded in 1995, seeks to meet the growing demand for children's licensed confectionery and biscuit products. The company is an accredited supplier of licensed merchandise and food products. The organization focuses on the provision of various products in the form of Fruit Tails, Cookies, and Rice Snacks, tin lunchboxes, and Halloween products. The organization obtains license in promoting diverse brands such as Scooby Doo, My Biggs, Hello Kitty, The Simpsons, and M&M's. Under the influence globalization, Hot-Shots Company operates in areas such as United States, South Africa, United Kingdom, Hong Kong, New Zealand, and Australia (Pinard, 2013, p. 94).

Environment and Context

The organization focuses on enhancing its revenues and profit levels at the end of the financial year through globalization. This relates to operating in various nations across the globe such as U.S., UK, and New Zealand. The main objective of the organization is to offer services and products to the consumers in appropriate and affordable manner. The main products include Fruit Tails, Cookies, and Rice Snacks, tin lunchboxes, and Halloween products. The Mission of Hot-Shots Company is to create smiles through licensed food and collectible merchandise as well as generation of consumer/customer royalty. The organization aims at becoming an international reference in relation to the creation and development of innovative licensed products (Mahoney 1992, p. 253). This is through utilization of control and specialization in products innovation as well as integration of most modern technologies in accordance with European and Australian toy regulations and food quality standards. Some of the strategic objectives influencing IS services within Hot-Shots Company include globalization, increasing effective communication with consumers, projection of revenues and profit levels, and enhancement of quality and quantity in products and services to the target audiences.

There are critical resources in the company that are essential towards realization of the goals and objectives of IS services. One of the essential organizational resources that influence or affect the operations of the IS services within the organization is IT budget (West 1992, p. 184). This is because IT budget has the ability and capacity with the aim of influencing the cost and operations of the IS services within an organization. The organization also notes that IT staff play a critical role in influencing the operations of IS within the case of Hot-Shots Company. This is through adequate or inadequate training, insufficiency or sufficient labor services, and skills in relation to utilization of the available hardware and software within the organization. The organizational culture will also have substantive influence on the utilization of IS services within an organization. Hot-Shots Company should focus on addressing these resources in order to maximize the goals and objectives of IS services in the modern economy, market, and industry of operation (Bouchikhi & Kimberly 2008, p. 272).

IS services management review

This review focuses on the examination of the organization's mission statement, vision, strategic objectives influencing IS services strategy, and organizational resources influencing IS strategy. In addition, the review will focus on the existence of IS strategies in the case of Hot-Shots Company. The main constraint of the review relates to lack of substantive information on the relevant organizational resources in relation to implications on IS services strategies.

Formal vs. Informal IT Governance

Hot-Shots Company focuses on the realization of the goals and objectives of its market operation through provision of quality products and services to the consumers. This is critical towards achievement of the competitive advantage in the market and industry of operation. Hot-Shots Company has informal IT governance in relation to the achievement of the goals and objectives in the market as it seeks to address the needs and preferences of the consumers. This is because of the ability of the organization to focus on outsourcing IT activities in the modern society with the aim of addressing the demands of globalization and communication with consumers and other stakeholders in the market. The administrator focuses on the achievement of this objective because of organization and utilization of activities and resources in the contacting IT department. The administrator has the ability and capacity to oversee all operations within the IT department as it seeks to outsource effective and efficient services within the market and industry of operation. The main objective of the organization in relation to adoption of this approach is to maximize the available opportunities while minimizing the cost of operations.

The informal IT governance of the company demonstrates five critical aspects in order to achieve holistic approach in dealing with communication and automation of services such as production and distribution of products to the consumers. The first aspect of the IT governance in the case of Hot-Shots Company relates to strategic alignment. The strategic alignment is crucial towards addressing the needs and preferences of the consumers in a cost-effective manner. This aspect focuses on aligning the goals of information technology with the company and its collaborative solutions towards achieving the goals and objectives of the organization in the market and industry of operation. The second aspect is the concept of risk management. Risk management is vital in addressing the safeguarding the IT assets of the company, recovery from a disaster, and continuity of the operations. The IT governance is also crucial in relation to incorporation of Value delivery. This is through concentration on the optimization of the expenses as well as illustrating the value and importance of IT in the market and industry of operation. The fourth aspect of IT governance is the element of performance management. This is critical for tracking project delivery as well as monitoring of the IT services. Finally, the organization focuses on the integration of resource management in the IT governance. This is essential towards optimization of the knowledge and IT infrastructure.