Cloud Computing's Impact on Systems Analysis and Design

Introduction

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 that invested heavily in IT 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 the event of malfunctions in the information systems, regular business operations can be seriously disrupted. Though the majority of companies are not IT companies, they must invest a significant share of resources in IT in order to run their business operations smoothly (Chou & Chou, 2011).

Information technology has become a necessary infrastructure that organizations need to possess; however, it does not inherently 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 compared the status of information technology to electricity: both are significant for a business's survival, but neither offers unique strategic value. Information technology is now a utility for many organizations, just like electricity. The rising use of the internet has resulted in the progression of internet applications. The work and lives of individuals are now deeply integrated into the computer network. Today, the Web is not merely a means of communication but also serves as a platform for business and society. To reach the vast number of users or prospective users, organizations need to deliver their content and business processes online. This newly established trend has led to increased demand for distributed computing power, which in turn has triggered a new paradigm — cloud computing.

Cloud computing is a means for organizations to deliver their content and business procedures online with the flexibility of computing resources (Armbrust et al., 2010). From a business perspective, cloud computing is an on-demand access to virtualized information technology resources housed by a third party, utilized by multiple users, easy to use, paid for through subscription, and accessible via the web (Brynjolfsson, Hofmann, & Jordan, 2010). The offering of cloud computing has presented organizations with opportunities to review their IT infrastructure. Given that various cloud computing vendors are capable of providing scalable IT resources based on subscription, cloud computing can be regarded as a utility model. With the pay-as-you-go design, organizations consume IT resources just as they consume water or electricity.

Cloud computing comprises both the applications delivered over the internet and the hardware and systems software in data centers that provide those services. These services are known as Software as a Service (SaaS). Additionally, cloud computing offers other kinds of services: Platform as a Service (PaaS) and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS). With the major advances in Information and Communications Technology (ICT) over the last half century, there is a possibility that computing will one day become the fifth utility (Sasi & Larance, 2014).

Information system analysts normally develop information systems based on the differing activities in the System Development Life Cycle (SDLC). These particular system development activities are founded on the assumption that information systems will be developed in-house. Due to cloud computing, some new system development activities require modification or renewal. The aim of this paper is to discuss how system development activities must be altered to respond to the emergence of the cloud computing model, together with the concerns associated with applying that model.

Cloud Computing Overview

Cloud computing is essentially a new platform of computing in which software and hardware are delivered to users in a manner that resembles the way utilities like electricity are supplied to households. The term "cloud" originates from the use of a cloud image to symbolize the internet or a large networked environment. In cloud computing, however, the cloud does not simply entail routers, servers, and data pipes; it also entails providing capabilities and services to develop applications (Hartig, 2009). The cloud computing phenomenon is still evolving. The cloud computing industry involves various levels of vendors as well as various kinds of services for different market functions. Therefore, it is difficult to describe cloud computing precisely.

The United States National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) defined cloud computing as a model for enabling convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources — such as servers, applications, and networks — that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal service provider engagement or management effort. According to NIST, this cloud model is composed of five essential characteristics (broad network access, measured service, on-demand self-service, rapid elasticity, and resource pooling), three service models (Cloud Infrastructure as a Service, Cloud Software as a Service, and Cloud Platform as a Service), and four deployment models (private cloud, hybrid cloud, public cloud, and community cloud) (Mell & Grance, 2009).

According to Pallis (2010), wireless network ubiquity, progressive advancement in internet computing software and mobile computing, and declining storage and mobile device costs are the driving forces behind cloud computing. Some of the benefits for cloud users include the ability to enhance efficiency by adding capacity at peak demand, lowering costs, and eliminating unnecessary capacity easily.

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