technology acquisition and deployment plan

Acquisition and Deployment Plan of the Matilda Cloud Solution

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Acquisition and deployment plan of the Matilda cloud solution

Introduction

It is advisable that a technology acquisition and deployment plan is in place before a new technology is implemented. The plan details what will be acquired how it will be acquired. In this case, the plan should detail the Matilda cloud migration solution and how it will be acquired. Other than detailing the acquiring process, the plan should as well explain how the acquired technology will be implemented. The above is important to ensure that the new technology is properly integrated into the operations of the organization making the purchase or the acquisition of the technology. The deployment plan should as well detail who will be in charge of the deployment process and how they plan to successfully deploy the technology.

Acquisition of the solution

There are five main stages or steps that should be followed in the acquisition of any technology. The five steps will guide in the acquisition of the Matilda solution.

Evaluation of the system requirements

The evaluation process has five main stages. The first stage is the identification of the solution's primary features. The second stage is the identification of possible network-related issues that need to be addressed. The third stage involves identifying a specification of the hardware, software and personnel requirements (Benatia et al., 2016). The last stage involves the preparation of technology’s proposal or quotation.

It is clear that the Matilda cloud migration solution is intended to have the organization carefully migrate its operations to the cloud for easy cloud computing. In the identification of possible web-based and network issues, the team responsible for acquiring the solution will have to assess the organization’s network to confirm whether it can support cloud computing or not. The next stage will be to identify the hardware and software needed for the migration to be possible. After that, the next will be to know what the employees of the organization need to be trained on in case the proposed solution is implemented. Once the needs have been identified, the team will come up with a proposal. The proposal will include a quotation for the proposed solution.

The identification of potential vendors

There are three ways in which the organization can identify vendors. The first way is through searching the internet. The internet is a market place for anything that comes to mind (Ylinen & Pekkola, 2018). The second way is through the organization working with consulting firms. Consulting firms have a wide and reliable network that the organization can use to get the best solution that meets their needs. The last way is the internet bulletin board system. The system has newsgroups that can provide useful information as far as the identification of vendors is concerned.

In order to identify the best migration solution, the organization will have to first search the internet. The internet will give the team a rough idea of the best cloud service providers as well as the best cloud solutions around. Once the team has searched the internet they can seek the counsel of a consulting firm. The firm will help the organization settle in on the best cloud solution. Through the above, the organization will be able to siphon through the multiple cloud service providers around and identify potential vendors.

Performing a cost-benefit analysis

Before any purchase is done, it is advisable that an organization should identify as well as calculate the total cost of ownership of any of the solutions that they have on the table (Hellsten et al., 2016). With the total cost of ownership calculation, the organization can make an informed decision on the best solution to take up. It will be the duty of the acquisition team to assess the potential vendors as well as the solutions that they offer. As of the moment, the organization is looking for a cloud computing solution and it is for that reason that the team will have to perform a cost-benefit analysis of the potential solutions. The cost-benefit analysis will enable the organization to make an informed decision on the best solution. In this case, the acquisition team will know whether it is a good idea to implement the Matilda cloud solution.

Preparation of a recommendation

Before any purchases are made, the management of an organization has to be provided with recommendations. The recommendations detail the potential solutions provided, their cost-benefit analysis and the particular solution identified as the best of all the potential solutions listed (Moeller, 2013). The recommendation is best given in a formal system requirements document and the team should always be ready to present the recommendations.

In this case, the acquisition team will come up with a document that details the alternatives that the organization has in terms of the solution that they are looking for. The cost of the alternative will also be listed as well as the benefits and the disadvantages of each alternative. The Matilda cloud solution will be floated as the best cloud migration solution. The recommendations will be given to the management for them to make the ultimate decision on the solution to be implemented.

Implementation of the solution

In the final stage of the acquisition plan, the acquisition team will receive the go-ahead from the management team to implement the recommended solution. The team will contact the chosen provider and request for a meeting. The meeting will finalize the purchase or the contracting of the solution that the organization has settled upon.

In this case, the organization will contract the Matilda cloud solution providers for their services. The acquisition team will draft a contract with the provider and after which the solution will be provided to the organization. Before the solution is provided, the team will familiarize itself with the requirements of the organization in order for the provided solution to integrate with the company’s operations. It is also in this last stage of the acquisition plan that existing data files will be converted to the new system’s format.

The deployment plan

The deployment process involves the integration process. It is also the process where the new system or technology gets adopted or implemented in an organization (Laudon & Laudon, 2016). Just as in the case of the acquisition plan, there are five main stages of the deployment plan.

The setting of measurable objectives

Before the deployment process begins, the team responsible for the process must have in place measurable objectives (Pham et al., 2016). The team should set the objectives as the objectives will aid the team in the process. An example of a measurable objective is the expected roll-out date. Since the Matilda cloud solution has been identified as the solution to be implemented, the deployment team will come up with the objectives of the deployment process. The team will put in a document the timelines of the deployment process, the activities that will happen and their durations.

Setting of milestones

It is not advisable that the solution or the technology identified as ideal for an organization to be deployed at once. It is advisable that the solution is deployed in phases. The solution should be deployed in phases so that the team that is tasked with the deployment can observe how the system or solution operates. In this case, it will be important that the Matilda cloud solution is deployed in phases and this is because the migration process has the potential to alter the organization’s data as well as transactions. By deploying the solution in stages, the organization is able to salvage some of their data before they are altered or compromised. The phases will act as the deployment milestones.

Training of employees

Users are stakeholders in the deployment process and this is because they are the primary users of the deployed technology or solution. Users must be trained in order to ensure that they are familiar with the system and that they know how to use the system (Marinelli et al., 2015). The training must happen before the new technology is implemented or rolled out. In this case, all employees of the organization will be trained on cloud computing with special emphasis being placed on the Matilda cloud solution.

The employees will be trained on how to access the data that will be migrated as well as the systems that they will use for their daily operations. Employee training will happen two months prior to when the Matilda cloud solution will be rolled out. The training of the employees will happen in phases. By the end of the training period, all the employees will have attended a three-day training. Employees will be introduced to the new technology, taught how to use the technology as well as taught or trained on how to handle the possible challenges and issues that may result from using the new technology

Actual deployment

Once all the technology needs have been sorted or provided and all the employees have been trained, the solution will be rolled out. The rollout will be done in phases. The first data type to be moved is the permanent data because most of the time it is robust. The last type of data to be moved is the temporary data because it is the data that will need to be accessed or altered frequently.

The deployment process will include the organization’s IT system being given control of the Matilda Cloud solution by the provider. The team will be provided with credentials as well as the control guides. The deployment process is expected to take at the most two weeks, however, there is an early deadline of a week. Once all phases of the deployment process have been completed, the organization will cut off its links with its legacy systems and operate on the new platform; the Matilda cloud platform.

Provision of ongoing support

It is not unheard of there to be issues when a new system or technology is rolled out (Dyche, 2015). There are various challenges that can face an organization whey they deploy new technology. The main challenges are system challenges and user challenges. In system challenges, the new system might fail to integrate well with the operations of an organization. The system might not perform the functionalities that it is intended as well. For user challenges, users might have issues or challenges while using new technology or solution. It is for the above reasons that the service provider or technology provider must provide ongoing support.

Ongoing support will make three things possible. For starters, the support will help with user challenges. They can train employees or system users on how to use the new system or solution. Secondly, the support can help the organization to integrate its operations with the new system. Thirdly, the support can help with fixing or including the functionalities that are missing which the organization relies on.

Conclusion

It is important that an acquisition plan and a deployment plan is in place before an organization embarks on acquiring new technology or solution. Organizations must be willing to follow their documented plans to the end in order for them to successfully implement new technologies. The plan for the organization details two important things; the evaluation of the acquisition and deployment process and the breaking down of the processes by detailing the actual activities to be done. In order for the organization to acquire and deploy the Matilda cloud solution, the organization must be willing to spend some considerable amount in sourcing for the solution and it must be willing to have in place a documented plan. The plan will act as a manual for the organization.

References

Benatia, I., Laouar, M. R., Bendjenna, H., & Eom, S. B. (2016). Implementing a cloud-based decision support system in a private cloud: The infrastructure and the deployment process. International Journal of Decision Support System Technology (IJDSST), 8(1), 25-42.

Dyche, J. (2015). The new IT: How technology leaders are enabling business strategy in the digital age. McGraw Hill Professional.

Hellsten, P., Alanne, A., Pekkola, S., & Tuunanen, T. (2016, January). Together We Stand, Divided We Fall--Analyzing Information Systems Acquisition as Service. In 2016 49th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS) (pp. 4870-4879). IEEE.

Laudon, K. C., & Laudon, J. P. (2016). Management information system. Pearson Education India.

Marinelli, C., Perrone, A., Pichetti, L., & Salem, R. (2015). U.S. Patent No. 8,930,769. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Moeller, R. R. (2013). Executive's guide to IT governance: improving systems processes with service management, COBIT, and ITIL (Vol. 637). John Wiley & Sons.

Pham, T., Pham, D. K., & Pham, A. (2016). From Business Strategy to Information Technology Roadmap: a practical guide for executives and board members. Productivity Press.

Ylinen, M., & Pekkola, S. (2018, January). Searching Success in a Successful IS Acquisition. In Proceedings of the 51st Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences.