Essay Sample on Economic Implications Cloud Computing

Introduction

Technology is an essential characteristic of contemporary society due to the increased expansion of social networking services. Technology emerged as a result of the invention of computers. For this reason, there is an increased dependence on technology. The growth in information technology (IT) dependency has created a new perception and new practical data operations services. Modern technology is always a step ahead because technology is increasingly undergoing an evolution at a high rate. Regulators find it hard to keep up with the pace of technological growth and expansion (Etro, 2009). It is possible to quickly capture what people say, where they move to, the people they communicate with and their lifestyles including their mannerisms within few seconds. It is only possible when digital signals are employed.

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Cloud computing is, therefore, online-centered computing which provides organizations which an opportunity to access a network or a pool of computing resources (Chou, 2015). The third parties own and maintain these computing resources using the internet. Chou (2015) further assert that the primary concern of cloud computing is the delivery of hosted services across the internet. The technology is elastic, cheap and flexible.

Initially, various organizations collected data by using Paper and Pencil Interviewing (PAPI). Different countries also conducted their elections by using the manual systems of voting where the voters dropped their ballot papers into the ballot boxes. Since the onset of cloud computing, various countries employed the new method which is referred to as CAPI. Organizations collect the required data by using Computer Based Personal Interviewing (CAPI). The method is electronic, and it is integrated with the use of biometric technology to facilitate easy identification. These technologies depend on cloud computing to host. Information Technology (IT) is also an essential function in promoting these services since they are critical in supporting the objectives of an organization. For the sake of this study, informational technology is therefore necessary for facilitating the processes of BallotOnline. BallotOnline will consequently employ the technology as a way of replacing paper-based methods of assisting the management in performing these essential functions.

Ballot Online acknowledges that voting is essential for every democracy. It is also a privilege of living in a democratic state. Ballot Online, therefore, adopts the concept of online voting system. The system is essential in facilitating the new policy which the government instituted. These policies are measures of ensuring the effectiveness of the voting system. Chou (2015) suggests that the most appropriate way of employing cloud computing in the election process is through offering Unique Identification Number (UIQ). The UIQ is provided for every citizen as a way of facilitating the process. To successfully to implement the entire process, governments apply cloud computing with an objective of avoiding the traveling time of the voters and to also help find the candidates who are not engaging in the voting process. The traditional ballot system required the voters to physically go to the polling station and cast their votes by use of pens and papers. Chou (2015) agrees that the implementation of cloud computing in the ballot system enables people to vote for their favorite candidates at their respective locations. The voters do not have to go to the polling station physically. The economic implication of this system is that it saves on time, which people would otherwise use in doing other economic activities that generate revenue for their respective countries. The voting system enables the authenticated individual to engage in the election. The system achieves this by integrating biometric technology in the voting process. The voters are in a better position to vote at any place at a time at the time of the election.

Shawish and Salama (2014) considers the evolution of cloud computing to be among the outstanding advances in the field of technology which is also among the significant technological advancements in the field of technology. As described earlier, cloud computing is a centralized cloud storage environment that can store a large amount of data. The system does not depend on the separate servers which could otherwise be used in maintaining the voter database. BallotOnine can connect the same cloud server as a way of monitoring manual voting and online voting process.

Other economic implications of the technology are the ability to transform how governments, consumers, and companies store data, process and make use of the computing power for the sake of improving their societies. Concerning this, cloud computing becomes a platform for entrepreneurs to invest and an engine for innovation. Cloud computing is the driver of corporate efficiency, and if BallotOnlin e-manages to implement it effectively, it will be in a better position to transform the voting process as a new set of model and technology (Shawish&Salama, 2014).

Economically, the technology also provides exceptional levels of configurability for a variety of users. Since the primary concern of BallotOnline is implementing a voting process that makes use of technology, cloud computing is in a better position to provide the organization with efficient services which are configureddynamically in line with the needs of the users with globally scaled and single unified architecture. Third party providers of cloud computing provide cost merits and scales to the diver's types of consumers which range from people to multinational corporations.

The essential element of Cloud Computing is the generalization of end-user applications from the underlying hardware. For instance, since application software is not linked to any physical hardware or any particular server,then it means that the technology makes use of the resiliency if the primary universal scale data centers and the immense scalability as a method of delivering the same services to a single user or several users.Generally, these users fail to care about or know the locations of the data centers and the way these data centers are configured with their systems.

Cloud computing also has an economic implication on employment. Through job creation, the technology has provided employment opportunities for various individuals globally. According to Etro (2009), the estimations of expected employment opportunities as a result of cloud computing will be between 1.3 million and 3.8 million job opportunities in the European Union by 2020. There are possibilities of jobs slightly decreasing but increasing in the long run.

The technology also has an impact on the GDP of various economies. There are different studies which forecast on the impact that Cloud Computing has on GDP. Etro (2009) estimates that in Europe; the average fixed ICT is 5% of the total costs. It, therefore, means that ICT costs include variable costs which are slightly larger. It means that when companies continue to need servers, computers to facilitate banking transactions at a faster rate. Firms also employ laptops since they are portable and they are usable anywhere at any time. The fact reduces the costs of cloud computing.

Deployment Models

These are the types of cloud deployment models, private, public, and hybrid clouds.

Private cloud means that you own the hardware that the cloud runs on. It's for your use and yours alone. Public means that you're leveraging cloud services over the open internet, using hardware and software that you don't own. Hybrid clouds use both public and private clouds, allowing you to run workloads on either cloud deployment models, and having them work seamlessly together. You may deploy one, two, or all of these models. The main advantage of leveraging a private cloud is you run the cloud on premises.

Some believe this provides the best security over public and hybrid clouds. However, owning your own hardware and software means you're not getting the value of leveraging public or hybrid clouds, where you can avoid owning hardware and software. Public clouds run over the open internet. You may not even know where your applications and data physically exist. Some consider this less secure. However, public clouds don't require that you purchase hardware or software, and you don't have to supply the data center space to maintain these systems.

Thus, the concept avoiding capital expenses core value of leveraging a public cloud. Hybrid clouds can provide the best of both private clouds and public clouds. Since you have two cloud deployment models that are paired, you can leverage either to meet the needs of the workload. In some instances workloads can be moved between public and private clouds, to maximize the value of leveraging the cloud platforms. Your selection of which cloud deployment model is best for your purposes really depends on your own requirements.

BallotOnline's IT Budget and Infrastructure Summary

According to BallotOnline's IT Budget and Infrastructure Summary (2019), the executive leadership of BallotOnline conducts an Informational Technology (IT) budget which relies on projections of revenue. For instance, if the annual budget of Ballot Online is approximately $100.8 million, then the budget is 10% of that revenue ($10.8million). Concerning this, the executive leadership of BallotOnline aims to provide the Informational Technology management a decree that the IT budget should shrink over time depending on the percentage of revenue. It means that in five years, the budget must consist of over 5% of income.

BallotOnline's IT budget for the current fiscal year, therefore, involves capital expenses which are $4million. The capital expenses involve hardware capital expenses which depreciate over five years and data center hardware purchases. Similarly, operating expenses which are linked to capital expenses are a total of $800,000. The operating expenses consist of maintenance and support expenses for purchasing data center hardware. The general operating expenses whichinclude data center colocation fees such as cooling, space, power, cloud hosting, staffing, telecom costs among others consists of approximately $6 million.

The budget also includes the current and proposed IT infrastructure which provides for servers. In the first year, the number of physical servers and network devices which BallotOnline will require is 1200, while 1600, 1600, 2000 and 2000 in the second, third, fourth and fifth years respectively. The number of data centers is 6, 8,8, 10 and 10 in the first, second, third, fourth and fifth years respectively. Currently, BallotOnline has 400 application servers which include 2 CPUs, four cores, 32GB RAM and the operating system is Linux OS. BallotOnline also has 400 database servers which include 4CPU's, four cores, 64GB RAM, Linux OS, and MySQL DB.

Lastly, the proposed storage and data transfer needs include 50000, 66500,66500, 83125 and 103906 for year 1, 2, 3, 4,and five respectively for storage (in GB). The same figures apply to data transfer (in GB).

Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)

Total Cost of Ownership enables BallotOnline to measure and understand the possible costs involved in the entire operation. TCO is essential for regulating the benefits involved and direct and indirect costs which are involved in implementing the project. The primary objective is to initiate a purchase price which helps in the determination of TCO for cloud computing. BallotOnline understands the true value of cloud computing technology. As a result, BallotOnlie uses Azure TCO and AWS TCO calculators to estimate the cost of cloud services existing...