IT Board Assignment: Cloud Computing Funding Proposal

ASSIGNMENT 6: PROJECT BRIEF/PROPOSAL
CLOUD COMPUTING
FUNDING PROPOSAL PLAN
NOVEMBER 30th 2017
CLOUD COMPUTING FUNDING PROPOSAL
1.0 INTRODUCTION
The recent paradigm shift from outsourcing to cloud computing has thrown most organisations into a limbo. However, given the increasing pressure on organisations to cut down operational costs, and the maturity of cloud computing technology, companies are now re-evaluating their computing options. In the wake of soaring IT budgets, Chief Technology Officers and IT managers are more than ever under pressure to propose solutions that will not only increase efficiency, but significantly cut down the cost of doing business. Cloud computing has emerged as an ideal solution for companies seeking to improve on their operational efficiency and mobility as it departs from the traditional way of computing.
The proposed project will be implementation of cloud computing to enable the company move most of its core IT functions out of the office. The cloud computing project proposal will be written in plain English for ease of readability. The proposal will be based on a structured design and will include a cover page indicating the proposal topic. It will further be broken down into a table of content, executive summary and the main body. The executive summary will highlight the key points discussed in the main body. This will provide readers with a quick way of capturing the proposal content without necessarily having to peruse through the entire proposal. The proposal will be sequentially structured using headings and sub-headings. For purposes of communicating to a wider audience, it will be written in simple English language. The use of IT jargons will be limited or simplified to the extent possible. Definition of terms and acronyms pages will be included where all IT jargons and acronyms will be defined for common understanding.
The primary objective of the project proposal is to solicit funding from the executive board to implement an alternative cost effective solution to the current computing model. Other objectives will be to highlight the potential benefits of shifting from the traditional IT model to a cloud based model, provide a detailed implementation plan, highlight the project budget, resources, timelines , risk management and recommendations.
2.0 KEY RECOMMENDATIONS
The project proposal will make the following key recommendations:
1 A comparative feasibility study to be conducted to establish the merits and demerits of the current and proposed model.
2 Conduct an impact assessment to ascertain how changing from the current office based to cloud computing will affect the company both in the short and long term.
3 Internal review of the current computing model to be done by an external consultancy firm to determine its weaknesses and shortfalls.
4 A financial analysis to be conducted by an independent financial consultant to establish the strategic financial implications of cloud computing.
3.0 AUDIENCE
The main audience for the proposal will be the Board of Directors. The internal audience will be the IT department which handles the IT functions. To mitigate possibilities of facing resistance from the affected department, the proposal will highlight their key concerns and further demonstrate that the overarching objective of the project is not to render some employees jobless, but rather increase operational efficiency and hence competitiveness of the company. Thus the proposal will briefly discuss the effect of the proposed solution on the current IT staff.
4.0 BUDGET
This is a tentative budget estimate based on industry information and will be reviewed in the proposal budget once factual data will hav...