Background: The Case Study Analyzes AWS Cloud Services ✓ Solved

Background: The case study analyzes AWS cloud services and h

Background: The case study analyzes AWS cloud services and how different organizations (Zynga, Outback Steakhouse, InterContinental Hotels, Etsy) use cloud computing, along with outage events; answer the following questions.

CASE STUDY QUESTIONS

  1. What business benefits do cloud computing services provide? What problems do they solve?
  2. What are the disadvantages of cloud computing?
  3. How do the concepts of capacity planning, scalability, and TCO apply to this case? Apply these concepts both to Amazon and to subscribers of its services.
  4. What kinds of businesses are most likely to benefit from using cloud computing? Why?

Paper For Above Instructions

Cloud computing represents a fundamental shift in how organizations acquire, deploy, and manage information technology resources. Grounded in virtualized, on-demand services delivered over the internet, cloud computing promises elasticity, pay-as-you-go economics, and global reach. The literature consistently frames cloud computing around five core characteristics: on-demand self-service, broad network access, resource pooling, rapid elasticity or expansion, and measured service (Mell & Grance, 2011). In practice, platforms such as Amazon Web Services (AWS) operationalize these characteristics by offering scalable compute, storage, and a suite of managed services that customers can mix and match to meet evolving workloads (Armbrust et al., 2010). From a business perspective, cloud computing enables organizations to shift IT expenditure from capital expenditure (capex) to operating expenditure (opex), accelerate time-to-market, and free internal staff to focus on higher-value activities (Marston, Li, Bandyopadhyay, Zhang, & Ghalsasi, 2011). These benefits are vividly illustrated in real-world cases where consumer-facing games, hospitality, and e-commerce platforms rely on elastic cloud resources to handle spikes in demand (e.g., Zynga’s scalable game infrastructure; Etsy’s data-driven product recommendations). The strategic value of cloud computing rests not only in cost savings but in the capacity to experiment rapidly, deploy globally, and prioritize customer experience over infrastructure management (Buyya et al., 2009). The following sections outline the benefits, risks, and strategic considerations most relevant to the case study questions and to both cloud providers and users of cloud services.

1) Business benefits and the problems cloud computing solves. The most salient benefits include cost flexibility and avoidance of large upfront investments, rapid provisioning of resources, and the ability to scale resources up or down in response to demand. For startups and fast-growing firms, cloud platforms allow experimentation with new features or services without committing to a fixed data-center footprint, thereby reducing time-to-market and enabling a more iterative approach to product development (Marston et al., 2011). For established firms, cloud can deliver global reach and resilience with geographically dispersed data centers, enabling faster response times and regional compliance considerations. In the case of Zynga, cloud resources support unpredictable game traffic and user surges, while after initial growth, workloads can move to private clouds to optimize control and cost (Zynga’s private zCloud). For Etsy and others, cloud-enabled analytics and recommendation systems demonstrate how cloud infrastructure supports data-driven decision making at scale (Vance, 2011; Babcock, 2011). These examples align with the cloud computing literature, which emphasizes elasticity, scalability, and the ability to convert IT capacity into a variable cost tied to actual usage (Mell & Grance, 2011; Armbrust et al., 2010).

2) Disadvantages and risks of cloud computing. Despite its advantages, cloud computing introduces governance, security, and compliance concerns. Data residency, regulatory requirements, and data protection obligations complicate multi-tenant environments (CSA, 2011). Vendor lock-in and portability concerns arise when architectures rely on proprietary services, reducing the ability to switch providers or rearchitect workloads easily (Armbrust et al., 2010). Performance variability and outages—while often mitigated by redundant infrastructure—still occur, as historical AWS outages show, underscoring the importance of resiliency planning and backup strategies (Vance, 2011; international resiliency reports, 2012). In addition, some legacy applications or sensitive data sets may not be easily migrated to the cloud, and the total cost of ownership (TCO) can be higher than anticipated if data transfer, storage, and security requirements are not carefully managed (Buyya et al., 2009).

3) Capacity planning, scalability, and TCO in cloud contexts. Capacity planning in the cloud emphasizes dynamic provisioning tied to actual demand rather than static allocations. AWS exemplifies this through auto-scaling, on-demand provisioning, and multi-region architectures that enable resource pooling and elasticity, allowing subscribers to ramp resources during high-traffic events (e.g., game launches or promotional campaigns) and contract them back when demand subsides. Scalability in cloud systems is a fundamental design principle; applications must be decoupled, stateless, and capable of horizontal scaling to leverage load balancing and distributed storage. From a subscriber perspective, capacity planning requires modeling peak usage, transaction latency targets, data ingress/egress, and backup windows, with a clear view of cost implications across compute, storage, and data transfer. TCO analysis must incorporate not only the obvious capex-to-opex shift but also ongoing costs such as data transfer, monitoring, security, and potential cloud provider service level agreements (SLAs). For providers like Amazon, elasticity and multi-tenancy enable high utilization and marginal costs per additional customer, while customers must remain aware of hidden costs (e.g., data egress, I/O, and managed service charges) in TCO calculations (Marston et al., 2011; Buyya et al., 2009; Mell & Grance, 2011).

4) Businesses most likely to benefit from cloud computing. The case study’s examples illustrate a broad set of beneficiaries: startups and digital-native companies that require rapid scaling and experimentation (e.g., Zynga) and consumer-oriented businesses wanting to optimize marketing initiatives or guest experiences (Outback Steakhouse, InterContinental Hotels). Smaller firms gain access to enterprise-grade infrastructure without large capital investments, enabling them to compete with larger incumbents on speed and agility (Marston et al., 2011). However, industries with strict regulatory constraints or highly sensitive data may favor hybrid or private cloud configurations, combining on-premises control with the flexibility of public cloud for non-sensitive workloads (CSA, 2011; AWS Well-Architected Framework). Overall, organizations that experience variable workloads, need global distribution, or seek rapid time-to-value are best positioned to benefit from cloud computing while remaining mindful of governance, security, and cost considerations (Armbrust et al., 2010; Mell & Grance, 2011).

In sum, cloud computing offers substantial strategic opportunities by aligning IT capabilities with business demand, enabling faster experimentation and scalable delivery models. The most prudent approach combines hybrid and multi-cloud strategies where appropriate, with careful attention to capacity planning and total cost of ownership to ensure services meet performance, security, and regulatory requirements. As the case shows, the benefits are real, but so are the risks, and successful adoption hinges on thoughtful architecture, governance, and continuous optimization (Marston et al., 2011; CSA, 2011; AWS Well-Architected Framework).

References

  • Armbrust, M., Fox, A., Griffith, R., Joseph, A. D., Katz, R., Konwinski, A., Lee, G., Patterson, D., Rabkin, A., Schenker, S., Stirrup, V., & Zaharia, M. (2010). A view of cloud computing. Communications of the ACM, 53(4), 50-58.
  • Buyya, R., Yeo, C. S., Venugopal, S., Broberg, D., Brandic, I. (2009). Cloud computing and emerging IT platforms: Vision, hype, and reality for delivering computing as the 5th utility. Future Generation Computer Systems, 25(6), 599-616.
  • Cloud Security Alliance (CSA). (2011). Security Guidance for Critical Areas of Focus in Cloud Computing.
  • Mell, P., & Grance, T. (2011). The NIST Definition of Cloud Computing. NIST Special Publication 800-145.
  • Marston, S., Li, Z., Bandyopadhyay, S., Zhang, J., & Ghalsasi, A. (2011). Cloud computing—The business perspective. MIS Quarterly, 35(4), 795-819.
  • Vance, A. (2011). The Cloud: Battle of the Titans. Bloomberg Businessweek, March 2011. (Context on cloud scale and vendor dynamics.)
  • AWS Well-Architected Framework. (2015). Amazon Web Services.
  • Netflix Tech Blog. (2011-2012). How Netflix Uses AWS to Scale, Resiliency in Cloud Environments.
  • International Working Group on Cloud Computing Resiliency. (2012). Cloud resiliency and uptime studies.
  • Zynga. (2011). Zynga’s unusual cloud strategy and scalable infrastructure. Information Week / Charles Babcock references.

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