Case Study 1: The Big Data Challenges

Case Study 1: The Big Data Challenges

Introduction

LaValle et.al, (2011) notes that business leaders across the world are questioning the benefit that their business is receiving from the massive amounts of information data that exists within their organization. With help of new technologies, business organizations collect a large volume of data but the aspect of extracting value from this data in order to become more competent is hard to determine. Today, organizations want to become smart and innovative through making decisions that are data driven and makes them competitively different then their rivals. However, organizations feel challenged when it comes to searching, storing and analyzing the Big Data, which is the volume of structured and semi-structured data generated by organizations.

This paper discusses certain aspects related to the Big Data challenges faced by the Volvo Car Corporation. The company few years ago upgraded its systems and processes to the latest Information Technology (IT) available in order to best deliver a quality and modern tech-oriented product and enhance their consumer's service experience. These are discussed in the following section.

Discussion

Integration of Volvo Car Corporation Cloud Infrastructure into Its Networks

Before addressing how Volvo integrated its cloud infrastructure, it is prudent to briefly overview the key concepts entailed in the question. According to Lenk et.al, (2009) cloud computing is fast emerging as 'everything-as-a-service' (XaaS) model. This model uses virtual resources, infrastructure and platform through which business applications are provided and used. Similarly, Zhang et.al, (2010) notes that with the rapid development of storage and Internet technologies have rendered computing resources to be affordable and widely available. Coupled with, the IT boom at the beginning of the new millennia had increased interest of the public and enhanced the scope of this field. This has resulted in new and innovative Information Technologies being widely and easily available to many. Such new technological trends resulted in new computing model known as cloud computing, through which the user could access their data on a virtual system without having to be physically connected with that system.

Conversely, with the advent of cloud computing and the lucrative potential that it possessed for numerous businesses also motivated Volvo Car Corporation to develop its own IT environment. Over the years, Volvo had deployed different Business Intelligence operations but with time and seeing the company's growth, it required more cohesive, integrated system to make the overall processes simpler to manage and which results in lower costs (Microsoft.com, 2012). This could also be ascertained from the respective Volvo study case, which states that Volvo now has its own 'Data Warehouse' where huge volumes of data streams in along with data from customer relationship systems, product development, design systems and dealership systems. This has resulted in creating a clear business advantage for the company as this data is used for optimizing manufacturing processes, increase safety and enhance customer interaction. Thus, from the above discussion it can be understood that Volvo with the help of its own IT department and employing renown software/IT ...