Company background
DIA Brands is a consultancy company that are focusing on unravelling the complexity of business and bringing simple ideas and innovative thinking to brands. They offer complete packages to their clients, starting at the strategy and ending at the implementation part of a new design for their client.
Their purpose is to transform businesses by making brands matter more to people and life to inspire remarkability. They uncover what makes a business the exception. Then they bring it to life through their brand. With the use of positioning, storytelling, design and customer experiences they create sustainable business advantage.
DIA was established in London in 1983 and opened their first Asian office located at Singapore in 1995. In 2006 two more studios were opened in Asia, one in Kuala Lumpur and one in Perth. In 2015 their fourth and last studio was opened in Jakarta.
So they have 3 studios that are supported by the headquarter based in Singapore, the 4 offices work closely together if it is necessary for certain projects.
DIA has won numerous awards for their projects in the Asian market such as:
– Singapore design awards (2010-2016)
o Lamitak – Logo (Gold)
o Carlton Hotel – Brand identity (Silver)
– Marketing excellence award (2013)
o Olam Sustainability program – Excellence in CSR (Silver)
o BaliThai – Excellence in brand strategy (Certificate of excellence)
– Asia communication awards (2016)
o Progresif Cellular – Best brand campaign
– Agency of the year awards Asia (2017)
o Brand consultancy of the year (Bronze) (DIA Brands awards, 2018)
A few of the clients they have worked for are:
– Progresif Cellular – A complete makeover for a challenger telecom brand to take on the idiosyncratic market of Brunei.
– Bali Hai – Re-launching Indonesia's no.3 beer brand into the premium sector.
– Carlton Hotel – Re-positioning Carlton Hotel as Singapore's leading independent hotel brand to capture business travellers in 'The heart of the city"
– Harry Perkins – A new name and new brand for a world medical research leader, in honour of a great man. (DIA Brands work, 2018)
Problem statement
Cloud computing is becoming an inevitable trend for companies to implement in their business process. However, DIA has not yet implemented it in their business process which eventually will result in lower job productivity.
Company relevance
The research that will be done will be very beneficial for DIA. They can use the outcome of the research as guidelines to choose which cloud computing model they want to implement in their current business process. The research is highly relevant for DIA as it is clearly visible that they are struggling with sharing their documents internal as well as with clients. Finding a good solution and the most suitable cloud computing model will enhance the job productivity for DIA.
Research questions
Main research question:
o What would be the best Cloud Computing framework for DIA to enhance the job productivity?
Sub questions:
o How can DIA make sure its cloud is secure and confidential?
o Is it possible to use their cloud system with clients in emerging markets?
o Which cloud service model is the most suitable for DIA?
o Which cloud computing deployment model fits the needs for DIA?
Goals
The main goal is to find the best solution for DIA and the most suitable cloud computing system. In order to reach this goal there will be given a few options with different cloud computing system so that DIA can choose the most suitable for them.
The different options will be mainly based on the following aspects:
o Financial aspect
o Security aspect
o Connectivity aspect
However, next to these three aspect it is also very important that the given options fit the expectations and needs of DIA.
Literature review
Before going more in-depth with the literature review it is important to first know what Cloud computing exactly is and which different cloud service models there are. According to Microsoft Azure, cloud computing is the delivery of computing services such as; servers, storage databases, networking, software, analytical and more over the internet. (Microsoft, sd) Basically, cloud computing enables companies to outsource their computer programs. Users of the cloud can access software, applications and documents from wherever and whenever.
There are three cloud service models: Software as a Service(SaaS), Platform as a Service(PaaS) and Infrastructure as a Service(IaaS). (Kavis, 2014)
It is very important for DIA to choose the right service model that fit their needs. So in order to choose the most suitable service model for DIA it is critical to first understand the three cloud service models:
o IaaS:
o This is the first level of the cloud computing stack. It provides access to networking features, computers and data storage space. Provides a company with the highest level of flexibility and management control over their IT resources.
o PaaS:
o Allows companies to focus on the deployment and management of their applications. Helps to make a company more efficient since they do not need to worry about resource procurement, capacity planning, software maintenance, patching or any other undifferentiated heavy lifting involved in running your application.
o SaaS:
o Provides a company with a complete product that is run and managed by the service provider. Is often very expensive, it is used with a pay-per-use basis opposed to buying licensed programs. (AWS.amazon, sd)
Next to the three cloud service models there are also four cloud computing deployment models:
o Public clouds
o Publicly accessible cloud environment owned by a third-party. Examples of third-parties are: Amazon, IBM's, Google AppEngine
o Private clouds
o A private cloud is only owned by a single organization. Under the private cloud model the cloud is only accessible by a single organization, so this provides the organization with more control and privacy.
o Community clouds
o Similar to the public cloud but the difference is that its access is limited to a specific community of cloud users. This model can be more expensive, but it also offers a higher level of privacy and security compared to a public cloud model.
o Hybrid clouds
o With a hybrid cloud model two or more different cloud models are joined together. For example, a hybrid storage cloud uses a combination of public and private storage cloud. (Chakradhara, 2013)
Cloud computing has already been implemented by a lot of companies and it is a trend that not a single company can deny. That is why it is still growing at a fast rate both in the public sector and the private sector, and the prediction for the next years are that it will remain growing at a fast rate. The average growth rate for the years 2015-2020 is 19% per year, with an increase of $95 billion from 2015 to 2020. (Columbus, 2017)
Looking more closely in the Asia market Malaysia is ranked #8 in the Cloud Readiness Index 2016. In the ASEAN market they are ranked number 2, after Singapore. They are becoming part of global elite in terms of cloud readiness. However, because of a lacking physical infrastructure their international connectivity and broadband is failing to improve. (ACCA, 2016)
Benefits of cloud computing for SMEs.
The benefits of implementing cloud computing in your business process for SMEs are enormous. A few of the benefits that are of significance for DIA will be explained in more detail.
SMEs often do not have the internal knowledge about information technologies since they probably do not have an IT department. With switching to the cloud there is no need to have internal knowledge because the Cloud provider will operate and maintain the cloud computing system. This gives the SME the opportunity to focus more on their core business and will thus enhance the job productivity. (Srikumar, 2013)
Next to this storage space is also a very important benefit, especially for DIA. Instead of having all your documents on a hard disk it is possible to have all your documents in the cloud. This not only saves storage space on laptops and hard disks, but the documents will also be accessible for everyone who is classified to use the cloud. (Broberg, 2011) It will give companies also a lot of mobility, so the information is ubiquitous and available anytime if the employee is connected to the cloud. (12 benefits of cloud computing, 2017)
One of the best benefits of using the cloud is the cost savings. The initial costs of implementing a cloud computing system can be worrying, but looking at the return on your investment on the long term it will be cost saving. First of all, there is no need to have internal IT employees, since it is all redirected to the cloud provider. Next to this there are also no operating and maintenance costs because this is also redirected to the cloud provider. (Jennings, unknown) Cloud computing is an on-demand service and often a pay-as-you-go service. So companies only pay for the service they actually use. For example, if you are in need of data storage space you will only have to pay for the exact data storage amount that you need. (Ibrahim, 2011)
Implementing a cloud computing model will let SMEs focus on their core business and it will also improve their time efficiency which eventually will result in enhancing their job productivity.
Research design
Most of the research design will consist of qualitative desk research. In order to find more in-depth information about the use of cloud computing and especially the benefits of cloud computing for SMEs in the ASEAN market. The data will be collected through external and internal desk, the research will include the books and reports used for the literature review.
Next to this the aim is also to conduct 2 or 3 internal interviews in order to know which cloud computing model fits the needs of DIA. The interviews will be conducted with the employees of the office in Kuala Lumpur, but if it is possible an interview with the headquarter in Singapore will also be conducted.
The table below explains which data collection method will be used for the main question and for the sub-questions. The data collection methods can change during the research if a different approach of research is necessary for a sub-question.
Main Question Data collection methods
What would be the best cloud computing framework for DIA to enhance the job productivity? External desk research/ Internal research
Sub-questions
How can DIA make sure its cloud is secure and confidential? External desk research
Is it possible to use their cloud system with clients in emerging markets? External desk research
Which cloud service model is the most suitable for DIA? External desk research/ Internal research
Which cloud computing model fits the needs for DIA? External desk research/ Internal research
Data analysis methods
Most of the data acquired will be through in-depth desk research. In order to understand how a cloud computing system can be implemented in a current business process it is important to first understand the different cloud systems. Next to this, looking at case studies about how SMEs implemented cloud computing will be very informative.
The literature review will have an important role since numerous reports and books on cloud computing are included in the literature review. The data analysis will not be very statistical but more focused on theoretical data.
If interviews are conducted a good analysing strategy is needed, the interviews will be recorded and a transcript from every interview will be made. For the transcripts data coding will be used in order to categorise the retrieved data.
Ethical considerations
The ethical considerations are very important for this research. A lot of research will be done on the internal current business processes of DIA, so integrity is of high importance for this research.
Next to this, if employees will be interviewed they will be interviewed anonymously and the information retrieved from the interviews will be confidential.
DIA is a consultancy company and the competition in the consultancy business is always very high so it is very important that the research will be confidential and not be given to unclassified people.
Constraints and limitations
The main limitation for DIA with implementing a Cloud Computing system is that they do not have a very large budget available. Since they are a SME firm they do not have the resources to buy a complete Cloud Computing package at companies such as Amazon Web Services. Due to this the research is limited to seek for the more cheaper solutions that are available.
Another constraint for DIA is the infrastructure issue in Malaysia and the other ASEAN countries. Due to a lack of infrastructure the bandwidth for Wi-Fi is very poor in Malaysia, for integrating a Cloud Computing system into the business processes it is important that the internet connection is reliable. At this moment the internet connection is not reliable at DIA, so in order to switch to the Cloud they first need to improve their internet connection.