Post responses

Respond to two or more of your colleagues in one or more of the following ways:

• Offer your colleague one or more lessons you have learned, based on your own experience with the types of data resources and systems presented.
• Expand on your colleague's post by sharing how your organization has used these data resources and systems.
• Offer ideas for how the data resources or systems presented might be used in your organization. Identify any obstacles that your organization might face or has faced when using these data resources and systems.
• Compare your colleague's findings with your own to develop a set of recommendations from which organizations with similar data resource and processing needs might benefit most.
• Expand upon potential issues that could arise and offer one or more additional recommendations about how you would address those.

POST1

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In today’s business environment, there are many data resource and processes systems that are play a crucial role in the business world. One of the most relevant of these systems is Cloud Storage. Cloud Storage is a service that provides storage resource service through remote storage servers derived from cloud computing. The system works with many devices, many application domains and also many service forms (Yang, Shih, Huang, Jiang, Chu, 2016). The Cloud storage model is one that provides online data storage services that is useful for many businesses and companies alike. Some companies that use Cloud Storage include Amazon, EdgeCast, and Ceph (Yang, Shih, Huang, Jiang, Chu, 2016). Cloud Storage is relevant in today’s business world because it is a high speed, power-saving, and reliable disturbued data storage method and it meets the needs of a virtualization management system (Yang, Shih, Huang, Jiang, Chu, 2016).

Another important data resource system is Mesa. Mesa is a highly analytical data warehouse system that stores critical data related to Google’s advertisement business (Gupta, Fan, Govig, Kirsch, Chan, Lai ,2016). In the Mesa system, data in maintained and stored in tables (Gupta, Fan, Govig, Kirsch, Chan, Lai ,2016).  The data that is stored in Mesa is considered to be one of the largest and most valuable data sets at Google.

One last type of data resource that I have located is Holographic data storage (HDS) system. This type of system is able to overcome the physical limits of convectional data storage systems (C.D. N. J. L., 2016). HDS provides fast input/output rates and short access time. HDS is relevant and useful because it provides high storage density and fast data-access rate because of the page-orientated data processing (C.D. N. J. L., 2016).

There are a few ways that these systems could be utilized in my current organization. I work for a large bank in a call center environment and we store and use a ton of data on a daily basis. We could use HDS to input customer data at a fast rate which would in turn lead to higher productivity rates. We could also use the Cloud Storage system. Again, using this system to store data would result in faster storage and allow employees that work in data management to be able to complete more tasks.

There are a number of short-term and long-term issues that could arise from using these data management systems. For one, for a brief time, there could be a period of confusion with switching the data management system. Employees may not be able to get on board quickly which could in turn lead to an adverse effect and slow down productivity. Also, there is the risk of people leaving the company because of the rollout. I can remember at my current workplace, a few years ago, we changed our main system that we use to store customer information, the switch over from one system to another was very unorganized and it caused a few employees to leave. In terms of long-term problems, the system could prove to not be as safe as the company once thought and could lead to a security breach. It would be my recommendation to add multi-level data encryption, quick erase, and anti-tamper features as well. Data encryption is the first way to keep stored data out of unauthorized hands (Keller, 2016). Adding multi-level data encryption is another way to help keep classified information out of the wrong hands. One last long-term problem that might arise from changing data management systems is the risk of ethics. With more data being stored and used, there is always the risk that someone will use the information unethically for their own personal gain.  

POST2

Data is valuable in many forms for organizations.  The ability to retrieve, use, and store the data is critical for a business to remain competitive.  Some different types of data storage systems are cloud storage and Mesa.  Use of data is commonly done through utilizing multiple systems, a common one being a Human Resource Information System.  Another option for data processing is a Customer Oriented Data System which allows for easy retrieval of information.

Cloud storage is the data storage that I feel my generation is likely the most familiar with.  The “cloud” provides an ability to have storage in such a way that allows it saves an organization on software applications or hardware needed for storage (Shaffer, 2012).  Being still relatively new, we have yet to see the full potential of the cloud, its storage and it computing capabilities. 

Mesa is another storage and processing system, but one that is used primarily by Google Advertising (Gupta, Yang, et al. 2016).  This system is efficient for Google as it is scalable based upon their needs.  The system received automatic updates and allows Google to be accurate with the types of advertisements it populates for each individual use through its network (Gupta, et al. 2016).  Since Google is one of the main advertisers in today’s computer era they need a system that will remain up to date and keep them competitive.

Human Resource Information Systems are utilized at many large organizations to store and use data for employees.  The system has multiple uses, such as self-service, or integration of new intranet systems within an organization (Weeks, 2013).  HRIS has many options for software packages depending on what the end result of the program is intended to be.  Commonly known software is Oracle, PeopleSoft, SAP and Lawson.  Use of these systems allows a company to be cost-effective and productive (Weeks, 2013).

Customer Oriented Data System, or CODAS, is a retrieval system set up for ease of use from the side of the user (Day, Mansfield, & Ellis, 1969).  The simplicity of the system was valuable during its primary years.  The system has been since expanded into a more complex system that allow for more integrated reports and data displays, but this humble beginning of systems should not be discounted as it allows easy, basic reports to be done without needing much thought on inputs.

These systems are all valuable in their own capacity.  From saving time and money by processing items efficiently to reaching consumers on an individualized level, these systems keep people connected and operations running smoothly.

For my organization, we can use these tools in multiple ways.  For example, the cloud storage system allows us to save data on clients that would normally take up a large amount of space on our desktop systems.  The cloud storage also allows us to retrieve the data while out in the field so that we have information while not needing to be connected to the desktops in the office.  The HRIS system used for my organization is a central source of information for employees.  This system allows an employee to log on to a designated account and see a multitude of information.  This information includes our pay stubs, tax forms, health insurance options and more.  The system also allows us to modify things, such as our health insurance options or tax withholding on our paychecks.

With technology also comes risk.  Short-term risks could include wrong data entered for individual clients.  This type of risk is dependent upon the reliability of the user that is inputting the information.  In our industry, the idea of this happening is more of a nuisance than critical, and correcting it is simply a quick fix of reentering information.  This risk however in a field such as healthcare could be life threatening if it led to patient care mismatches when administering medications (Lee, 2012).  Another short-term risk is training issues.  As technology develops, those that use it must develop with it.  I call this a short-term risk as opposed to long term because one a person has a decent amount of technology training they can adapt to new systems relatively quickly and with ease, therefore over time the risk of having untrained operators becomes less.  Long-term risk in the form of security breaches could be catastrophic in my industry as we hold data of individual’s sensitive information.  The impact of identity theft to our clients would not only cause our office to suffer but our client who was the victim to need to deal with the potential outfall for years.  Another long-term risk is compatibility of systems.  Since technology moves quickly, it is conceivable that our system upgrades would lead us to issues when connecting hardware and software that is outdated.  For example, we have experienced in our office the upgrade of software to our systems that would then not allow our outdated printers to be connected.  We ended up replacing our printers as the modification to the software to allow the connection was going to be costly.  The last long-term risk I would like to bring up is the loss of data.  No matter what media you use to store, there is always a risk of that data being lost.  Even with cloud storage being internet based you risk not being able to locate the stored information or perhaps forgetting your cloud password and not being able to access what you had.  A popular and reputable podcast host, Leo Leporte, advises the following strategy when it comes to data storage and I follow it for my own personal files and it would be my recommendation to others as well.  His solution is a 3, 2, 1 type of strategy.  “3 total copies of your data, 2 of which are local but on different mediums (read: devices), and at least 1 copy offsite.” Leo Laporte (2016).  The purpose of this is simply to have several copies so that if one is lost, the information is still available somewhere.  The idea behind having at least 1 copy offsite is so that if there is a catastrophic event, such as fire not all three copies are destroyed.