May 2018

at May 29, 2018 0

Fragmentation in Distributed Database Management System (DDBMS)

Fragmentation in Distributed Database Management System (DDBMS)

 

Fragmentation is the task of dividing a table into a set of smaller tables. The subsets of the table are called fragments. Fragmentation can be of three types: horizontal, vertical, and hybrid (combination of horizontal and vertical). Horizontal fragmentation can further be classified into two techniques: primary horizontal fragmentation and derived horizontal fragmentation.

Fragmentation should be done in a way so that the original table can be reconstructed from the fragments. This is needed so that the original table can be reconstructed from the fragments whenever required. This requirement is called “reconstructiveness.”

Advantages of Fragmentation

  • Since data is stored close to the site of usage, efficiency of the database system is increased.
  • Local query optimization techniques are sufficient for most queries since data is locally available.
  • Since irrelevant data is not available at the sites, security and privacy of the database system can be maintained.

Disadvantages of Fragmentation

  • When data from different fragments are required, the access speeds may be very high.
  • In case of recursive fragmentations, the job of reconstruction will need expensive techniques.
  • Lack of back-up copies of data in different sites may render the database ineffective in case of failure of a site.



    Vertical Fragmentation

    In vertical fragmentation, the fields or columns of a table are grouped into fragments. In order to maintain reconstructiveness, each fragment should contain the primary key field(s) of the table. Vertical fragmentation can be used to enforce privacy of data.

    For example, let us consider that a University database keeps records of all registered students in a Student table having the following schema.

    STUDENT

    Regd_No Name Course Address Semester Fees Marks       
    Now, the fees details are maintained in the accounts section. In this case, the designer will fragment the database as follows −

    CREATE TABLE STD_FEES AS 
   SELECT Regd_No, Fees 
   FROM STUDENT;

    Horizontal Fragmentation

    Horizontal fragmentation groups the tuples of a table in accordance to values of one or more fields. Horizontal fragmentation should also confirm to the rule of reconstructiveness. Each horizontal fragment must have all columns of the original base table.

    For example, in the student schema, if the details of all students of Computer Science Course needs to be maintained at the School of Computer Science, then the designer will horizontally fragment the database as follows −

    CREATE COMP_STD AS 
   SELECT * FROM STUDENT  
   WHERE COURSE = "Computer Science";

    Hybrid Fragmentation

    In hybrid fragmentation, a combination of horizontal and vertical fragmentation techniques are used. This is the most flexible fragmentation technique since it generates fragments with minimal extraneous information. However, reconstruction of the original table is often an expensive task.

    Hybrid fragmentation can be done in two alternative ways −
  • At first, generate a set of horizontal fragments; then generate vertical fragments from one or more of the horizontal fragments.
  • At first, generate a set of vertical fragments; then generate horizontal fragments from one or more of the vertical fragments.


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at May 29, 2018 0

Design Strategies in Distributed Database Management System (DDBMS)


Database Design Strategies

There are two approaches for developing any database, the top-down method and the bottom-up method. While these approaches appear radically different, they share the common goal of utilising a system by describing all of the interaction between the processes.
  1. Top-down  design method
  2. Bottom – up design method
1. Top – down design method
The top-down design method starts from the general and moves to the specific. In other words, you start with a general idea of what is needed for the system and then work your way down to the more specific details of how the system will interact. This process involves the identification of different entity types and the definition of each entity’s attributes.

Design Strategies in Distributed Database Management System (DDBMS)


2. Bottom – up design method
The bottom-up approach begins with the specific details and moves up to the general. This is done by first identifying the data elements (items) and then grouping them together in data sets. In other words, this method first identifies the attributes, and then groups them to form entities.

Design Strategies in Distributed Database Management System (DDBMS)

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at May 28, 2018 2

Architecture Model of Distributed Database Management System (DDBMS)

Architecture Models for DDBMSs (or more generally for multiple DBMSs) canbe classified along three dimensions:
  1. – Autonomy
  2. – Distribution
  3. – Heterogeneity



  1. Distribution − It states the physical distribution of data across the different sites.
  2. Autonomy − It indicates the distribution of control of the database system and the degree to which each constituent DBMS can operate independently.
  3. Heterogeneity − It refers to the uniformity or dissimilarity of the data models, system components and databases.


    Architectural Models

    Some of the common architectural models are

    1. Client - Server Architecture for DDBMS
    2. Peer - to - Peer Architecture for DDBMS
    3. Multi - DBMS Architecture

1. Client - Server Architecture for DDBMS

This is a two-level architecture where the functionality is divided into servers and clients. The server functions primarily encompass data management, query processing, optimization and transaction management. Client functions include mainly user interface. However, they have some functions like consistency checking and transaction management.
The two different client - server architecture are −
  • Single Server Multiple Client
  • Multiple Server Multiple Client 

2. Peer- to-Peer Architecture for DDBMS

In these systems, each peer acts both as a client and a server for imparting database services. The peers share their resource with other peers and co-ordinate their activities.
This architecture generally has four levels of schemas −
  • Global Conceptual Schema − Depicts the global logical view of data.
  • Local Conceptual Schema − Depicts logical data organization at each site.
  • Local Internal Schema − Depicts physical data organization at each site.
  • External Schema − Depicts user view of data.

     

    3. Multi - DBMS Architectures

    This is an integrated database system formed by a collection of two or more autonomous database systems.
    Multi-DBMS can be expressed through six levels of schemas −
  • Multi-database View Level − Depicts multiple user views comprising of subsets of the integrated distributed database.
  • Multi-database Conceptual Level − Depicts integrated multi-database that comprises of global logical multi-database structure definitions.
  • Multi-database Internal Level − Depicts the data distribution across different sites and multi-database to local data mapping.
  • Local database View Level − Depicts public view of local data.
  • Local database Conceptual Level − Depicts local data organization at each site.
  • Local database Internal Level − Depicts physical data organization at each site.


There are two design alternatives for multi-DBMS −
  • Model with multi-database conceptual level.
  • Model without multi-database conceptual level.


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at May 26, 2018 1

Advantage and Disadvantage of Distributed Database Management System (DDBMS)


 The distribution of data and applications has potential advantages over traditional centralized database systems. Unfortunately, there are also disadvantages; in this section we review the advantages and disadvantages of DDBMS.

Advantages of DDBMS

Following are the advantages of distributed databases over centralized databases.

1. Modular Development 

If the system needs to be expanded to new locations or new units, in centralized database systems, the action requires substantial efforts and disruption in the existing functioning. However, in distributed databases, the work simply requires adding new computers and local data to the new site and finally connecting them to the distributed system, with no interruption in current functions.

2. More Reliable 

In case of database failures, the total system of centralized databases comes to a halt. However, in distributed systems, when a component fails, the functioning of the system continues may be at a reduced performance. Hence DDBMS is more reliable.

3. Better Response 

If data is distributed in an efficient manner, then user requests can be met from local data itself, thus providing faster response. On the other hand, in centralized systems, all queries have to pass through the central computer for processing, which increases the response time.

4. Lower Communication Cost 

In distributed database systems, if data is located locally where it is mostly used, then the communication costs for data manipulation can be minimized. This is not feasible in centralized systems.

5. Improved Performance

As the data is located near the site of 'greatest demand', and given the inherent parallelism of distributed DBMSs, speed of database access may be better than that achievable from a remote centralized database. Furthermore, since each site handles only a part of the entire database, there may not be the same contention for CPU and I/O services as characterized by a centralized DBMS.

6. Improved share ability and local autonomy

The geographical distribution of an organization can be reflected in the distribution of the data; users at one site can access data stored at other sites. Data can be placed at the site close to the users who normally use that data. In this way, users have local control of the data, and they can consequently establish and enforce local policies regarding the use of this data. A global database administrator (DBA) is responsible for the entire system. Generally, part of this responsibility is assigned the local level, so that the local DBA can manage the local DBMS.

Disadvantages of DDBMS

There are following disadvantages of DDBMSs:

1. Complexity

A distributed DBMS that hides the distributed nature from the user and provides an acceptable level of performance, reliability, availability is inherently more complex then a centralized DBMS. The fact that data can be replicated also adds an extra level of complexity to the distributed DBMS. If the software does not handle data replication adequately, there wi1l be degradation in availability, reliability and performance compared with the centralized system, and the advantages we cites above will become disadvantages.

2. Cost

Increased complexity means that we can expect the procurement and maintenance costs for a DDBMS to be higher than those for a centralized DBMS. Furthermore, a distributed
DBMS requires additional hardware to establish a network between sites. There are ongoing communication costs incurred with the use of this network. There are also additional labor costs to manage and maintain the local DBMSs and the underlying network.

3. Security

In a centralized system, access to the data can be easily controlled. However, in a distributed DBMS not only does access to replicated data have to be controlled in multiple locations but also the network itself has to be made secure. In the past, networks were regarded as an insecure communication medium. Although this is still partially true, significant developments have been made to make networks more secure.

4. Integrity control more difficult

Database integrity refers to the validity and consistency of stored data. Integrity is usually expressed in terms of constraints, which are consistency rules that the database is not permitted to violate. Enforcing integrity constraints generally requires access to a large amount of data that defines the constraints. In a distributed DBMS, the communication and processing costs that are required to enforce integrity constraints are high as compared to centralized system.

5. Lack of Standards

Although distributed DBMSs depend on effective communication, we are only now starting to see the appearance of standard communication and data access protocols. This lack of standards has significantly limited the potential of distributed DBMSs. There are also no tools or methodologies to help users convert a centralized DBMS into a distributed DBMS

6. Lack of experience

General-purpose distributed DBMSs have not been widely accepted, although many of the protocols and problems are well understood. Consequently, we do not yet have the same level of experience in industry as we have with centralized DBMSs. For a prospective adopter of this technology, this may be a significant deterrent.

7. Database design more complex

Besides the normal difficulties of designing a centralized database, the design of a distributed database has to take account of fragmentation of data, allocation of fragmentation to specific sites, and data replication.


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at May 26, 2018 2

The 7 Most Important Components of an Ecommerce Business

 
Important Components of an Ecommerce Business

When it comes to ecommerce most of the information you’ll be able to find online is marketing related. Because marketing is the easy part. That’s why almost everybody assumes that all it takes to build an ecommerce operation is good marketing, a technological sound shopping catalogue solution and a lot of luck.

Marketing and frontend ecommerce solutions are just the tip of the iceberg and in this post I’ll walk you through the most important areas you need to focus on (and you probably don’t) when building an online commerce business. Not site, not catalogue, business.

However, no successful store was ever built on software, luck and marketing alone. Top online retailers got where they are selling great products at great prices, delivering fast and making sure that customers are well rewarded for their choice. That takes a lot of work in areas most of us never notice, areas such as:

1. Suppliers and supply chain management

You are or plan to be a retailer in an increasingly competitive market. It means a lot to come up with a great idea, drive good traffic and convert it to sales but you can’t do that without the right products, delivered at the right time, with a price the market is willing to pay.
Suppliers meant a whole lot when ecommerce was not around. Now – even more so. When it comes to ecommerce, suppliers can provide you with the right merchandise but they can also take the stocks burden off your shoulders. Amazon, for example, relies heavily on its marketplace partners to increase listed products number, without buying stocks for those products.

Key take away: before starting an ecommerce operation make sure:
  • you have enough and the right merchandise suppliers
  • they are financially and operational safe
  • they are able to provide real-time stock inventory
  • they are able to deliver purchased products fast

2. Warehouse operations

Post brick-and-mortar retail relies on electronic communication and product display. But when a product is bought it has to come from somewhere, right? Seal the deal with the suppliers and it’s off to the Warehouse, that magical place where online retailers pick products from the shelf, pack them neatly and prepare those products to be delivered.

3. Shipping and returns

Just as mentioned above your merchandise may be displayed and marketed online but it has to be packed and reach its destination in the real world. That’s why you need a good warehouse management and that’s why you need a great shipping service.

Shipping is usually an outsourced service. The best thing to do, unless you’re swimming in cash and you want to start competing the likes of FedEx and DHL, is employ one of the shipping providers and negotiate your way to a marketable shipping cost. Such a cost is likely to be, in the future, one you will be paying yourself – so pay attention.
Once you’ve contracted these shipping providers integrate their system with yours so you can streamline packaging and delivery.

4. Client Relationship Management (CRM) – software and policies

Before even considering selling – you need to think about how are you going to treat your customer and keep him coming back. That’s where CRM comes in. While the term is usually used to describe a type of software, it is actually the term describing the whole policy on how are you going to handle interactions between you and your customer.

CRM needs to be “customer-centric”. Big words – but what do they mean? It just means that everything you do needs to be done “for the customer, by the retailer”. You need to understand the customer purchase patterns so you can recommend the most suited products. You need to record purchases, interests, preferred channels and basically all there is to it when it comes to understanding your customer.

5. Ecommerce catalogue and product display

Here’s one you surely expected, maybe not so down the list: your online store catalogue. Of course – this one is important. Without one we would be back to mail orders and inventing the wheel. However, as you’ve probably seen so far – it is just a small part of the whole ecommerce store business.
When it comes to it some things you really should be taking into account:
  • make sure you don’t over-design your store – your products are the most important items. Make them shine.
  • analyze and predict: predictive analytics is the practice of analyzing users behavior and predicting what would they rather buy at any given time. Read more about it here.
  • search, search and let’s not forget search: most of your customers will be using a search engine to navigate to your store (1) . Make sure your store is optimized. Once there, when in doubt, they will want to search for products (2) – make sure your site search works. Finally – when their order was shipped they will want to search for its location (3). Show them.

6. Marketing and loyalty programs

I know, i know – one includes the other. But for the sake of the argument let’s just assume that maybe loyalty programs online are so important that they should be a separate item to marketing. Because they are.
Loyalty is really hard to acquire these days. Especially when it comes to ecommerce. Most users will be searching for the lowest price and buy from whomever the seller is. But you can fight the trend with loyalty programs such as:
  • rewarding purchases – reward your users with points they can spend on your store. It’s really effective in keeping your customers tied to your brand, as well as making them feel great about it
  • social shopping – make your customer feel like a king when he can give out discounts and freebies to its peers and friends
  • reward social media – most online users have some kind of influence in their micro community of friends. Encourage them to take part in your story, share your products and reward them with freebies, discounts and … well …sometimes “Thank you” is enough


 As for marketing at large – there is an increasing number of marketing solutions you an use to market your products and store but not all are alike. Not all are as efficient. Focus on:
  • Search engine optimization and paid search results
  • Email marketing
  • Social media
  • Branding
They may not look like much but together the “incredible four of ecommerce” can mean the difference between a failed startup and the next Amazon.
Last but not least …

7. Showroom and offline purchases

What – you thought that brick and mortar is all gone? Of course not. Online retail is still at just 7% of total retail but growing fast. One of the things that’s helping it grow is showrooming. That is the practice of checking a product in-store and buying it (usually cheaper) – online.
Don’t think about ecommerce as online-vs-offline. Think in terms of customer. The customer wants to feel the product before it makes the purchase. So you’ll need to show it to him. Even a small offline showroom can work miracles for your online store.
So now you have it – online retail is a rather big iceberg. Most of it unseen. Check where others don’t look because that’s where you’ll find success in ecommerce.

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at May 26, 2018 0

Understanding Porter's Five Forces

The tool was created by Harvard Business School professor Michael Porter, to analyze an industry's attractiveness and likely profitability. Since its publication in 1979, it has become one of the most popular and highly regarded business strategy tools.


Porter recognized that organizations likely keep a close watch on their rivals, but he encouraged them to look beyond the actions of their competitors and examine what other factors could impact the business environment. He identified five forces that make up the competitive environment, and which can erode your profitability. These are:
  1. Competitive Rivalry. This looks at the number and strength of your competitors. How many rivals do you have? Who are they, and how does the quality of their products and services compare with yours?
    Where rivalry is intense, companies can attract customers with aggressive price cuts and high-impact marketing campaigns. Also, in markets with lots of rivals, your suppliers and buyers can go elsewhere if they feel that they're not getting a good deal from you.
    On the other hand, where competitive rivalry is minimal, and no one else is doing what you do, then you'll likely have tremendous strength and healthy profits.
  2. Supplier Power. This is determined by how easy it is for your suppliers to increase their prices. How many potential suppliers do you have? How unique is the product or service that they provide, and how expensive would it be to switch from one supplier to another?
    The more you have to choose from, the easier it will be to switch to a cheaper alternative. But the fewer suppliers there are, and the more you need their help, the stronger their position and their ability to charge you more. That can impact your profit.
  3. Buyer Power. Here, you ask yourself how easy it is for buyers to drive your prices down. How many buyers are there, and how big are their orders? How much would it cost them to switch from your products and services to those of a rival? Are your buyers strong enough to dictate terms to you?
    When you deal with only a few savvy customers, they have more power, but your power increases if you have many customers.
  4. Threat of Substitution. This refers to the likelihood of your customers finding a different way of doing what you do. For example, if you supply a unique software product that automates an important process, people may substitute it by doing the process manually or by outsourcing it. A substitution that is easy and cheap to make can weaken your position and threaten your profitability.
  5. Threat of New Entry. Your position can be affected by people's ability to enter your market. So, think about how easily this could be done. How easy is it to get a foothold in your industry or market? How much would it cost, and how tightly is your sector regulated?
    If it takes little money and effort to enter your market and compete effectively, or if you have little protection for your key technologies, then rivals can quickly enter your market and weaken your position. If you have strong and durable barriers to entry, then you can preserve a favorable position and take fair advantage of it.
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at May 26, 2018 1

Key Differences Between Open & Commercial Software.

Key Differences Between Open & Commercial Software

Generally, the key differentiators between open and Commercial come down to a few factors:
  1. Cost
  2. Service
  3. Innovation
  4. Usability
  5. Security
There are pros and cons of each and the direction you head in, will largely depend on your priorities for each of these 5 factors. Those priorities will help dictate when it’s appropriate to use open source and when to use a closed source CMS.

#1: Cost

One of the main advantages of open source software is the cost; however, when applied to OSS, the term "free" has less to do with overall cost and more to do with freedom from restrictions.

If you have the in-house capabilities and technical expertise to maintain the software, and resources to implement, train and provide support to staff, then open source may be most cost-effective for your organization. You should consider, however, the long-term costs of implementation, innovation, providing support, and investing in infrastructure as your company evolves, technology changes, and your needs grow.

Update we recently took a detailed look at the costs of platforms with our post Do You Know The True Cost of Managing a Website? It will help you understand what are the true costs.

Open software providers are also increasingly charging for extras like add-ons, integration, and additional services, which can negate any cost-saving advantages in some cases. In the end, rather than being free, you are still paying for a service with open source software.

For a Closed Source CMS, depending on the complexity of the system, the cost can vary between a few thousand to a few hundred thousand dollars, which includes a base fee for software, integration and services and annual licensing/support fees. While the hard cost can be higher, what you get in return is a more customized product from a trusted brand, higher levels of security and functionality, continuous innovation, greater scalability, ongoing training and support and a lower requirement for technical skills.

#2: Service

Open source software relies on a loyal and engaged online user community to deliver support via forums and blogs, but this support often fails to deliver the high level of response that many consumers expect (and can receive with proprietary software).
These communities must also be found on the web and some would argue there is no incentive for the community to address a user's problem.

Service and support are probably the greatest advantages of using proprietary software (closed). Ongoing support is a key selling point for users with little technical skills and one of the main reasons people choose closed source over open source software.
Support includes user manuals and points of contact for immediate assistance from viable companies with experts who are intimately familiar with the products and services.

#3: Innovation

Open source software provides a large amount of flexibility and freedom to change the software without restriction. This innovation, however, may not be passed on to all users and it is debated whether customized changes to the original source code can limit the future support and growth of the software. Once more, open source software providers often struggle to attract large-scale research and development.

Some see the inability to view or change the source code in closed source software as a drawback when compared to the unrestricted flexibility of open source; however, this restriction ensures the security and reliability of proprietary software that is fully tested and offered to all users.

Once more, customized software is available for specific users. Unlike open source, proprietary software also attracts larger amounts of R&D in order to regularly offer new products and upgrades.
Like open source software, closed source software also has dedicated online communities that share ideas and strategies through forums and surveys, fostering innovation and allowing the product to adapt with changing needs.


#4: Usability

Usability is often a major area of criticism for open source software because the technology is generally not reviewed by usability experts and caters to developers rather than the vast majority of layperson users. User guides are not required by law and are therefore often ignored. When manuals are written, they are often filled with jargon that is difficult to follow.

For closed or proprietary software, usability is a high selling point (think Apple again) due to expert usability testing for a more targeted audience. User manuals are also provided for immediate reference and quick training, while support services help to maximize use of the software. Third party systems and developers are also able to use a variety of mechanisms to enhance "closed" source software.

#5: Security

Security of open source is often a concern for large companies because software is not always developed in a controlled environment.

With individual users all around the world developing the software, there is a lack of continuity and common direction that prevents effective communication. Once more, the software is not always peer-reviewed or validated, meaning that a programmer can embed a backdoor Trojan into the software while the user is none the wiser.

One way to reduce this potential risk is to adopt a reputable brand with a concentrated development team supported by a strong online community.

Proprietary or closed software is generally seen as more secure because it is developed in a controlled environment by a concentrated team with a common direction. This team is the only group that can view or edit the source code, it is heavily audited and the risk of backdoor Trojans or bugs are reduced (though no security can be flawless).

The key pros and cons of open vs closed source software largely depend on your technical expertise and resources available to maintain and update the software. Consider the five points outlined in this article to get a better idea of the right software for your company's needs now and in the future.
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at May 26, 2018 0

DEFINITION of 'Brick And Mortar'

What is Brick And Mortal


Brick and mortar refers to a traditional street-side business that deals with its customers face-to-face in an office or store that the business owns or rents. The local grocery store and the corner bank are examples of brick-and-mortar companies. Brick-and-mortar businesses can find it difficult to compete with mostly web-based businesses like Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) because the latter usually have lower operating costs and greater flexibility.

BREAKING DOWN 'Brick And Mortar'

Brick-and-mortar businesses have several distinct advantages over their online counterparts. Many consumers still prefer to liaise with people directly as they believe questions about products or services can be dealt with in a more comprehensive and immediate manner in a face-to-face setting. Brick-and-mortar businesses allow consumers to hold, try and touch items before they contemplate making a purchase — indeed 73% of consumers prefer to try before they buy, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers. Consumers often associate legitimacy with a brick-and-mortar business as a physical presence can foster a perception of trust.

Brick-and-mortar businesses provide consumers with instant gratification when a purchase is made. As a result, consumers typically spend more than they intend to at brick-and-mortar stores. The number of weekly brick-and-mortar shoppers has increased in each of the past three years, from 40% in 2015 to 44% in 2018, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers' Global Consumer Insights Survey. The report attributed the rise in physical store shopping to an increased consumer desire for a more sensory and social shopping experience.

There are, however, several key disadvantages to operating a traditional brick-and-mortar business. A physical presence requires the need for employees to conduct transactions, renting or leasing expenses and utility charges such as electricity, gas and water.

Measuring the Performance of Brick and Mortars

On a per-store basis, publicly traded retailers typically report same-store sales, or comparable-store sales, in their quarterly and annual SEC-regulated earnings reports. These financial metrics provide a performance comparison for the established stores of a retail chain over a specified period of time. Brick and mortars spanning various industries, including restaurants, grocery stores and general merchandise stores, use these figures to evaluate performance and inform corporate decision-making regarding store-level decisions and potential closures or regional expansions.

On a macroeconomic level, the U.S. Census Bureau releases retail sales figures on a monthly basis and e-commerce retail sales figures on a quarterly basis. In January 2018, retail & food services sales totaled $492.3 billion on an adjusted basis (for seasonality). Of this total, $437.2 billion exempted non-store retailing, which as the name suggests, is retailing that takes place outside of traditional brick and mortars, such as in direct (door-to-door) selling and e-commerce. To compare, this figure for total retail sales minus non-store retailers equaled $424.1 billion in 2016, for year-over-year growth in the metric of about 3%.

Future of Brick-and-Mortar Businesses

The rise of electronic commerce (e-commerce) and online businesses has led many commentators to contemplate the future of the humble brick-and-mortar business. It is increasingly common for brick-and-mortar businesses to also have an online presence in an attempt to reap the benefits of each particular business model. For example, some brick-and-mortar grocery stores, such as Safeway, allow customers to shop for groceries online and have them delivered to their doorstep in as little as a few hours. The increasing prevalence of these hybrid business models has spawned offshoot terms such as "click and mortars" and "bricks and clicks."

Despite fairly sustained growth in the broader brick-and-mortar landscape, many traditional retailers, including Sears, Kmart, JCPenney, Macy's, Teavana and True Religion, have announced since 2017 that they're shuttering dozens or hundreds of store locations due to slowing traffic and decreased sales. However, the importance of the bricks-and-mortar model is given credence by several large online e-commerce companies opening physical locations to realize the advantages of traditional retail. For example, Amazon.com Inc. has opened brick-and-mortar stores to help market its products and strengthen customer relations. Aside from opening a cashier-less grocery store in Seattle and dozens of bookstores nationwide, Amazon also acquired grocer Whole Foods in 2017 for $13.7 billion — a move that many analysts said highlighted Amazon's urgent desire to strengthen its physical retail presence.

That said, some business types, such as those that operate in the service industry, are more appropriately suited to brick-and-mortar form, such as hair salons, veterinarians, gas stations, auto repair shops, restaurants and accounting firms. It is crucial that marketing strategies for brick-and-mortar businesses highlight the advantages a consumer has when purchasing at a physical store.

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at May 26, 2018 1

Difference Between File Processing System and Database Approach

File Processing System

In the past, many organizations exclusively used file processing systems to store and manage data. In a typical file processing system, each department or area within an organization has its own set of files. The records in one file may not relate to the records in any other file. Organizations have used file processing systems for many years. Many of these systems, however, have two major weaknesses: they have redundant data and they isolate data.

1: Data Redundancy – Each department or area in an organization has its own files in a file processing system. Thus, the same fields are stored in multiple files. If a file processing system is used at a school, for example, the Student file and the Student Schedule file both might store the same students’ names and addresses.

Duplicating data in this manner wastes resources such as storage space and people’s time. When new students are added or student data is modified, file maintenance tasks consume additional time because people must update multiple files that contain the same data.
Data redundancy also can increase the chance of errors. If a student changes his or her address, for example, the school must update the address wherever it appears. If the Address field is not changed in all the files where it is stored, then discrepancies among the files exist.

2: Isolated Data – Often it is difficult to access data stored in separate files in different departments. Sharing data from multiple, separate files is a complicated procedure and usually requires the experience of a computer programmer.

Database Approach

 Database Approach

When an organization uses the database approach, many programs and users share the data in the database. A school’s database most likely at a minimum contains data about students, instructors, schedule of classes, and student schedules. As shown in the above image, various areas within the school share and interact with the data in this database. The database does secure its data, however, so that only authorized users can access certain data items. While a user is working with the database, the DBMS resides in the memory of the computer.

The database approach addresses many of the weaknesses associated with file processing systems. The following list presents some strengths of the database approach.

difference between file processing and database
  • Reduced Data Redundancy – Most data items are stored in only one file, which greatly reduces duplicate data. The above image demonstrates the differences between how a file processing application and a database application might store data.
  • Improved Data Integrity – When users modify data in the database, they make changes to one file instead of multiple files. Thus, the database approach increases the data’s integrity by reducing the possibility of introducing inconsistencies.
  • Shared Data –  The data in a database environment belongs to and is shared, usually over a network, by the entire organization. Organizations that use databases typically have security settings to define who can access, add, modify, and delete the data in a database.
  • Easier Access – The database approach allows nontechnical users to access and maintain data, providing they have the necessary privileges.
  • Reduced Development Time – It often is easier and faster to develop programs that use the database approach.

 

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at May 25, 2018 2

6 Cloud Computing Challenges Businesses Are Facing In These Days

 
Top Six Cloud Computing Challenges

1. Lack of resources/expertise

For the longest time, security was the number one voiced cloud challenge. In 2016 however, lack of resources/expertise inched ahead. Organizations are increasingly placing  more workloads in the cloud while cloud technologies continue to rapidly advance. Due to these factors organizations are having a hard time keeping up with the tools. Also, the need for expertise continues to grow. These challenges can be minimized through additional training of IT and development staff. A strong CIO championing cloud adoption also helps. As Cloud Engineer Drew Firment puts it:
“The success of cloud adoption and migrations comes down to your people — and the investments you make in a talent transformation program. Until you focus on the #1 bottleneck to the flow of cloud adoption, improvements made anywhere else are an illusion.”
SME organizations may find adding cloud specialists to their IT teams to be prohibitively costly. Luckily, many common tasks performed by these specialists can be automated. To this end companies are turning to DevOps tools, like Chef and Puppet, to perform tasks like monitoring usage patterns of resources and automated backups at predefined time periods. These tools also help optimize the cloud for cost, governance, and security.

2. Security issues

Resource/expertise concerns slightly passed security cloud computing problems in 2016. We already mentioned the hot debate around data security in our BI trends for 2017, and security has indeed been a primary, and valid, concern from the start of cloud computing technology: you are unable to see the exact location where your data is stored or being processed. Headlines highlighting data breaches, compromised credentials and broken authentication, hacked interfaces and APIs, account hijacking haven’t helped alleviate concerns. All of this makes trusting sensitive and proprietary data to a third party hard to stomach for some. Luckily as cloud providers and users, mature security capabilities are constantly improving. To ensure your organization’s privacy and security is intact, verify the SaaS provider has secure user identity management, authentication and access control mechanisms in place. Also, check which data security and privacy laws they are subject to.
While you are auditing a provider’s security and privacy laws, make sure to also confirm the third biggest issue is taken care of: compliance. Your organization needs to be able to comply with regulations and standards, no matter where your data is stored. Speaking of storage, also ensure the provider has strict data recovery policies in place.

3. Cost management and containment

For the most part cloud computing can save businesses money. In the cloud, an organization can easily ramp up its processing capabilities without making large investments in new hardware. Businesses can instead access extra processing through pay-as-you go models from public cloud providers. However, the on-demand and scalable nature of cloud computing services makes it some times difficult to define and project quantities and costs. Luckily there are several ways to keep cloud costs in check including.

4. Governance/Control

Proper IT governance should ensure IT assets are implemented and used according to agreed-upon policies and procedures; ensure that these assets are properly controlled and maintained; and ensure that these assets are supporting your organization’s strategy and business goals. In today’s cloud based world, IT does not always have full control over the provisioning, de-provisioning and operations of infrastructure. This has increased the difficulty for IT to provide the governance, compliance and risk management required. To mitigate the various risks and uncertainties in transitioning to the cloud, IT must adapt its traditional IT governance and control processes to include the cloud.  To this effect the role of central IT teams in cloud has been evolving over the last few years. Along with business units, central IT is increasingly playing a role in selecting, brokering, and governing cloud services. On top of this third party cloud computing/management providers are progressively providing governance support and best practices.

5. Performance

When a business moves to the cloud it becomes dependent on the service providers. This partnership often provides businesses with innovative technologies they wouldn’t otherwise be able to access. On the other hand the performance of the organization’s BI and other cloud based systems is also tied to the performance of the cloud provider when it falters. When your provider is down, you are also down.
This isn’t uncommon, over the past couple of years all the big cloud players have experienced outages. Make sure your provider has the right processes in place and that they will alert you if there is ever an issue.
For the data driven organization real time data is imperative. With an inherent lack of control that comes with cloud computing, companies may run into real time monitoring issues. Make sure your SaaS provider has real time monitoring policies in place to help mitigate these issues.

6. Segmented usage and adoption

Most organizations did not have a robust cloud adoption strategy in place when they started to move to the cloud.  Instead, ad-hoc strategies sprouted, fueled by several components. One of them was the speed of cloud adoption. Another one was the staggered expiration of data centre contracts/equipment, which led to intermittent cloud migration. Finally, there also were individual development teams using public cloud for specific applications or projects. These bootstrap environments have fostered full integration and maturation issues including:
  • Isolated cloud projects lacking shared standards
  • Ad hoc security configurations
  • Lack of cross-team shared resources and learnings
In fact, a recent survey by IDC of 6,159 executives found that just 3% of respondents define their cloud strategies as “optimised”.  Luckily, centralized IT, strong governance and control policies, and some heavy lifting can get usage, adoption, and cloud computing strategies inline.


In the End the Cloud Still Wins

It is no secret, cloud computing is revolutionizing the IT industry. It is also shaking up the business intelligence (BI) landscape, and well, pretty everything else it touches. As the cloud adoption exponentially grows, businesses of all sizes are realizing the benefits. For startups and small to medium sized businesses (SMEs), that can’t afford costly server maintenance, but also may have to scale overnight, the benefits are especially great.
While cloud computing challenges do exist, if properly addressed these 6 issues don’t mean your IT roadmap has to remain anchored on-premise. Business intelligence (BI) and cloud computing are an ideal match, as the first one provides the right information to the right people while the latter is an agile way to access BI applications. To make the best out of it, you should take a strategic iterative approach to implementation, explore hybrid cloud solutions, involve business and IT teams, invest in a CIO, and choose the right BI SaaS partner. All this will ensure that the benefits of cloud business intelligence will far outway the challenges.


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