Alternative Solutions:
In evaluating the iPremier company and the case situation in hand, we reached to the following
conclusion about the available alternative
s
for the company
after the attack
:
1.
Stay with
Qdata
2.
Outsource to another IT services provider
3.
Develop in
-
house IT infrastructure
4.
Develop an in
-
between solution (some outsource, some in
-
house)
Evaluation of Alternatives:
1) Staying with Qdata:
The first and easiest alternative
available
is to stay with the current
service provider which is Qdata Company. Although we strongly discourage this alternative,
it might be a
good idea to stick with Qdata till the time other alternatives are evaluated
. However,
in order to
make this
alternative
v
iable, the company needs to take the following actions:
Work cooperatively with Qdata to find the potential problems and try to fix them.
Create
set of requirements to be
met
by Qdata as pre
-
requisites in order to continue
using
their
services. For example
being more responsible about their services, and providing a real 24/7
support.
Obtain h
igher levels of authorization for iPremier’s engineers to access the facilities in case of
emergencies
.
Considering the iPremier's long
-
term relationships with that co
mpany and the overhead costs associated
with establishing new contracts with other providers, if Qdata could successfully accept and accomplish
these requirements, it can be assessed as a semi
-
viable alternative.
2) Outsourcing to another IT service provid
er:
In the
dynamic and rapidly changing world
of information
technologies
, where
new systems and opportunities are created
every day, having an
up
-
to
-
date
and top notch
IT service provider is a crucial
requirement
for an online merchant like iPremier