Group D: Review the Week 6 reading SaaS Vendor Selection and then prepare your i
ID: 3719927 • Letter: G
Question
Group D: Review the Week 6 reading SaaS Vendor Selection and then prepare your initial response as follows:
List two benefits of the IT Strategy to use a SaaS solution to support the hiring process.
Identify three things the CIO and his team should look for as they consider which SaaS vendor to select. Explain what they are, why they are important to CIC’s business.
Then, explain what you think is CIC’s biggest risk in outsourcing this IT function, why you selected that risk, and what CIC’s IT department’s key responsibilities are to minimize risk and protect the business as they select and use a SaaS solution.
Explanation / Answer
The week 6 readings have not been appended with the question. Hence answering the question basis the statements as posed in the problem statement.
First of all let me explain about the general benefits of SaaS and then we will focus on the specific benefit of using SaaS for hiring
General benefits:
1. Cost effective, optimizes efficiency and increases accessibility:The total cost of ownership is extremely low as compared to on premise solution as the resources are shared and charged on usage basis.Operations will be optimized as repair and maintenance will be the sole responsibility of the service provider and downtime will be drastically reduced as service providers generally have fall back mechanisms in place and provide back up to roll back.The cloud deployment duration /latency are extremely less as compared to on-premise solutions.The SaaS data resides on cloud( servers hosted by the service provider) and hence is ubiquitous
2. Scalability,customizations and upgradations: Since the payment model is generally pay per usage basis, there is no sunk cost and hence the resources can be acquired and released as per requirement. Also the upgradations are generally done . System upgradations,adaptability and customizations are extremely portable for SaaS solutions.
Specific to the use case of hiring SaaS is advantageous because of the following reasons:
1. Rich Expereince and intelligent process automation: Cloud solutions/SaaS provides an extremely easy to use interface ( web based) and incites better candidate experience. The fungibility to deploy multiple APIs, AI/ML and social listening with SaaS makes hiring process intelligent and automated. Social listening combined with NLP and AI deployed over SaaS helps in better tracking of candidates/applicants . RPA( Robotic process automation ) on SaaS can help in increasing the efficiency and streamlining the processes for candidate shortlisting, scheduling of interviews ,communication and on boarding.
Please note applicant tracking, AI,ML, Social listening are offered as SaaS services.
2.Ubiquitous access and scalability: SaaS solutions enable the recruiting staff to access the application from anywhere and anytime and hence provides lot of flexibility. Social listening as SaaS can help in accessing global talent pool /workforce active users in job portals, social media, professional networks etc. Also the resources can be scaled up and down basis business needs and hence helps in avoiding any sunk cost thereby providing better ROI( Return on Investment)
The chief considerations for CIO and his team during SaaS product/vendor selection should be as follows:
1.Data integration,data integrity ,migration, backup and recovery: Since hiring process involves storing of critical and personal information, the data should be portable and available for export to CIC's owned server in a standardised format in case of service disruption from service provider or contract termination.Data migration/initial data upload from/to CIC' s servers and service providers hosted servers on cloud should be seamless.Service provider must have robust back up plan and data recovery mechanisms. The service provides should adhere to highest standards of data security to prevent any breaches or unauthorised access
2. Pricing model: How is the pricing model of the product defined?The key attributes /paramters for pricing should be clearly defined like user count/licenses , bandwidth , transaction count etc should be clearly defined so that there are no hidden costs whcih can lead to surge in future.generally it should be pay as you use model.The pricing should be inclusive of support and training of users and future upgradations, customizations.
3. Compatibility with As-Is and to-Be business model,Service standards: The SaaS solution should support both the As-is and to-be business model of CIC so that there is no need to migrate to a different service provider when busness requirements evolve or business processes scales up. Also it is important to look into how the service provider will support any on going upgradations, customizations and troubleshoot user issues.The escalation matrix and SLA( service level agreements should be clearly defined)
There are multiple risks involved in outsourcing the IT function. The biggest risk and the corresponding mitigation strategy to be adopted by CIC's IT department is as follows:
Data security and integrity: Since hiring involves accessing and storing critical personal and professional informationany form of data security breach should have zero tolerance. With increasing instances of cybersecurity crimes data espionage is becoming quite frequent.Also any data security breach of candidate information may lead to litigations and series of legal issue.
Risk mitigation: CIC's IT department should perform proper due diligence before product selection and explore all aspects of data security and integrity. They should validate that proper measures and technologies are in place to prevent any unauthorised access.Service provider should have risk analysis,risk mitigation plans,business continuity and disaster recovery mechanisms besides appropriate multi layer security.Framework agreements should be in place to define clear roles and responsibilities for the service provider with respect to data security and integrity.
The other risks can be listed as follows:
1. Loss of control
2. Service disruption due to power failure, unshceduled maintenace
3. lack of support from service provider( does not support customization, new or existing users)
4. Burgeoning unpredictable expenses
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