DatavastInc
Q1
Thedata storage industry has evolved from the traditional forms to themost recent reliable sources. Among the first devices used were theCDs, the portable external hard drives, and USB flash drive. Thestorage industry later advanced to the cloud storage where the thirdparties had access to the information through the intranet. The cloudstorage consisted of the public and private cloud depending on thenumber of organizations operating it. In the public cloud, thedevices were installed in the offices or centers of the users. On theother hand, the private cloud was operated by a single organization,but its management was either handled internally or by a third party.However, all data was stored internally, even though the thirdparties could store the data in physical storage to use it at theirhomes (Hao, 2012). Lastly, the integrated backup systems were as wellused since they were more reliable and highly customized. Datastorage required the use of recent technologies that were moreadvanced than the traditional means. Any given technology wasaccepted depending on its reliability regarding storage and howsecure it was while safeguarding the information.
Q2
Thebackup system was a new concept in China, for both the SMEs and thelarge enterprises as well. About 20% of the SMEs businesses used theCDs as a means of backing up their data (Hao, 2012). About 40% usedhard drives while the rest used no backup and the remaining firmsused other methods. In comparison with the SMEs, most of the largecompanies used the integrated backup systems on condition that suchsystems were from the service providers that were vast andmultinational.
Question3
Thecommon similarity between the IT supplier and the system integratorsis that both of them sold the IT solutions to both businesses whetherSMEs or the large corporations. The difference between the two isthat in most cases, system integrators were commonly used by thelarge companies and the government institutions, especially, whenthere was the need to provide solutions for such full-package, andthe SIs were required to work with IT departments and to remain loyalto one customer. On the other hand, the IT suppliers carried outtheir services with the SMEs, and they were not loyal to oneparticular customer (Hao, 2012).
Datavastprovided the cloud computing services through a public cloud, and itoffered different types of the backup transactions. The DSB providedthe same services as Datavast, but it was more reliable to customersbecause of the advanced features it had.
Q4
Hao(2012) has to make a decision on whether to specialize the servicesin the SMEs or the large corporations. An alternative will be tospecialize in SMEs or both of them to ensure that the returns aremaximized. There are risks associated to each of these alternatives.If the specialization is made on SMEs, the business will not benefitfrom large corporations. If he specializes in both markets, the largecompanies are likely to consume all the profits earned by the bigSMEs.
Q5
Iwould recommend that Hao makes a decision of dealing with the SMEsbecause there is flexibility in the making of decisions and unlikethe large companies. Similarly, because such enterprises are verysensitive to the prices, Hao would fix the prices to ensure that hiscompany remains active in the competitive market. The productstandardization is very cheap in this category and Hao can specializein this to make sure that more products are made hence increasing thesales. Lastly, the selling cycle is faster compared to the largecompanies, and this will ensure that more products are sold within avery short time. This will make sure that the startup costs and otheroverheads are covered within a very short period.
Reference
Hao,M. (2012). DatavastInc: The Target Segment Decision.Richard Ivey School of Business.