Unit – III

Platform as a Service | PaaS

Platform as a Service (PaaS) provides a runtime environment. It allows programmers to
easily create, test, run, and deploy web applications. You can purchase these
applications from a cloud service provider on a pay-as-per use basis and access them
using the Internet connection. In PaaS, back end scalability is managed by the cloud
service provider, so end- users do not need to worry about managing the infrastructure.

PaaS includes infrastructure (servers, storage, and networking) and platform

(middleware, development tools, database management systems, business intelligence,
and more) to support the web application life cycle.

Example: Google App Engine, Force.com, Joyent, Azure.

PaaS providers provide the Programming languages, Application frameworks,

Databases, and Other tools:

1. Programming languages
PaaS providers provide various programming languages for the developers to develop
the applications. Some popular programming languages provided by PaaS providers are
Java, PHP, Ruby, Perl, and Go.
2. Application frameworks
PaaS providers provide application frameworks to easily understand the application
development. Some popular application frameworks provided by PaaS providers are
Node.js, Drupal, Joomla, WordPress, Spring, Play, Rack, and Zend.

3. Databases
PaaS providers provide various databases such as ClearDB, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, and
Redis to communicate with the applications.

4. Other tools
PaaS providers provide various other tools that are required to develop, test, and deploy
the applications.

Advantages of PaaS
There are the following advantages of PaaS -

1) Simplified Development

PaaS allows developers to focus on development and innovation without worrying

about infrastructure management.

2) Lower risk

No need for up-front investment in hardware and software. Developers only need a PC
and an internet connection to start building applications.

3) Prebuilt business functionality

Some PaaS vendors also provide already defined business functionality so that users can
avoid building everything from very scratch and hence can directly start the projects
only.

4) Instant community

PaaS vendors frequently provide online communities where the developer can get the
ideas to share experiences and seek advice from others.
5) Scalability

Applications deployed can scale from one to thousands of users without any changes to
the applications.

Disadvantages of PaaS cloud computing layer

1) Vendor lock-in

One has to write the applications according to the platform provided by the PaaS
vendor, so the migration of an application to another PaaS vendor would be a problem.

2) Data Privacy

Corporate data, whether it can be critical or not, will be private, so if it is not located
within the walls of the company, there can be a risk in terms of privacy of data.

3) Integration with the rest of the systems applications

It may happen that some applications are local, and some are in the cloud. So there will
be chances of increased complexity when we want to use data which in the cloud with
the local data.

Popular PaaS Providers

The below table shows some popular PaaS providers and services that are provided by
them -

Providers Services

Google App Engine (GAE) App Identity, URL Fetch, Cloud storage client library, Logservice

Salesforce.com Faster implementation, Rapid scalability, CRM Services, Sales cloud, Mobile
connectivity, Chatter.

Windows Azure Compute, security, IoT, Data Storage.

AppFog Justcloud.com, SkyDrive, GoogleDocs

Openshift RedHat, Microsoft Azure.

Cloud Foundry from Data, Messaging, and other services.

 VMware

Service Oriented Architecture (SOA)

A Service-Oriented Architecture or SOA is a design pattern which is designed to build
distributed systems that deliver services to other applications through the protocol. It is
only a concept and not limited to any programming language or platform.

What is Service?
A service is a well-defined, self-contained function that represents a unit of functionality.
A service can exchange information from another service. It is not dependent on the
state of another service. It uses a loosely coupled, message-based communication
model to communicate with applications and other services.

Service Connections
The figure given below illustrates the service-oriented architecture. Service consumer
sends a service request to the service provider, and the service provider sends the
service response to the service consumer. The service connection is understandable to
both the service consumer and service provider.

Service-Oriented Terminologies
Let's see some important service-oriented terminologies:
 o Services - The services are the logical entities defined by one or more published
interfaces.
o Service provider - It is a software entity that implements a service specification.
o Service consumer - It can be called as a requestor or client that calls a service
provider. A service consumer can be another service or an end-user application.
o Service locator - It is a service provider that acts as a registry. It is responsible for
examining service provider interfaces and service locations.
o Service broker - It is a service provider that pass service requests to one or more
additional service providers.

Characteristics of SOA
The services have the following characteristics:

o They are loosely coupled.

o They support interoperability.
o They are location-transparent
o They are self-contained.
Components of service-oriented architecture
The service-oriented architecture stack can be categorized into two parts - functional
aspects and quality of service aspects.

Functional aspects

The functional aspect contains:

o Transport - It transports the service requests from the service consumer to the
service provider and service responses from the service provider to the service
consumer.
 o Service Communication Protocol - It allows the service provider and the service
consumer to communicate with each other.
o Service Description - It describes the service and data required to invoke it.
o Service - It is an actual service.
o Business Process - It represents the group of services called in a particular
sequence associated with the particular rules to meet the business requirements.
o Service Registry - It contains the description of data which is used by service
providers to publish their services.

Quality of Service aspects

The quality of service aspects contains:

o Policy - It represents the set of protocols according to which a service provider

make and provide the services to consumers.
o Security - It represents the set of protocols required for identification and
authorization.
o Transaction - It provides the surety of consistent result. This means, if we use the
group of services to complete a business function, either all must complete or
none of the complete.
o Management - It defines the set of attributes used to manage the services.

Advantages of SOA
SOA has the following advantages:

o Easy to integrate - In a service-oriented architecture, the integration is a service

specification that provides implementation transparency.
o Manage Complexity - Due to service specification, the complexities get isolated,
and integration becomes more manageable.
o Platform Independence - The services are platform-independent as they can
communicate with other applications through a common language.
o Loose coupling - It facilitates to implement services without impacting other
applications or services.
 o Parallel Development - As SOA follows layer-based architecture, it provides
parallel development.
o Available - The SOA services are easily available to any requester.
o Reliable - As services are small in size, it is easier to test and debug them.

What is Cloud Management?

Cloud management is the process of monitoring and maximizing efficiency in the use of one or
more private or public clouds. Organizations typically use a cloud management platform to
manage cloud usage. Cloud management allows IT managers to move workloads through
different clouds and manage the cost of cloud resources.
Today, organizations are likely to have all or part of their IT infrastructure in the cloud. They
may use a private cloud, a public cloud, or a hybrid cloud combination of both private and public
cloud platforms, working together in a multi-cloud strategy. With so many options in the cloud,
it is important to have a cloud management strategy in place that allows organizations to make
informed decisions about how and when to use cloud-based services, and to make sure that their
use of the cloud is cost-effective.

The first step in cloud management is monitoring usage to get a baseline. Once an organization
has a clear picture of its cloud usage and associated costs, it can make an informed decision
about where to run workloads in a multi-cloud environment. Cloud management software
enables and even automates the movement of workloads among private and public clouds,
monitoring performance and cost as part of the process. These tools can make multi-cloud
management much more efficient.

Cloud management platforms might manage data, content, applications, or all three in the cloud:
 Cloud data management: Backing up data in the cloud is often part of
a disaster recovery strategy. Cloud management tools allow this process to
be automated.
 Cloud content management: Using different clouds to host content that
has different requirements for accessibility can save costs when rarely
needed archived content is stored in a low-cost cloud with higher latency.
 Cloud application management: Cloud management allows organizations
to monitor the use of cloud-native applications and easily scale up
processing or storage resources when necessary.
WATCH NOW
Multi-Cloud Management:Take control of cloud transformation

How does cloud management work?

Cloud management software can gather the information necessary for an informed decision
about what to keep in a private cloud and what to move to a public cloud, and it can monitor the
results of that decision to optimize hybrid cloud and multi-cloud management. Many businesses
develop their own in-house tools for private or hybrid cloud management.
Public cloud providers typically offer their own software tools for monitoring, securing,
and managing the cost of their cloud offerings. However, these tools rarely offer insight into
performance, instead sticking to basic reporting. Third-party tools designed to help manage
public cloud services become necessary if organizations are using multiple public clouds that all
have their own proprietary cloud management tools.
IT administrators can use private cloud management software tools to allocate resources more
efficiently. For instance, an IT manager might use a cloud management tool to instate a user-
based resource quota to ensure that one user does not overwhelm the server with a large
workload request. Administrators can also use data gained from resource monitoring to predict
and plan for spikes in resource demands.

What are the benefits of cloud management?

A solid cloud management strategy is a critical component of cost management, and it can also
improve IT performance and efficiency. Cloud management provides the following additional
benefits:

 Informs the optimal cloud strategy: Cloud management can provide

insights into the user experience as well as analyze the workloads that are
being processed in the cloud. Using cloud analysis tools as part of the
management strategy allows an organization to balance workloads more
efficiently and better plan for the correct capacity. This type of analysis
also can help an organization make an informed decision about whether to
use a public, private, or hybrid cloud for different needs, and what the
optimal balance among those clouds might look like.
 Workflow automation for instances of public cloud usage: Public cloud
usage is usually more expensive than hosting a private cloud, but
organizations don’t want to provision a private cloud that is larger than
necessary. Many businesses solve this problem by bursting from the private
cloud into the public cloud during peak traffic times, using the public cloud
 only when required. Workflow automation as part of cloud management
determines when this leap to the public cloud should happen and makes it
happen automatically, saving time and money.
 Better cloud cost management: Taking responsibility for cloud
management allows an organization to see exactly how and when all of the
cloud computing infrastructure components are being used. This allows IT
directors to make informed decisions about how and when to use a public
or private cloud, and to allocate resources more efficiently. Organizations
can also see when they are paying for unused cloud resources, which
allows them to eliminate unnecessary costs.
 Ensuring compliance: A good cloud management tool will allow
administrators to see where users and cloud configurations are out of
compliance with corporate cloud use policies and guidelines, and ensure
that any issues are quickly addressed.
As compliance and legal requirements become more stringent and complex for cloud computing,
a cloud management strategy with the tools to support it will be critical for every business with a
cloud computing infrastructure. Proprietary public cloud management tools do not work together
easily, and as multi-cloud environments grow, cross-platform cloud management tools (where
users can see the status of all of their cloud services through a single dashboard) will become
more important, especially from a security perspective.

What should a cloud management platform do?

A good cloud management platform should allow the user to see how and when each part of the
cloud infrastructure is being used and help the user make decisions about where to run
workloads. Users should be able to see how cloud-based applications are performing, where
there are slow-downs, and where parts of the cloud are being underutilized. Ideally, a cloud
management platform will also offer insights into security vulnerabilities and public cloud use
that does not align with organizational policy. A cloud management platform pays for itself
when it can show where cloud management costs can be reduced and how performance can be
optimized.

However, monitoring cloud computing metrics to make smart business decisions requires a
specialized skill set. Cloud management tools are useless without someone who knows how to
use them effectively. If an organization’s IT staff is not well-versed in public cloud integration
and management, cloud service brokerages can help.
Google Cloud Platform Tutorial

Our Google Cloud Platform Tutorial contains the basic and advanced concepts of
Google Cloud Platform. This tutorial is designed to help both beginners and
professionals.

This tutorial gives you an introduction to Google Cloud Platform along with a wide
range of topics such as why use Google Cloud Platform, Benefits of Google Cloud
Platform, Key features of Google Cloud Platform, Google Cloud Platform Services,
Creating a Free Tier Account and VM Instance on Google Cloud Platform, etc.

Before we start learning Google Cloud Platform, let's understand about 'Cloud
Computing' first:

What is Cloud Computing?

Cloud computing

is defined as the services offered through remote servers on the internet. These services might include
database storage, applications, compute power and other IT resources over the pay-as-you-go pricing
approach. The remote server allows users to save, modify, or process data on the internet or cloud-
based platform instead of storing it on a local server or their devices.

Cloud computing is evolving due to fast performance, better manageability, and less
maintenance. It helps organizations to minimize the number of resources and overall
infrastructure costs. Additionally, it helps IT teams better focus on the important
applications, services, and processes and achieve the company's goals.
Typically, the cloud-computing providers offer their services according to the following
three standard models:

o Platform as a Service (PaaS)

o Software as a Service (SaaS)

o Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)

What is Google Cloud Platform?

Google Cloud Platform (GCP) is a suite of cloud computing services provided by Google.
It is a public cloud computing platform consisting of a variety of services like compute,
storage, networking, application development, Big Data, and more, which run on the
same cloud infrastructure that Google uses internally for its end-user products, such as
Google Search, Photos, Gmail and YouTube, etc.

The services of GCP can be accessed by software developers, cloud administrators and
IT professionals over the Internet or through a dedicated network connection.

Why Google Cloud Platform?

Google Cloud Platform is known as one of the leading cloud providers in the IT

field. The services and features can be easily accessed and used by the software developers and users
with little technical knowledge. Google has been on top amongst its competitors, offering the highly
scalable and most reliable platform for building, testing and deploying the applications in the real-time
environment.

Apart from this, GCP was announced as the leading cloud platform in the Gartner's IaaS
Magic Quadrant in 2018. Gartner is one of the leading research and advisory company.
Gartner organized a campaign where Google Cloud Platform was compared with other
cloud providers, and GCP was selected as one of the top three providers in the market.
Most companies use data centers because of the availability of cost forecasting,
hardware certainty, and advanced control. However, they lack the necessary features to
run and maintain resources in the data center. GCP, on the other side, is a fully-featured
cloud platform that includes:

o Capacity: Sufficient resources for easy scaling whenever required. Also, effective
management of those resources for optimum performance.
o Security: Multi-level security options to protect resources, such as assets, network and
OS -components.
o Network Infrastructure: Number of physical, logistical, and human-resource-related
components, such as wiring, routers, switches, firewalls, load balancers, etc.
o Support: Skilled professionals for installation, maintenance, and support.
o Bandwidth: Suitable amount of bandwidth for peak load.
o Facilities: Other infrastructure components, including physical equipment and power
resources.

Therefore, Google Cloud Platform is a viable option for businesses, especially when the
businesses require an extensive catalog of services with global recognition.

Benefits of Google Cloud Platform

Some of the main benefits of Google Cloud Platform are explained below:

Best Pricing: Google enables users to get Google Cloud hosting at the cheapest rates.
The hosting plans are not only cheaper than other hosting platforms but also offer
better features than others. GCP provides a pay-as-you-go option to the users where
users can pay separately only for the services and resources they want to use.

Work from Anywhere: Once the account is configured on GCP, it can be accessed from
anywhere. That means that the user can use GCP across different devices from different
places. It is possible because Google provides web-based applications that allow users
to have complete access to GCP.

Private Network: Google has its own network that enables users to have more control
over GCP functions. Due to this, users achieve smooth performance and increased
efficiency over the network.
Scalable: Users are getting a more scalable platform over the private network. Because
Google uses fiber-optic cables to extend its network range, it is likely to have more
scalability. Google is always working to scale its network because there can be any
amount of traffic at any time.

Security: There is a high number of security professionals working at Google. They

always keep trying to secure the network and protect the data stored on servers.
Additionally, Google uses an algorithm that encrypts all the data on the Cloud platform.
This gives assurance to the users that their data is completely safe and secure from
unauthorized sources.

Redundant Backup: Google always keeps backup of user's data with built-in redundant
backup integration. In case a user has lost the stored data, it's not a big problem.
Google always has a copy of the users' data unless the data is deleted forcefully. This
adds data integrity, reliability and durability with GCP.

Key Features of Google Cloud Platform

The following are some key features of Google Cloud Platform:

o On-demand services: Automated environment with web-based tools. Therefore, no

human intervention is required to access the resources.
o Broad network access: The resources and the information can be accessed from
anywhere.
o Resource pooling: On-demand availability of a shared pool of computing resources to
the users.
o Rapid elasticity: The availability of more resources whenever required.
o Measured service: Easy-to-pay feature enables users to pay only for consumed services.
Working of Google Cloud Platform
When a file is uploaded on the Google cloud, the unique metadata is inserted into a file.
It helps identify the different files and track the changes made across all the copies of
any particular file. All the changes made by individuals get synchronized automatically
to the main file, also called a master file. GCP further updates all the downloaded files
using metadata to maintain the correct records.

Let's understand the working of GCP with a general example:

Suppose that MS Office is implemented on Cloud to enable several people to work

together. The primary aim of using cloud technology is to work on the same project at
the same time. We can create and save a file on the cloud once we install a plugin for
the MS Office suite. This will allow several people to edit a document at the same time.
The owner can assign access to specific people to allow them to download and start
editing the document in MS Office.
Once users are assigned as an editor, they can use and edit the document's cloud copy
as desired. The combined, edited copy is generated that is known as the master
document. GCP helps to assign a unique URL

to each specific copy of the existing document given to different users. However, any of the authorized
users' changes will be visible on all the copies of documents shared over the cloud. In case multiple
changes are made to the same document, then GCP allows the owner to select the appropriate changes
to keep.

Google Cloud Platform Services

Google provides a considerable number of services with several unique features. That is
the reason why Google Cloud Platform is continually expanding across the globe. Some
of the significant services of GCP are:

o Compute Services
o Networking

o Storage Services
o Big Data
o Security and Identity Management
o Management Tools
o Cloud AI
o IoT (Internet of Things)
Let's understand each of these services in details:

Compute Services
GCP offers a scalable range of computing services, such as:

o Google App Engine: It is a cloud computing platform that follows the concept of
Platform-as-a-Service to deploy PHP, Java and other software. It is also used to develop
and deploy web-based software in Google-managed data centers. The most significant
advantage of Google App Engine is its automatic scaling capability. This means that the
App Engine automatically allocates more resources for the application when there is an
increase in requests.
o Compute Engine: It is a cloud computing platform that follows the concept of
Infrastructure-as-a-Service to run Windows and Linux based virtual machines. It is an
 essential component of GCP. It is designed on the same infrastructure used by Google
search engine, YouTube and other Google services.
o Kubernetes Engines: This computing service is responsible for offering a platform for
automatic deployment, scaling, and other operations of application containers across
clusters of hosts. The engine supports several container tools like a docker, etc.

Networking
GCP includes the following network services:

o VPC: VPC stands for Virtual Private Network. The primary function of VPC is to offer a
private network with routing, IP allocation, and network firewall policies. This will help to
create a secure environment for the application deployments.
o Cloud Load Balancing: As its name states, Cloud balancing is used to distribute
workload across different computing resources to balance the entire system
performance. This also results in cost-reduction. The process also helps in minimizing the
availability and maximizing the capability of the resources.
o Content Delivery Network: CDN is a geographically distributed network of proxy
servers and their data centers. The primary aim of using CDN is to provide maximum
performance to the users. Additionally, it also helps deliver high availability of resources
by equally distributing the related services to the end-users.

Storage Services
GCP has the following storage services:

o Google Cloud Storage: It is an online data storage web service that Google provides to
its users to store and access data from anywhere. The service also includes a wide range
of features like maximum performance, scalability, security and sharing.
o Cloud SQL: It is a web-service that enables users to create, manage, and use relational
databases stored on Google Cloud servers. The service itself maintains and protects the
databases, which helps users focus on their applications and other operations.
o Cloud Bigtable: It is known for its fast performance and highly manageable feature. It is
a highly scalable NoSQL database service that allows collecting and retaining data from
as low as 1 TB to hundreds of PB.
Big Data
GCP provides a variety of services related to big data; they are:

o BigQuery: It is a fully managed data analysis service by Google. The primary aim of
Google BigQuery service is to helps businesses to analyze Big Data. It offers a highly
scalable data management option. This means BigQuery allows users to perform ad-hoc
queries and share data insights across the web.
o Google Cloud Datastore: Google Cloud Datastore is a kind of datastore service that is
fully managed, schema-less, and non-relational. This service enables businesses to
perform automatic transactions and a rich set of queries. The main advantage of Google
Cloud Datastore is the capability of automatic scaling. This means that the service can
itself scale up and down, depending on the requirement of resources.
o Google Cloud Dataproc: It is a very fast and easy to use big data service offered by
Google. It mainly helps in managing Hadoop and Spark services for distributed data
processing. The service allows users to create Hadoop or Spark clusters sized according
to the overall workload and can be accessed whenever users want them.

Security and Identity Management

GCP includes the following services related to Security and Identity management:

o Cloud Data Loss Prevention API: It is mainly designed to manage sensitive data. It
helps users manage sensitive data elements like credit card details, debit card details,
passport numbers, etc. It offers fast and scalable classification for sensitive data.
o Cloud IAM: It stands for Cloud Identity and Access Management. It is a framework that
contains rules and policies and validates the authentication of the users for accessing the
technology resources. That is why it is also known as Identity Management (IdM).

Management Tools
GCP includes the following services related to management tools:

o Google Stackdriver: Google Stackdriver service is primarily responsible for displaying

the overall performance and diagnostics information. This may include insights of data
 monitoring, tracing, logging, error reporting, etc. The service also prompts an alert
notification to the public cloud users.
o Google Cloud Console App: It is a native mobile application powered by Google. The
primary aim of this service is to enable users to manage the core features of Google
Cloud services directly from their mobile devices anytime, anywhere. The primary
functions of this service are alerting, monitoring, and performing critical actions on
resources.

Cloud AI
When it comes to Cloud AI, GCP offers these services:

o Cloud Machine Learning Engine: It is another fully managed service that allows users to
create Machine Learning models. The service is mainly used for those ML models, which
are based on mainstream frameworks.
o Cloud AutoML: It is the type of service that is based on Machine Learning. It helps users
to enter their data sets and gain access to quality trained pre-designed ML models. The
service works by following Google's transfer learning and Neural Architecture Search
method.

IoT (Internet of Things)

GCP contains the following IoT

services:

Cloud IoT Core: It is one of the fully managed core services. It allows users to connect,
control, and ingest data from various devices that are securely connected to the
Internet. This allows other Google cloud services to analyze, process, collect and
visualize IoT data in real-time.

Cloud IoT Edge: The Edge computing service brings memory and other computing-
power resources near to the location where it is required.

Advantages of Google Cloud Platform

There are several advantages of using Google Cloud Platform, such as:
 o Google Cloud Offers Quick and Easy Collaboration: Multiple users can access the data
and simultaneously contribute their information. This is possible because the data is
stored on the cloud servers, not on the user's personal computers.
o Higher Productivity with Continuous Development: Google is always working on
adding new features and functionalities to provide higher productivity to the customers.
Therefore, Google delivers frequent updates to its products and services.
o Less Disruption with Adopting New Features: Instead of pushing huge disruptive
updates of changes, Google provides small updates weekly. This helps users to
understand and adopt new features easily.
o Least or Minimal Data is stored on Vulnerable Devices: Google does not store data
on local devices unless a user explicitly tries to do it. This is because the data stored on
local devices may get compromised compared to the cloud's data.
o Users can access Google Cloud from Anywhere: The best thing is that a user can easily
access the information stored on Google cloud from anywhere because it is operated
through web-based applications.
o Google provides Maximum Security with its Robust Structure: Google hires leading
security professionals to protect user's data. Users get process-based and physical
security features made by Google.
o Users have Full Control over their Data: Users gain full control over services and the
data stored in Google Cloud. If a user does not want to use Google services any longer
and wants to delete the cloud data, it can be easily performed.
o Google provides Higher Uptime and Reliability: Google uses several resources to
provide higher and reliable up-time servers. If a data center is not working for technical
issues, the system will automatically communicate with the secondary center without
interruption visible to users.

Creating a Free Tier Account on GCP

To start using Google Cloud Platform, we are first required to create an account GCP.
Here, we will create a free tier account for explaining the upcoming topic of this tutorial.
The best thing about free account is that Google provides $300 worth credit to spend
over the next 90 days after the date of account creation. Google offers all the core
services of GCP with a free account for the next 90 days.
However, users must have a credit card to start a free tier account. Google asks for the
credit card details to make sure that it is a genuine human request. Google does not
charge automatically even after the 90 days or when we have exhausted the $300 free
credit. The amount will only be charged when we will be upgrading our free account to
a paid account manually.

Let's start with the steps of creating a free tier account on Google Cloud Platform:

Step 1: First, we are required to navigate to the following

link: https://cloud.google.com/gcp/

Step 2: On the next screen, we need to click on 'Get started for free', as shown below:

Step 3: Next, we are required to login to the Google Account. We can use the 'create an
account' button if we don't have an existing Google account.
Step 4: Once we have logged in, we will get to the following screen:

Here, we must select the Country, agree to the Terms of Service, and then click on the
'CONTINUE' button.
Step 5: On the next screen, we have to enter some necessary details such as name and
address details. Also, we have to enter payment details like the method of payments and
credit card details. After filling all the details, we need to click on the button 'START MY
FREE TRIAL' from the bottom of the page:

Step 6: Google asks for the confirmation to use the credit card for the small deduction
to ensure that the card information is correct. However, the amount is refunded back to
the same account. Here, we need to click on the 'CONTINUE' button:
Step 7: On the next screen, we must click on the 'GO TO CONSOLE' button:

After clicking on the 'GO TO CONSOLE' button, we will be redirected to the Dashboard
that includes a summary of GCP services along with projects and other insights. It looks
like this:

To be specific, a Dashboards of GCP displays the summarized view of the followings:

 o Project Info: contains project details such as project name, ID, and number.
o Resources: contains a list of resources being used in the related project.
o APIs: contains various API requests running with the project (in request/sec form).
o Google Cloud Platform Status: displays an overall summary of services that are part of
GCP.
o Monitoring: displays alerts, performance stats, Uptime, etc. to ensure that systems are
running reliably.
o Error Reporting: displays errors occurring in the projects, but it needs to be configured
first.
o Trace: displays latency data of existing applications across a distributed tracing system.
o Compute Engine: displays the insights of CPU usage in percentage (%).
o Tutorials: contains Getting Started guides (basic guides) to explain how the GCP features
work.
o News: displays news and other important updates regarding Google Cloud Platform.
o Documentation: contains in-depth guides to teach more about Compute Engine, Cloud
Storage, and App Engine.

Google Cloud Platform Pricing

When it comes to pricing, Google Cloud Platform is the cheapest solution in the market.
GCP is not only low on price but also offers more features and services than other
providers.

When comparing GCP with other leading competitors, it has more benefits over them.
Google provides its users a massive 60% savings, including:

o 15% rightsizing recommendation

o 21% list price differences
o 24% of sustained usage discounts
Some of the main benefits of GCP pricing are:

No Hidden Charges: There are no hidden charges behind the GCP pricing. Google's
pricing structure is straightforward and can be easily understood.

Pay-as-you-go: Google offers its customer 'use now, pay later' option. So, users will
have to pay only for those services which they want to use or already using.

No Termination Fee: Users are free to stop using Google services whenever they want,
and there will not have to pay any termination fee. That means the moment users stop
using Google services; they stop paying for it.
Difference between Google Cloud Platform,
AWS and Azure
Like Google cloud platform, AWS and Azure are the other popular cloud-based
platforms. However, there are differences amongst them. Some of the main differences
between GCP, AWSand Azureare tabulated below:

Google Cloud AWS Azure

It uses GCE (Google AWS EC2 offers core compute It uses virtual machines for
Compute Engine) for services. computation purposes.
computing purposes.

It uses Google Cloud It uses Amazon S3 for storing the It uses a storage block bob that
Storage for storage data. comprises blocks for storing the
purposes. data.

It offers the lowest price AWS pricing is generally keen to Like AWS, Azure pricing
to the customers to beat have inscrutable. The overall structure is also difficult to
other cloud providers. structure of granular pricing is a understand unless you have
bit complex. considerable experience.

It uses Cloud Test labs for It uses a device farm for App It uses DevTest labs for App
App Testing purposes. Testing purposes. Testing purposes.

It uses Subnet as a virtual It uses VPC as a virtual network. It uses VNet as a virtual Network.
network.

It follows the Cloud Load It follows the Elastic Load It follows the Load-Balancer
Balancing configuration. Balancing configuration. Application Gateway
configuration.
Job Opportunities with GCP
Having a piece of in-depth knowledge in the Google Cloud Platform is very useful as per
job purposes. However, an experience or little more expertise in using GCP will help a
person stand aside from the crowd. This will not only make a resume more effective but
will also open a variety of job opportunities.

There are many job-opportunities with GCP. Some popular job-roles are listed below:

o Technical Lead Manager

o Sales Engineer
o Technical Solutions Engineer
o Account Executive
o Technical Program Manager
o Cloud Software Engineer
o Data Center Software Engineer
o Solutions Architect
o Strategic Customer Engineer

Software as a Service | SaaS

SaaS is also known as "On-Demand Software". It is a software distribution model in
which services are hosted by a cloud service provider. These services are available to
end-users over the internet so, the end-users do not need to install any software on
their devices to access these services.

There are the following services provided by SaaS providers -

Business Services - SaaS Provider provides various business services to start-up the
business. The SaaS business services include ERP (Enterprise Resource
Planning), CRM (Customer Relationship Management), billing, and sales.

Document Management - SaaS document management is a software application

offered by a third party (SaaS providers) to create, manage, and track electronic
documents.

Example: Slack, Samepage, Box, and Zoho Forms.

Social Networks - As we all know, social networking sites are used by the general
public, so social networking service providers use SaaS for their convenience and handle
the general public's information.

Mail Services - To handle the unpredictable number of users and load on e-mail
services, many e-mail providers offering their services using SaaS.

Advantages of SaaS cloud computing layer

1) SaaS is easy to buy

SaaS pricing is based on a monthly fee or annual fee subscription, so it allows

organizations to access business functionality at a low cost, which is less than licensed
applications.

Unlike traditional software, which is sold as a licensed based with an up-front cost (and
often an optional ongoing support fee), SaaS providers are generally pricing the
applications using a subscription fee, most commonly a monthly or annually fee.

2. One to Many

SaaS services are offered as a one-to-many model means a single instance of the
application is shared by multiple users.

3. Less hardware required for SaaS

The software is hosted remotely, so organizations do not need to invest in additional
hardware.

4. Low maintenance required for SaaS

Software as a service removes the need for installation, set-up, and daily maintenance
for the organizations. The initial set-up cost for SaaS is typically less than the enterprise
software. SaaS vendors are pricing their applications based on some usage parameters,
such as a number of users using the application. So SaaS does easy to monitor and
automatic updates.

5. No special software or hardware versions required

All users will have the same version of the software and typically access it through the
web browser. SaaS reduces IT support costs by outsourcing hardware and software
maintenance and support to the IaaS provider.

6. Multidevice support

SaaS services can be accessed from any device such as desktops, laptops, tablets,
phones, and thin clients.

7. API Integration

SaaS services easily integrate with other software or services through standard APIs.

8. No client-side installation

SaaS services are accessed directly from the service provider using the internet
connection, so do not need to require any software installation.

Disadvantages of SaaS cloud computing

layer
1) Security

Actually, data is stored in the cloud, so security may be an issue for some users.
However, cloud computing is not more secure than in-house deployment.

2) Latency issue
Since data and applications are stored in the cloud at a variable distance from the end-
user, there is a possibility that there may be greater latency when interacting with the
application compared to local deployment. Therefore, the SaaS model is not suitable for
applications whose demand response time is in milliseconds.

3) Total Dependency on Internet

Without an internet connection, most SaaS applications are not usable.

4) Switching between SaaS vendors is difficult

Switching SaaS vendors involves the difficult and slow task of transferring the very large
data files over the internet and then converting and importing them into another SaaS
also.

Popular SaaS Providers

The below table shows some popular SaaS providers and services that are provided by
them -

Provider Services

Salseforce.com On-demand CRM solutions

Microsoft Office Online office suite

365

Google Apps Gmail, Google Calendar, Docs, and sites

NetSuite ERP, accounting, order management, CRM, Professionals Services

Automation (PSA), and e-commerce applications.

GoToMeeting Online meeting and video-conferencing software

Constant Contact E-mail marketing, online survey, and event marketing

Oracle CRM CRM applications

Workday, Inc Human capital management, payroll, and financial management.

Introduction to SaaS Software-as–a-Service (SaaS) model allows to provide software application as a

service to the end users. It refers to a software that is deployed on a host service and is accessible via
Internet.

There are several SaaS applications listed below:

1. Billing and invoicing system

2. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) applications

3. Help desk applications

4. Human Resource (HR) solutions

5. Some of the SaaS applications are not customizable such as Microsoft Office Suite.
 But SaaS provides us Application Programming Interface (API), which allows the developer to develop a
customized application.

Introduction to SaaS Characteristics

1. Here are the characteristics of SaaS service model:

2. SaaS makes the software available over the Internet.

3. The software applications are maintained by the vendor.

4. The license to the software may be subscription based or usage based. And it is billed on recurring
basis.

5. SaaS applications are cost-effective since they do not require any maintenance at end user side.

6. They are available on demand.

7. They can be scaled up or down on demand.

8. They are automatically upgraded and updated. Introduction to SaaS Benefits Using SaaS has proved
to be beneficial in terms of scalability, efficiency and performance.

Some of the benefits are listed below:

1.Modest software tools

2.Efficient use of software licenses

3.Centralized management and data

4.Platform responsibilities managed by provider

5.Multitenant solutions

SaaS Issues Modest software tools

•The SaaS application deployment requires a little or no client side software installation, which results in
the following benefits:

•No requirement for complex software packages at client side

•Little or no risk of configuration at client side

•Low distribution cost Efficient use of software licenses The customer can have single license for
multiple computers running at different locations which reduces the licensing cost. Also, there is no
requirement for license servers because the software runs in the provider's infrastructure. Centralized
management and data The cloud provider stores data centrally. However, the cloud providers may store
data in a decentralized manner for the sake of redundancy and reliability.

SaaS Issues Platform responsibilities managed by providers All platform responsibilities such as backups,
system maintenance, security, hardware refresh, power management, etc. are performed by the cloud
provider. The customer does not need to bother about them. Multitenant solutions Multitenant
solutions allow multiple users to share single instance of different resources in virtual isolation.
Customers can customize their application without affecting the core functionality.

SaaS and SOA Open SaaS and SOA Open SaaS uses those SaaS applications, which are developed using
open source programming language.

These SaaS applications can run on any open source operating system and database. Open SaaS has
several benefits listed below:

No License Required

Low Deployment Cost

Less Vendor Lock-in

More portable applications

More Robust Solution

The following diagram shows the SaaS implementation based on SOA: Web Services

What is Web Service? A Web Service is can be defined by following ways:

1. It is a client-server application or application component for communication.

2. The method of communication between two devices over the network.

3. It is a software system for the interoperable machine to machine communication.

4. It is a collection of standards or protocols for exchanging information between two devices or

application.

Let's understand it by the figure given below: As you can see in the figure, Java, .net, and PHP
applications can communicate with other applications through web service over the network. For
example, the Java application can interact with Java, .Net, and PHP applications. So web service is a
language independent way of communication.

Web Services Types of Web Services There are mainly two types of web services.

1. SOAP web services.

2. RESTful web services.

Types of Web Services Web Service Features XML-Based Web services use XML at data description and
data transportation layers.

Using XML exclude any networking, operating system, or platform binding. Web services-based
operation is extremely interoperable at their core level.

Loosely Coupled A client of a web service is not fixed to the web service directly. The web service
interface can support innovation over time without negotiating the client's ability to communicate with
the service. A tightly coupled system means that the client and server logic are closely tied to one
another, indicating that if one interface changes, then another must be updated. Accepting a loosely
coupled architecture tends to make software systems more manageable and allows more
straightforward integration between various systems. Types of Web Services Web Service Features
Coarse-Grained Object-oriented technologies such as Java expose their functions through individual
methods. A specific process is too fine an operation to provide any suitable capability at a corporate
level. Building a Java program from scratch needed the creation of various fine-grained functions that
are then collected into a coarse-grained role that is consumed by either a client or another service.
Businesses and the interfaces that they prove should be coarsegrained. Web services technology
implement a natural method of defining coarse-grained services that approach the right amount of
business logic. Types of Web Services Ability to be Synchronous or Asynchronous Synchronicity specifies
the binding of the client to the execution of the function. In synchronous invocations, the client blocks
and delays in completing its service before continuing. Asynchronous operations grant a client to invoke
a task and then execute other functions. Asynchronous clients fetch their result at a later point in time,
while synchronous clients receive their effect when the service has completed. Asynchronous capability
is an essential method in enabling loosely coupled systems. Supports Remote Procedure Calls (RPCs)
Web services allow consumers to invoke procedures, functions, and methods on remote objects using
an XML-based protocol. Remote systems expose input and output framework that a web service must
support. Types of Web Services Component development through Enterprise JavaBeans (EJBs) and .NET
Components has more become a part of architectures and enterprise deployments over a previous
couple of years. Both technologies are assigned and accessible through a variety of RPC mechanisms. A
web function supports RPC by providing services of its own, equivalent to those of a traditional role, or
by translating incoming invocations into an invocation of an EJB or a .NET component. Supports
Document Exchange One of the essential benefits of XML is its generic way of representing not only data
but also complex documents. These documents can be as simple as describing a current address, or they
can be as involved as defining an entire book or Request for Quotation (RFQ). Web services support the
transparent transfer of documents to facilitate business integration.

Web Service Components There are three major web service components.

1.SOAP

2.WSDL

3.UDDI SOAP •

SOAP is an acronym for Simple Object Access Protocol.

• SOAP is a XML-based protocol for accessing web services.

• SOAP is a W3C recommendation for communication between applications.

SOAP is XML based, so it is platform independent and language independent. In other words, it can be
used with Java, .Net or PHP language on any platform. WSDL • WSDL is an acronym for Web Services
Description Language. • WSDL is a xml document containing information about web services such as
method name, method parameter and how to access it. • WSDL is a part of UDDI. It acts as a interface
between web service applications. • WSDL is pronounced as wiz-dull. UDDI • UDDI is an acronym for
Universal Description, Discovery and Integration. • UDDI is a XML based framework for describing,
discovering and integrating web services. • UDDI is a directory of web service interfaces described by
WSDL, containing information about web services. SOAP Web Services SOAP stands for Simple Object
Access Protocol. It is a XML-based protocol for accessing web services. SOAP is a W3C recommendation
for communication between two applications. SOAP is XML based protocol. It is platform independent
and language independent. By using SOAP, you will be able to interact with other programming
language applications. Advantages of Soap Web Services • WS Security: SOAP defines its own security
known as WS Security. • Language and Platform independent: SOAP web services can be written in any
programming language and executed in any platform. Disadvantages of Soap Web Services • Slow: SOAP
uses XML format that must be parsed to be read. It defines many standards that must be followed while
developing the SOAP applications. So it is slow and consumes more bandwidth and resource. • WSDL
dependent: SOAP uses WSDL and doesn't have any other mechanism to discover the service. RESTful
Web Services RESTful Web Services REST stands for REpresentational State Transfer. REST is an
architectural style not a protocol. Advantages of RESTful Web Services • Fast: RESTful Web Services are
fast because there is no strict specification like SOAP. It consumes less bandwidth and resource. •
Language and Platform independent: RESTful web services can be written in any programming language
and executed in any platform. • Can use SOAP: RESTful web services can use SOAP web services as the
implementation. • Permits different data format: RESTful web service permits different data format such
as Plain Text, HTML, XML and JSON. Web 2.0 Web 2.0 (also known as Participative (or Participatory) and
Social Web refers to websites that emphasize usergenerated content, ease of use, participatory culture
and interoperability (i.e., compatible with other products, systems, and devices) for end users. The term
was invented by Darcy DiNucci in 1999 and later popularized by Tim O'Reilly and Dale Dougherty at the
O'Reilly Media Web 2.0 Conference in late 2004. The Web 2.0 framework specifies only the design and
use of websites and does not place any technical demands or specifications on designers. The transition
was gradual and, therefore, no precise date for when this change happened has been given. Web 2.0 A
Web 2.0 website allows users to interact and collaborate with each other through social media dialogue
as creators of user-generated content in a virtual community. This contrasts the first generation of Web
1.0-era websites where people were limited to viewing content in a passive manner. Examples of Web
2.0 features include social networking sites or social media sites (e.g., Facebook), blogs, wikis,
folksonomies ("tagging" keywords on websites and links), video sharing sites (e.g., YouTube), hosted
services, Web applications ("apps"), collaborative consumption platforms, and mashup applications.
Whether Web 2.0 is substantially different from prior Web technologies has been challenged by World
Wide Web inventor Tim Berners-Lee, who describes the term as jargon.His original vision of the Web
was "a collaborative medium, a place where we [could] all meet and read and write." On the other hand,
the term Semantic Web (sometimes referred to as Web 3.0)[10] was coined by Berners-Lee to refer to a
web of content where the meaning can be processed by machines. Web 2.0 Characterstics The key
features of Web 2.0 include: 1.Folksonomy – free classification of information; allows users to
collectively classify and find information (e.g. "tagging" of websites, images, videos or links) 2.Rich user
experience – dynamic content that is responsive to user input (e.g., a user can "click" on an image to
enlarge it or find out more information) 3.User participation – information flows two ways between the
site owner and site users by means of evaluation, review, and online commenting. Site users also
typically create user-generated content for others to see (e.g., Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia that
anyone can write articles for or edit) 4.Software as a service (SaaS) – Web 2.0 sites developed APIs to
allow automated usage, such as by a Web "app" (software application) or a mashup 5.Mass participation
– near-universal web access leads to differentiation of concerns, from the traditional Internet user base
(who tended to be hackers and computer hobbyists) to a wider variety of users Web 2.0 Concepts Web
2.0 can be described in three parts: Rich Internet application (RIA) — defines the experience brought
from desktop to browser, whether it is "rich" from a graphical point of view or a usability/interactivity or
features point of view. Web-oriented architecture (WOA) — defines how Web 2.0 applications expose
their functionality so that other applications can leverage and integrate the functionality providing a set
of much richer applications. Examples are feeds, RSS feeds, web services, mashups. Social Web —
defines how Web 2.0 websites tend to interact much more with the end user and make the end user an
integral part of the website, either by adding his or her profile, adding comments on content, uploading
new content, or adding user-generated content (e.g., personal digital photos). As such, Web 2.0 draws
together the capabilities of client- and server-side software, content syndication and the use of network
protocols. Standards-oriented Web browsers may use plug-ins and software extensions to handle the
content and user interactions. Web 2.0 sites provide users with information storage, creation, and
dissemination capabilities that were not possible in the environment known as "Web 1.0“. Web 2.0
Concepts Web 2.0 sites include the following features and techniques, referred to as the acronym
SLATES by Andrew McAfee: Search Finding information through keyword search. Links to other
websites Connects information sources together using the model of the Web. Authoring The ability to
create and update content leads to the collaborative work of many authors. Wiki users may extend,
undo, redo and edit each other's work. Comment systems allow readers to contribute their viewpoints.
Tags Categorization of content by users adding "tags" — short, usually one-word or two-word
descriptions — to facilitate searching. For example, a user can tag a metal song as "death metal".
Collections of tags created by many users within a single system may be referred to as "folksonomies"
(i.e., folk taxonomies). Web 2.0 Concepts Extensions Software that makes the Web an application
platform as well as a document server. Examples include Adobe Reader, Adobe Flash, Microsoft
Silverlight, ActiveX, Oracle Java, QuickTime, and Windows Media. Signals The use of syndication
technology, such as RSS feeds to notify users of content changes. While SLATES forms the basic
framework of Enterprise 2.0, it does not contradict all of the higher level Web 2.0 design patterns and
business models. It includes discussions of self-service IT, the long tail of enterprise IT demand, and
many other consequences of the Web 2.0 era in enterprise uses. Documents of Web 2.0 can be assessed
by measures related to such quality dimension as accessibility, completeness, credibility, involvement,
objectivity, readability, relevance, reputation, style, timeliness, uniqueness and usefulness Web 2.0
Usage A third important part of Web 2.0 is the social web. The social Web consists of a number of online
tools and platforms where people share their perspectives, opinions, thoughts and experiences. Web 2.0
applications tend to interact much more with the end user. As such, the end user is not only a user of
the application but also a participant by: 1. Podcasting 2. Blogging 3. Tagging 4. Curating with RSS 5.
Social bookmarking 6. Social networking 7. Social media 8. Wikis 9. Web content voting: Review site or
Rating site Web OS, Case Studies Web OS webOS, also known as LG webOS and previously known as
Open webOS, HP webOS and Palm webOS, is a Linux kernel-based multitasking operating system for
smart devices such as smart TVs that has also been used as a mobile operating system. Initially
developed by Palm, Inc. (which was acquired by Hewlett-Packard), HP made the platform open source,
at which point it became Open webOS. The operating system was later sold to LG Electronics. In January
2014, Qualcomm announced that it had acquired technology patents from HP, which included all the
webOS and Palm patents. Various versions of webOS have been featured on several devices since
launching in 2009, including Pre, Pixi, and Veer smartphones, TouchPad tablet, LG's smart TVs since
2014, LG's smart refrigerators and smart projectors since 2017. Features of HP Palm Web OS
Multitasking interface Navigation uses multi-touch gestures on the touchscreen. The interface uses
"cards" to manage multitasking and represent apps. The user switches between running apps with a flick
from left and right on the screen. Apps are closed by flicking a "card" up—and "off"—the screen. The
app "cards" can be rearranged for organization. webOS 2.0 introduced 'stacks', where related cards
could be "stacked" together. Synergy Palm referred to integration of information from many sources as
"Synergy." Users can sign into multiple email accounts from different providers and integrate all of these
sources into a single list. Similar capabilities pull together calendars and also instant messages and SMS
text messages from multiple sources. Over-the-air updates The OS can be updated without docking to a
PC, instead receiving OS updates over the carrier connection. Features of HP Palm Web OS On phones,
when a notification comes in, it slides in from the bottom of the screen. Due to the resizable nature of
the Mojo and Enyo application frameworks, the app usually resizes itself to allow unhindered use while
the notification is displayed. After the notification slides away, it usually remains as an icon. The user can
then tap on the icons to expand them. Notifications can then be dismissed (sliding off the screen), acted
upon (tapping), or left alone. Sync By default, data sync uses a cloud-based approach rather than using a
desktop sync client. The first version of webOS shipped with the ability to sync with Apple's iTunes
software by masquerading as an Apple device, but this feature was disabled by subsequent iTunes
software updates. Third-party applications On HP webOS, officially vetted third-party apps are accessible
to be installed on the device from the HP App Catalog. As HP webOS replaced Palm OS, Palm
commissioned MotionApps to code and develop an emulator called Classic, to enable backward
compatibility to Palm OS apps. This operates with webOS version 1.0. Palm OS emulation was
discontinued in WebOS version 2.0.MotionApps disengaged from Classic in 2010, citing HP Palm as
"disruptive.” Case Studies ( SaaS ) Avantifix teams up with i-Virtuals to move to the cloud Avantifix, a
fixing solutions specialist has embraced modern technologies to help make a good business even
better... One of the problems facing any small firm is how much to invest in IT. After all, you’ve got a
turnover measured in thousands rather than millions, even the purchase of a server and some PCs may
seem like a step too far. Mike McElhatton, the managing director of Avantifix, a distributor for fixing
tools for the construction industry , was in that very position. Indeed, McElhatton, while appreciating
the need for computers, is of the generation that is as happy with pen and paper. “I have very little
interest in IT but it’s part and parcel of the business,” he says. Case Studies ( SaaS ) Avantifix teams up
with i-Virtuals to move to the cloud He didn’t how to progress with the IT system. “We had what I’d call
a DIY system. We couldn’t afford to have someone dedicated to IT but we could run what we had. For
example, would I be able to build a barbecue out of bricks, yes. Would I build a house, no? It would take
10 years,” he says. Back then Avantifix had a stock management system called Merlin– a DOS one no
less, hosted on Windows 2003 server, which was clearly coming to the end of its natural life. The
company did have a website but it didn’t enable its customers to make purchases on account – and for a
firm that made most of its sales to account customers, billing them later, that was a serious omission –
one that was losing them business to rival firms. McElhattonrealised the system had to be upgraded but
didn’t really know how to proceed. The replacement of the company’s financial controller turned out to
be the key to the process as that led to the introduction of a new service provider, i-Virtuals. Case
Studies ( SaaS ) Ashoka Reddy, i-Virtuals managing director quickly ascertained that Avantifix would be a
perfect candidate for a cloud-based system: the company had little or no internal IT expertise and was
urgent need of a more flexible infrastructure. However, McElhatton was also concerned that the
company was not being pushed down a path of buying more than it actually needed. “It’s like the
oldstyle Nokia phone. That was perfect for just making phone calls: it just worked. A computer system
doesn’t need to have any more that we needs doing.” Making way for change The internal system has
now been moved to an i-Virtuals cloud, with the onpremise server being used as backup to provide
added resilience. That in itself is a new departure for the company. In the past, they didn’t get backed
up but, drawing on one of the advantages of the cloud, everything is now backed up automatically. Case
Studies ( SaaS ) The new system allows Avantifix to run a network of 10 PCs interconnected, providing
access to the Merlin stock control system and Sage accounting. The company also uses the system to
connect the employees' iPads. The new system also means that it is easier for Avantifix to stay on top of
software licensing, an area that's often tricky for small businesses. One step that Avantifix is still to deal
with is the issue of its website. While there's an acceptance that it needs upgrading, there is the thorny
problem of bringing together information from a variety of different sources, all of which have their own
individual formats. Reddy says that upgrading the website would mean developing a completely
integrated system that’s all linked to the same database, something that would be very time-consuming
to implement. As McElhatton explains this would be something that only he and his team could do as it's
a task that requires human involvement. Case Studies ( SaaS ) Motorola improves compensation
accuracy Comms company works with XactlySaaS to improve sales rep compensation scheme If there's
one thing that sales executives around the world are agreed on, it's on the importance of pay and
commission. It's not always the easiest of processes to deal with - especially when there's an
international sales force with a multitude of currencies. Motorola Solutions turned to the cloud in an
attempt to simplify the process of dealing with a complex web of financial recompense. As with many
companies, the move to cloud arose after a company reorganisation. January 2011, Motorola Solutions
spun-off the consumer focused side of its business to form Motorola Mobility enabling Motorola
Solutions to focus on its core business as a provider of mission-and business-critical communication
products and services. The company is one of the world’s leading suppliers of rugged devices that
deliver real-time information to both public safety operators (police, fire and ambulance) and businesses
in markets as diverse as retail, shipping and hospitality. And it sells into more than 100 countries,
employing 1700 sales personnel. Challenge It is this spread that provides Motorola Solutions with a
major challenge.Lisa Bentley-Smith, sales incentive manager for EMEA, manages the compensation for
400 sales reps in what is an extremely diverse and complex region, having to deal with different
currencies, languages, cultures and local laws. Case Studies ( SaaS ) Motorola improves compensation
accuracy When Bentley-Smith joined the sales management team in 2011, compensation was entirely
manual and spreadsheet based. Not only was the process timeconsuming for the admin staff, which had
to deal with multiple data sources and a large number of queries, but also it was also frustrating for the
sales team. With limited visibility over how they were being paid, personnel were often spending too
much time checking whether they were being paid correctly. “Walking down the halls, compensation
was often the first thing to be mentioned by the general manager, the vice presidents and the
directors,” says Bentley-Smith. “We wanted to end this – for compensation to become a nonissue.” With
managers spending increasing amounts of time on this activity it was clear that change was required.
The EMEA region needed a new system that could fully automate the payment process and cope with all
the complexities of the region in a simple, cost-effective manner. “We decided to speak to our sales
team to find out what they wanted from the new system,” says Bentley-Smith. “It turned out it was
basic stuff. They wanted to know what they were going to be paid when and, if necessary, be able to
raise queries quickly and efficiently.”