business report:evaluate the implication of big data
Background
Mike Smith has recently been appointed as the new Chief Executive Officer (CEO)
of an Australian private electric utility company
that operates in New South Wales. The core of the business involves electricity
generation and retailing. Electricity is mainly coalgenerated, but there have been
discussions to expand its scope by including wind and solar. The previous CEO of
the company, Ana
Taylor, recently left the company so the Board of Directors had to appoint a new
CEO. The members of the Board are aware of current
and future technological changes in the electric utility industry and current trends in
Information and Communications Technology
(ICT) so they believe that the new CEO should be willing to innovate if necessary.
Regarding current trends in ICT, for example, the
company has barely embraced big data within its operations (they do not use big
data to guide the innovation of products or services
for instance). Before Ana left, there were discussions about business expansion so
one of the concerns of the members of the Board
under that scenario is whether existing IT infrastructure would be good enough to
meet future requirements.
Mike Smith was hired by the Board because of his managerial skills, but does not
have much knowledge about current trends in ICT.
Due to this fact, Mike decided to hire you as a consultant to provide him with
advice. Mike has heard about the importance of ‘big
data’ for businesses these days, but he does not know much about it. You are
commissioned to write a business report about the
current and future state of big data.
Required:
1. Read the following article: Kitner, K. R. and De Wet, T. (2015), “Big city, big
data”, Interactions, Vol. 22 No. 4, pp. 70-73
(available from the library – electronic version).
2. Watch the following video from Communications of the ACM on “Exascale
Computing and Big Data”:
3. Write a business report that will evaluate the implications of big data. The report
should include:
a) An analysis of the benefits and limitations of big data for individuals (analyse 2
benefits and 2 limitations).
b) An analysis of the benefits and limitations of big data for companies (analyse 2
benefits and 2 limitations).
c) An analysis of the benefits and limitations of big data for governments (analyse 2
benefits and 2 limitations).
d) A reflection on the effects that big data has/might have for companies that belong
to a particular industry
sector. There are 19 divisions or industry sectors identified in the Australian and
New Zealand Standard
Industrial Classification 2006 (ANZSIC) Industry Classification. Please choose one
division (excluding
“Information Media and Telecommunications” and “Other Services”) from the
ANZSIC
(http://www.ausstats.abs.gov.au/ausstats/subscriber.nsf/
0/5718D13F2E345B57CA257B9500176C8F/$File/129
20_2006.pdf).
? Please note that educational resources to assist with reflective writing can be
found at the following
websites:
i. http://www.port.ac.uk/media/contacts-and-departments/student-supportservices/
ask/downloads/Reflective-writing—a-basic-introduction.pdf
ii. http://www.humanities.manchester.ac.uk/studyskills/essentials/
reflective_learning/reflective_wr
iting.html
e) Three recommendations as to how companies should prepare for big data
(companies that have not embraced
big data yet). You need to provide valid and realistic options and justify your
recommendations
Instructions for the Business Report:
1. The report should be between 2000 to 2500 words (excluding reference list, table
of contents, figures, tables, and appendix)
and 12 point Font. The report should be written using a word processing software
such as Microsoft Word. The report
should have appropriate headings and subheadings and include an Introduction and
Conclusion. Even though it is important
to include an Executive Summary in all business reports, students are not required to
do so in this report.
2. The report must include at least 10 references out of which at least 5 of them must
be peer-reviewed journal articles. Please
follow the Harvard referencing style (see: http://libguides.mq.edu.au/Referencing).
3. Review the resources on iLearn for report writing skills including an appropriate
format and plagiarism (some educational
resources has been posted under ‘Assessment Information’).
4. Review the marking rubric so that you understand how you will receive feedback.
This is how we will mark you , read the table above carefully ,if you do not follow
these points you will fail the course because this assignment worth 60% of your total
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