A company called Colony Nursery and Landscaping opened a new store located a few hundred miles away from its original location ...

Scenario: A company called Colony Nursery and Landscaping opened a new
store located a few hundred miles away from its original location. The
company wants to implement an award system that awards their customers
with points whenever customers make a purchase, but the two stores are
not able to share information. Colony Nursery and Landscaping will
need to implement an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system that
will solve the information silo problem by collecting and making this
user data available. Colony Nursery and Landscaping is hoping that by
providing customers with this award system, they will be able to
maintain competitive advantage. Colony Nursery and Landscaping cannot
afford to purchase, develop, or maintain this system on-site, so they
are investigating cloud solutions.

In addition, for many organizations, Colony Nursery and Landscaping
included, information silos make it difficult to tap into needed
information. Discuss whether or not the problem of information silos
can be solved by using the cloud. Some organizations do not have the
resources to construct or maintain their computer infrastructure, so
they utilize cloud services instead to reduce costs and improve
scalability. In this assignment, you will discuss whether or not the
cloud offers solutions for Colony Nursery and Landscaping and identify
an application that the ERP system could provide. Compose an essay
that includes the elements listed below.

Define what an information silo is.
Explain why information silos are a problem for organizations.
Discuss why organizations are moving to the cloud.
Determine whether or not using cloud services, such as a cloud-based
host for data storage, would solve the ERP information silo problem at
Colony Nursery and Landscaping.
Explain how using the ERP system and awards program would provide a
competitive advantage for Colony Nursery and Landscaping.
Discuss why the implementation of an ERP system might require business
process reengineering for Colony Nursery and Landscaping. Be sure to
explain the business processes that will be affected (e.g., the
customer awards system). Use diagrams or tables as needed, but this is
not required.

Your essay must be a minimum of two pages in length (not counting the
title and reference pages), and it must be formatted in APA style. You
should include an introduction section that gives background and
context to your reader. You must use at least two scholarly resources
as references. Any information from these resources must be cited and
referenced in APA format.

Solution: