Question 1 (Marks: 40) Review the following case study about Royal Caribbean, then answer the questions that follow. Royal Caribbeans cloud strategy Enterprises often struggle with multicloud decisions, with vendor and workload match a main pressure point. But specific industry traits matter, too. To convey the difficulties of enabling cloud for a cruise ship company, Jay Schneider, chief product innovation officer (CXO) at Royal Caribbean International and SVP leading the digital transformation for Royal Caribbean Groups cruise lines, describes a litany of systems required to ships running smoothly while on the high seas. If you think of us as a large city, theres no such thing as a preferred vendor, said Schneider in an interview with CIO Dive. Royal Caribbean Group operates 64 cruise ships, 26 of which are in Royal Caribbean Internationals fleet, each having a wide range of IT needs, including everything from ticketing to navigational systems or point-of-sales software. Choosing the right mix of cloud vendors is a heady decision for IT leaders, who must gauge the merits of service providers to efficiently meet their needs. The thought process becomes more complicated for organisations in unique business verticals with challenges of their own. The right choice comes down to finding a match between workloads, features and connectivity as well as cost. Land based technology executives have it easy, said Schneider. Slap an internet connection into the cloud, and theyve got full reliability. Their uptime is based on what theyre getting from AWS or Google or somebody else. For a seafaring operation, tech leaders have to focus on whether the satellite connection is up and running, adverse weather conditions or geographic challenges to staying connected. Multicloud is a must for any modern organisation, but the strategy presents additional upside for businesses with multiple system needs. Theres no recipe for a perfect vendor selection process. But in the case of a cruise ship company, details matter. Flexibility is going to be a big thing; the ability to deploy sort of a seamless, hybrid-type solution in a way that doesnt tax your shipboard resources, said Jeremy Roberts, research director at Info-Tech Research Group. Matching workloads and vendors is an ongoing exercise for executives, who assess a number of factors into their choices from cost to staffing. Schneider said Royal Caribbean draws from Google Cloud for certain use cases, with AWS taking on the majority of normal cloud infrastructure and Microsoft Azure driving advanced data analytics. This spread matches trends in the IaaS market overall, where AWS leads in market share while Microsoft and Google follow.

Theres no right provider or solution, Schneider said. Youve got to go through the due diligence to find common platforms and technologies for the use case. While service costs are a consideration in the vendor selection process, one area often overlooked by IT leaders is the cost of access to talent who can operate the cloud systems, Taylor said. It is very important that executives put in place a solid enterprise architecture practice, Schneider said. Having the right balance of the right expertise in house, relying on partners when needed and just going through the normal rigor is important. Royal Caribbeans mobile app Royal Caribbean International has committed to equipping its fleet of 48 ships with the very latest in high-tech gadgets. First among these innovations is an artificial intelligence-driven mobile app, designed to act as a digital assistant for the companys guests. The app will be able to direct customers around the ship and offer personalised recommendations on what to see and do during their stay on board. While some cruise ship companies have opted to make their digital assistants a bespoke piece of wearable tech, Royal Caribbean International has instead decided to create a device-agnostic assistant. The next set of capabilities will allow you to register in the app, check in via the app, upload your selfie to be able to use our facial recognition boarding, book shore excursions, dining, et cetera, and then we'll continue to add capabilities. We have x-ray vision [VR] and digital games built in. And, of course, all this innovation will be backed up and driven by big data. As the technology rolls out across the fleet and is used by more customers, the Artificial Intelligence (AI) system will learn and improve, to offer truly first-class, digitally driven experiences. "We've always had staggering amounts of data, and the difficulty has been in making intelligent use of that data," said Richard Fain, CEO of Royal Caribbean International. "Using data analytics to help [passengers] select what's of greatest interest to them, helps us in understanding what their needs are. So, there's no question that data analytics is a key part of it. Royal Caribbeans satellite broadband In a first in the cruise industry, Royal Caribbean Group has partnered with SpaceX's Starlink to enable high-speed, low-latency connectivity across its full fleet of cruise ships. Deployment of the Starlink technology across the fleet will begin immediately, leveraging the insights obtained from the trial onboard Freedom of the Seas, which has received tremendous positive feedback from guests and crew, confirmed Royal Caribbean.

Starlinks deal with Royal Caribbean Group is anticipated to close within the first quarter of 2023. The low form-factor of Starlink dishes, which are a mere 19 inches long and can be relayed into a central router, makes them a good fit for expedited roll out across ships. A trial of Starlink Wi-Fi recently took place on the Royal Caribbean ship Freedom of the Seas, which it says resulted in tremendous positive feedback from its guests and crew. Currently, Starlink customers receive internet at speeds of up to 104 Mbits/sec, although companies can sign up to Starlink Business to gain access to speeds of up to 350 Mbits/sec. Based on sources: Torres, R. 2022. How Royal Caribbean set up a seafaring cloud strategy, CIODive, 29 August 2022. [Online]. Available at: https://www.ciodive.com/news/royal-caribbean-cloudstrategy/629952/ [Accessed 21 December 2022]. Author unknown. [n.d]. Heres now Royal Caribbean is Using an App Driven by Artificial Intelligence to Personalise Their Luxury Cruises. [Blog]. Available at: https://digitaltraveleu.wbresearch.com/blog/royal-caribbean-cruise-artificial-intelligence-apppersonalisation-digital-transformation-strategy [Accessed 21 December 2022]. Anand, P. 2022. Royal Caribbean Group taps SpaceXs Starlink for high speed internet aboard cruise ships, ITPro, 31 August 2022. [Online]. Available at: https://www.itpro.com/infrastructure/network-internet/368926/royal-caribbean-group-tapsspacexs-starlink-for-high-speed [Accessed 21 December 2022]. Note: In answering the questions below, consider the following: All theory must be referenced from the textbook and other credible sources; You are required to paraphrase and explain concepts in your own words. Q.1.1 Assess the drivers and benefits of high-capacity and mobile networks onboard Royal Caribbeans ships. (10) Q.1.2 Analyse the factors to be considered in the cloud vendor selection process, with application to the case study. (10) Q.1.3 Distinguish between the SMAC technologies referenced in the case study. (10) Q.1.4 Recommend an enterprise architecture for Royal Caribbean. (