Heel Swaps is a Chicago-based start-up that sells a stretchable high heel shoe cover that contains a slip resistant out-sole, comes in a variety of sizes, colors and patterns, and slips on in seconds. The product enables you to transform your heels to match different outfits and is sold online at www.heelswaps.com. The firm is just three weeks away from debuting its advertising on the popular Steve Harvey show with some 3 million viewers per episode. Sales and product demand are expected to skyrocket. Unfortunately, management at Heel Swaps has just realized that the firm’s Web site does not have the processing capacity to serve the expected increase in shoppers. An IT consulting firm was hired to confirm the need for additional capacity and to make recommendations on how to proceed. Their recommendation is that the current Web site platform be moved to Amazon Web Services (AWS) with elastic load. This service is capable of automatically scaling its request handling capacity to meet the demands of application traffic.

Review Questions

1. What advantages will moving the Web site to the cloud provide for Heel Swaps?

2. What form of cloud computing is best for Heel Swaps—public, private, or hybrid? Why?

Critical Thinking Questions

1. What common start-up problems should the IT consulting firm advise Heel Swaps to avoid?

2. What future changes and developments should be planned for the Heel Swaps Web site as the volume of business grows?