A Holistic Decision Framework to Avoid Vendor Lock-in for Cloud SaaS Migration

Cloud computing offers an innovative business model to enterprise for IT services consumption and delivery. Software as a Service (SaaS) is one of the cloud offerings that attract organisations as a potential solution in reducing their IT cost. However, the vast diversity among the available cloud SaaS services makes it difficult for customers to decide whose vendor services to use or even to determine a valid basis for their selections. Moreover, this variety of cloud SaaS services has led to proprietary architectures and technologies being used by cloud vendors, increasing the risk of vendor lock-in for customers. Therefore, when enterprises interact with SaaS providers within the purview of the current cloud marketplace, they often encounter significant lock-in challenges to migrating and interconnecting cloud. Hence, the complexity and variety of cloud SaaS service offerings makes it imperative for businesses to use a clear and well understood decision process to procure, migrate and/or discontinue cloud services. To date, the expertise and technological solutions to simplify such transition and facilitate good decision making to avoid lock-in risks in the cloud are limited. Besides, little investigation has been carried out to provide a comprehensive decision framework to support enterprises on how to avoid lock-in risks when selecting and implementing cloud-based SaaS solutions within existing environments. Such decision framework is important to reduce complexity and variations in implementation patterns on the cloud provider side, while at the same time minimising potential switching cost for enterprises by resolving integration issues with existing IT infrastructures. This paper proposes a holistic 6-step decision framework that enables an enterprise to assess its current IT landscape for potential SaaS replacement, and provides effective strategies to mitigate vendor lock-in risks in cloud (SaaS) migration. The framework follows research findings and addresses the core requirements for choosing vendor-neutral interoperable and portable cloud services without the fear of vendor lock-in, and architectural decisions for secure SaaS migration. Therefore, the results of this research can help IT managers have a safe and effective migration to cloud computing SaaS environment

Taxonomy of Cloud Lock-in Challenges

This chapter reviews key concepts and terminologies needed for understanding the complexity of the vendor lock-in problem being investigated in this book. Firstly, we present aspects of cloud computing that contribute to vendor lock-in and briefly introduce existing results from cloud-related areas of computer science that contributes to understanding and tackling vendor lock-in. Secondly, we explore the literature on proprietary lock-in risks in cloud computing environments to identify its causes (i.e., restrictions), consequences, mitigations strategies, and related challenges faced by enterprise consumers migrating to cloud-based services. Then, we propose taxonomy of cloud lock-in perspectives based on reports of real experiences on migration to understand the overall cloud SaaS migration challenges. Finally, we narrow down to our perspective on cloud lock-in to three main perspectives which takes the use of sound techniques from IS research discipline and cloud-related literature into consideration, to improve the portability, security and interoperability of cloud (and on-premise) applications in hybrid environments. Collectively, the discussions presented herein, accordingly enables both academia and IT practitioners in the cloud computing community to get an overarching view of the process of combating application and data lock-in challenges, and security risks in the cloud

A decision framework to mitigate vendor lock-in risks in cloud (SaaS category) migration.

Cloud computing offers an innovative business model to enterprise IT services consumption and delivery. However, vendor lock-in is recognised as being a major barrier to the adoption of cloud computing, due to lack of standardisation. So far, current solutions and efforts tackling the vendor lock-in problem have been confined to/or are predominantly technology-oriented. Limited studies exist to analyse and highlight the complexity of vendor lock-in problem existing in the cloud environment. Consequently, customers are unaware of proprietary standards which inhibit interoperability and portability of applications when taking services from vendors. The complexity of the service offerings makes it imperative for businesses to use a clear and well understood decision process to procure, migrate and/or discontinue cloud services. To date, the expertise and technological solutions to simplify such transition and facilitate good decision making to avoid lock-in risks in the cloud are limited. Besides, little research investigations have been carried out to provide a cloud migration decision framework to assist enterprises to avoid lock-in risks when implementing cloud-based Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions within existing environments. Such decision framework is important to reduce complexity and variations in implementation patterns on the cloud provider side, while at the same time minimizing potential switching cost for enterprises by resolving integration issues with existing IT infrastructures. Thus, the purpose of this thesis is to propose a decision framework to mitigate vendor lock-in risks in cloud (SaaS) migration. The framework follows a systematic literature review and analysis to present research findings containing factual and objective information, and business requirements for vendor-neutral interoperable cloud services, and/or when making architectural decisions for secure cloud migration and integration. The underlying research procedure for this thesis investigation consists of a survey based on qualitative and quantitative approaches conducted to identify the main risk factors that give rise to cloud computing lock-in situations. Epistemologically, the research design consists of two distinct phases. In phase 1, qualitative data were collected using open-ended interviews with IT practitioners to explore the business-related issues of vendor lock-in affecting cloud adoption. Whereas the goal of phase 2 was to identify and evaluate the risks and opportunities of lock-in which affect stakeholders’ decision-making about migrating to cloud-based solutions. In synthesis, the survey analysis and the framework proposed by this research (through its step-by-step approach), provides guidance on how enterprises can avoid being locked to individual cloud service providers. This reduces the risk of dependency on a cloud provider for service provision, especially if data portability, as the most fundamental aspect, is not enabled. Moreover, it also ensures appropriate pre-planning and due diligence so that the correct cloud service provider(s) with the most acceptable risks to vendor lock-in is chosen, and that the impact on the business is properly understood (upfront), managed (iteratively), and controlled (periodically). Each decision step within the framework prepares the way for the subsequent step, which supports a company to gather the correct information to make a right decision before proceeding to the next step. The reason for such an approach is to support an organisation with its planning and adaptation of the services to suit the business requirements and objectives. Furthermore, several strategies are proposed on how to avoid and mitigate lock-in risks when migrating to cloud computing. The strategies relate to contract, selection of vendors that support standardised formats and protocols regarding data structures and APIs, negotiating cloud service agreements (SLA) accordingly as well as developing awareness of commonalities and dependencies among cloud-based solutions. The implementation of proposed strategies and supporting framework has a great potential to reduce the risks of vendor lock-in

An exploration of the determinants for decision to migrate existing resources to cloud computing using an integrated TOE-DOI model

Migrating existing resources to cloud computing is a strategic organisational decision that can be difficult. It requires the consideration and evaluation of a wide range of technical and organisational aspects. Although a significant amount of attention has been paid by many industrialists and academics to aid migration decisions, the procedure remains difficult. This is mainly due to underestimation of the range of factors and characteristics affecting the decision for cloud migration. Further research is needed to investigate the level of effect these factors have on migration decisions and the overall complexity. This paper aims to explore the level of complexity of the decision to migrate the cloud. A research model based on the diffusion of innovation (DOI) theory and the technology-organization-environment (TOE) framework was developed. The model was tested using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. The quantitative analysis shows the level of impact of the identified variables on the decision to migrate. Seven determinants that contribute to the complexity of the decisions are identified. They need to be taken into account to ensure successful migration. This result has expanded the collective knowledge about the complexity of the issues that have to be considered when making decisions to migrate to the cloud. It contributes to the literature that addresses the complex and multidimensional nature of migrating to the cloud

Cloud Computing: TOE Adoption Factors By Service Model In Manufacturing

Organizations are adopting cloud technologies for two primary reasons: to reduce costs and to enhance business agility. The pressure to innovate, reduce costs and respond quickly to changes in market demand brought about by intense global competition has U.S. manufacturing firms turning to cloud computing as an enabling strategy. Cloud computing is a service based information technology model that enables on-demand access to a shared pool of computing services provisioned over a broadband network. Cloud is categorized across three primary service models, Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service (SaaS), differentiated by the cloud provider’s level of responsibility for managing hardware services, development platforms and application services. While prior research in cloud computing has sought to define the concept and explore the business value, empirical studies in the Information Systems literature stream are sparse, limited to exploratory case studies and SaaS research. Using the Technology, Organization, and Environment framework as a theoretical foundation, this research provides a holistic cloud adoption model inclusive of all cloud service layers. The study analyzes factors influencing organizational cloud adoption utilizing survey data from 150 U.S. manufacturing firms. The results find organizational innovativeness as a crucial factor to cloud computing adoption in manufacturing. An inverse factor relationship suggests the more innovative the firm culture, the less likely it is to adopt cloud. Other significant adoption factors include trust and technical competency. Findings also suggest variations in adoption influences based on the cloud service model deployed. The study has strategic implications for both researchers and managers seeking to understand the antecedents to adoption, and for practitioners developing an organizational cloud strategy spanning multiple cloud service models. For vendors, the study provides insights that can be leveraged to inform product design, solution strategy, and value proposition creation for future cloud service offerings

A Review of the Current Level of Support to Aid Decisions for Migrating to Cloud Computing

© 2016 Copyright held by the owner/author(s). Cloud computing provides an innovative delivery model that enables enterprises to reduce operational costs and improve flexibility and scalability. Organisations wishing to migrate their legacy systems to the cloud often need to go through a difficult and complicated decision-making process. This can be due to multiple factors including restructuring IT resources, the still evolving nature of the cloud environment, and the continuous expansion of the services offered. These have increased the requirement for tools and techniques to help the decision-making process for migration. Although significant contributions have been made in this area, there are still many aspects which require further support. This paper evaluates the existing level of support to aid the decision-making process. It examines the complexity of decisions, evaluates the current state of Decision Support Systems in respect of migrating to the cloud, and analyses three models that proposed support for the migration processes. This paper identifies the need for a coherent approach for supporting the whole decision-making process. Further, it explores possible new approaches for addressing the complex issues involved in decision-making for migrating to the cloud

Perspective Chapter: Cloud Lock-in Parameters – Service Adoption and Migration

ICT has been lauded as being revolutionised by cloud computing, which relieves businesses of having to make significant capital investments in ICT while allowing them to connect to incredibly potent computing capabilities over the network. Organisations adopt cloud computing as a way to solve business problems, not technical problems. As such, organisations across Europe are eagerly embracing cloud computing in their operating environments. Understanding cloud lock-in parameters is essential for supporting inter-cloud cooperation and seamless information and data exchange. Achieving vendor-neutral cloud services is a fundamental requirement and a necessary strategy to be fulfilled in order to enable portability. This chapter highlights technical advancements that contribute to the interoperable migration of services in the heterogeneous cloud environment. A set of guidelines and good practices were also collected and discussed, thus providing strategies on how lock-in can be mitigated. Moreover, this chapter provides some recommendations for moving forward with cloud computing adoption. To make sure the migration and integration between on-premise and cloud happen with minimal disruption to business and results in maximum sustainable cost benefit, the chapter’s contribution is also designed to provide new knowledge and greater depth to support organisations around the world to make informed decisions

A Total Cost of Ownership Model for Cloud Computing Infrastructure

A holistic cost assessment of cloud computing ar-chitectures is currently hampered by the lack of assessment methods and the absence of a standardized and comprehensive total cost model. This creates uncertainty about cost developments of concrete scenarios and architectural changes. This article proposes a total cost of ownership model for cloud computing, covering the cost of adoption, procurement, migration, operation, usage, and exit. We evaluated our model in multiple application scenarios and against other models. Our model has shown to be substantially more comprehensive and applicable than other available models for cloud computing. Thus, our model can be useful both in practice and in research. We will demonstrate that our model can increase cost transparency and improve decision support

The design, development and evaluation of a holistic cloud migration decision framework

No keywords provided in dissertationCloud Computing has gained traction since its emergence and client organisations that want to benefit from the Cloud are looking for ways to migrate their on-premise applications to the Cloud. To assist client organisations with migration projects, researchers and practitioners have proposed various Cloud migration approaches. However, these approaches differ in applicability depending on the type of application being migrated and the Cloud Service Provider where the application is being migrated to. The various approaches to Cloud migration create complexity in Cloud migration decisions as client organisations have to consider various approaches depending on the migration project. The purpose of this dissertation is to create a universal Cloud migration approach that can be applied to every Cloud migration project. In this dissertation, a cloud migration decision framework is proposed; namely, A Holistic Cloud Migration Decision Framework (HCMDF). The research strategy that was followed is Design Science Research (DSR) and was selected since the output of the research is going to be an Information Technology (IT) research artefact. By applying the DSR strategy, the HCMDF was successfully developed and evaluated in the real world using an adaptive case study. The analysis of the results indicated that the HCMDF solves Cloud migration problem and that it can be applied to every Cloud migration project. Throughout the evaluation, areas of improvement were identified and these will be considered in future research.School of ComputingM. Tech (Information Technology