Adoption of Cloud Computing in Organizations

Cloud Computing is gaining popularity as a new IT arrangement in organizations, offering many advantages such as cost reduction and high flexibility that help in coping with high elasticity of demand. This study investigates organization‟s propensity to adopt Cloud computing services. The decision is viewed as an IT outsourcing decision and as a technology adoption decision through three theoretical perspectives: Transaction cost theory, resource dependence theory and diffusion of innovation theory. Based on these theories, a conceptual model is proposed with research hypotheses for future empirical testing. The study makes an attempt to contribute to the emerging literature of cloud computing, in addition to offering organizations considering adoption a list of benefits and risks of adopting cloud computing

Adoption of Cloud Computing by Firms in Kenya: The Role of Institutional Pressures

While there is substantial literature on the adoption of IT innovations based on utility computing, there is a dearth of studies on cloud computing adoption by business organizations. Given that cloud computing adoption has been steadily increasing in Kenya, this study aim to investigate the determinants of cloud computing adoption from an institutional perspective. The relationship between institutional pressures and cloud computing adoption was evaluated and tested using structural equation modelling (PLS SEM). A firm level cross sectional survey was conducted on a sample of 93 firms in the financial, manufacturing, and ICT sectors. The results indicate that coercive and normative pressures have a significant positive relationship with cloud computing adoption. The hypothesis that mimetic pressures have a relationship with cloud computing adoption was not supported. A major implication of this study is that professional and standards bodies do influence technology adoption through normative pressures

The Perceptions of Adopters and Non-Adopters of Cloud Computing: Application of Technology-Organization-Environment Framework

The purpose of this research is to explore the differences between cloud computing adopters and non-adopters. This study used technology-organization-environment (TOE) framework to investigate the perceptions of IT staff towards cloud computing adoption. The specific factors in the TOE framework are relative advantage, complexity, compatibility, top management support, organizational readiness, competitive pressure, and business partner pressure. An online-based survey was employed to collect data from IT managers, IT consultants, and IT professionals working at Saudi organizations. The findings revealed that adopters have higher perceptions to cloud computing than the non-adopters, except for complexity. The findings offer organizations and cloud computing service providers with better understanding of factors to be considered when making decisions about the adoption of cloud computing. The findings would also help organizations to consider their information technologies investments when implementing cloud computing

Cloud Computing Adoption in Organizations: A Literature Review and a Unifying Model

Cloud computing is an attractive proposition to organizations because of its expected benefits. However, its perceived risks and challenges may discourage adoption. This trade-off between benefits and risks creates a dilemma on whether or how to approach cloud adoption. This study aims to advance the understanding of cloud computing adoption in organizations and proposes a unifying model of cloud adoption. A systematic literature review was employed to investigate the adoption factors studied in previous empirical settings. The review identified 41 primary studies and yielded a hierarchical cloud adoption model. The identified factors are in line with the technology-organization-environment framework and with the diffusion of innovation model, but new insights into the dimensions relevant to cloud adoption emerged from literature. For example, system availability and reliability, cost effectiveness, privacy and security, top management support, and market pressure are among the factors influencing adoption. Implications and future research are discussed

Understanding the Determinants of Cloud Computing Adoption for High Performance Computing

Within the complex context of high performance computing (HPC), the factors influencing technology adoption decisions remain largely unexplored. This study extends Diffusion of Innovation (DOI) and Human-Organization-Technology fit (HOT-fit) theories into an integrated model, to explore the impact of ten factors on cloud computing adoption decisions in the HPC context. The results suggest that adopters and non-adopters have different perceptions of the indirect benefits, adequacy of resources, top management support, and compatibility of adopting cloud computing for HPC. In addition, perceptions of the indirect benefits and HPC competences can be used to predict the cloud computing adoption decision for HPC. This is one of the first studies in the information systems (IS) literature exploring the factors impacting the cloud computing adoption decision in the important context of HPC. It integrates two influential technology adoption theories and enhances understanding of the key factors influencing organizations’ cloud computing adoption decisions in this context

Laypeoples' and experts' risk perception of cloud computing

Cloud computing is revolutionising the way software services are procured and used by Government organizations and SMEs. Quantitative risk assessment of Cloud services is complex and undermined by specific security concerns regarding data confidentiality, integrity and availability. This study explores how the gap between the quantitative risk assessment and the perception of the risk can produce a bias in the decision-making process about Cloud computing adoption. The risk perception of experts in Cloud computing (N=37) and laypeople (N=81) about ten Cloud computing services was investigated using the psychometric paradigm. Results suggest that the risk perception of Cloud services can be represented by two components, called dread risk and unknown risk, which may explain up to 46% of the variance. Other factors influencing the risk perception were perceived benefits, trust in regulatory authorities and technology attitude. This study suggests some implications that could support Government and non-Government organizations in their strategies for Cloud computing adoption

Why Cloud? - A Review of Cloud Adoption Determinants in Organizations

Adoption of cloud computing in organizations is increasing at a rapid pace. It is expected that the majority of the organizations in industrialized nations will be using cloud services to some extent in the near future. In this review I categorize adoption factors utilized in the literature and identify determinants playing a key role in organizations’ decision to adopt cloud. I analyze both quantitative and qualitative evidence and code relationships between factors and adoption of cloud by systematically reviewing the literature. Findings show underrepresentation of the factors related to organization and external environment in cloud adoption literature. This study contributes a set of determinants of cloud adoption, which serves as a foundation for the future research and advancement of the theories in information systems field

The study on awareness and adoption of cloud computing by academics in Sri Lankan universities

The main objective of this study is to understand the level of awareness and adoption of cloud computing by the academic staff in Sri Lankan universities. This study aimed at investigating the level of awareness of this emerging technology and the extent that they use cloud computing, and the reasons for adoption and non-adoption. The study found that two-third of the sample respondents are not aware of cloud computing. The level of adoption is limited to several applications, namely Google Apps Engine and Dropbox. Cost and time saving were stated as the reasons for adoption and the lack of benefits and security concerns were stated as the most important drivers for non-adoption. Although 78.4% of the respondents stated to be aware of cloud computing, but only 14% confirmed they are very knowledgeable about it. Considering the benefits that cloud computing could offer to organizations, this trend provokes for more involvement from the government and cloud computing service vendors to further promote this technology to the universities