Assessing A New IT Service Model, Cloud Computing

Recently we have witnessed a new kind of IT advancement. It is a phenomenon where various types of IT capabilities are centralized into data centers to ensure that such resources are available wherever and whenever they are needed. Cloud computing is the latest version of IT service practice that reflects such new trends in IT. Although cloud computing is considered a paradigm shift of IT service design and delivery in IS communities and generates large amounts of interest from business entities, few studies have examined this new IT and business environment. To better understand the organizational application of cloud computing, this study aims both to investigate economic payoffs from cloud computing investment and explore cloud computing adoption within the firm. This study is one of the first of its kinds to assess this new IT service model (i.e., cloud computing) using empirical validation. The proposed study can make contributions to the IS literature by (1) extending the boundary of the IS literature by reflecting the new trend of the IT industry; (2) continuing the debate about business value of IT; and (3) establishing a theoretical framework for cloud computing adoption, which can be applied to further studies on cloud computing

How cloud computing impacts stock market prices

Cloud computing is an evolution of computing technology and reflects a shift in the way it is delivered to businesses and individuals. Enterprises can significantly lower their cost of ownership, reduce time to value and faster adapt to changing needs in a globalized economy. Despite research and practice predict productivity increases and cost savings when migrating to the cloud one question remains unanswered: Does the adoption of cloud computing increase the market value of the firm? We try to answer this question by applying the event study methodology on companies that recently announced the deployment of cloud computing. Overall, we find significant positive abnormal returns. We find that investors specifically reward innovative and strategically motivated adoption of cloud computing. As a key implication of our results, we recommend in particular IT executives in large companies within the service industry to reassess their portfolio and foster the adoption of strategic and innovative cloud services

Selection Criteria for Software as a Service: An Explorative Analysis of Provider Requirements

Currently, customers can choose among many Cloud providers for enterprise systems. The provider selection involves several challenges to match individual customer requirements and provided service characteristics. Unfortunately, this process is not transparent and characterized by the lack of appropriate selection criteria. Research is mainly concentrated on capabilities and success factors on the customer side. A set of Cloud provider requirements from a customer perspective, especially within the context of an adoption of on-demand enterprise systems, have barely been discussed so far. In this paper we present a set of selection criteria for Software as a Service (SaaS). These criteria are developed to enable a Cloud provider comparison and match the customer requirements with the provider characteristics. We followed a design science approach and conducted a systematic literature review, an extensive market analysis of 651 providers and an evaluation based on expert interviews to develop the presented selection criteria

Decision Model for Selecting a Cloud Provider: A Study of Service Model Decision Priorities

This article describes a methodology to support the decision-making process for Cloud customers, using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). For this purpose, we present a decision model to select an appropriate Cloud provider. Despite its success in the industry, Cloud Computing still struggles with fulfilling customer expectations regarding provider characteristics. Due to limited transparency of existing Cloud providers, the evaluation and selection becomes a key issue. With the help of this decision model Cloud providers can be selected on the infrastructure, platform or application level. Subsequently, seven IT executives were interviewed and the decisions related to each level are discussed. Furthermore, differences and similarities between the infrastructure, platform and application levels are presented as most companies have similar requirements for basic systems and standard Cloud use cases. We enrich existing research on Cloud Computing adoption and present a systematic approach to assess Cloud providers and to apply a prioritization of selection criteria for all Cloud models

CLOUD REQUIREMENT FRAMEWORK: REQUIREMENTS AND EVALUATION CRITERIA TO ADOPT CLOUD SOLUTIONS

Due to the fast growth, Cloud Computing has become a non-transparent market with providers and customers willing to adopt it. Furthermore, many offers only partially meet customers? requirements and it is not clear how exactly Cloud Computing influences the IT. That makes it difficult for customers to plan migration projects and implement sustainable Cloud solutions. There are important factors and considerations for the decision to adopt Cloud Computing. The current studies and research in this field can be summarized to focus around the questions why adoption of Cloud Computing would occur, how much adoption would take place or how it would be adopted. But the adoption requirements covering all three service models (SaaS, PaaS, IaaS) have barely been discussed in literature so far. A detailed understanding of Cloud requirements enables customers to adopt Cloud solutions efficiently. Therefore this paper aims to contribute a framework addressing the adoption and selection of Cloud services. A Cloud Requirement Framework (CRF) was developed, concentrating on relevant requirements for adopting Cloud services targeting all three service models. To develop this framework we followed a design science approach and conducted a systematic literature review, an extensive market analysis and an evaluation based on expert interviews

Organisational learning with SaaS CRM – A case study of higher education

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) generally has a reputation as a technology that does not live up to its over-inflated expectations. Yet, implementations in higher education remain on the rise. Higher Education institutions (HEIs) are embracing cloud-based CRM systems to upsurge performance, encourage better management practices, and enhance their relationship with staff and students. CRM success however relies heavily on an adaptive organisational learning (OL) process upon which proactive decisions can be made. This paper emphasises that committed learning in post-implementation use is paramount to attaining further understanding of the capabilities, features and functionality of the CRM. Investigating how SaaS CRM usage reflect an organisation’s learning in a Higher Education context, the paper presents theoretical and practical contributions in a framework for effective SaaS CRM utilisation, and recommends a continuous cycle of exploration-exploitation-exploration. Yet the reality is that organisations explore, exploit, and then stop exploring

Organisational Learning with SaaS CRM – A case study of Higher Education

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) generally has a reputation as a technology that does not live up to its over-inflated expectations. Yet, implementations in higher education remain on the rise. Higher Education institutions (HEIs) are embracing cloud-based CRM systems to upsurge performance, encourage better management practices, and enhance their relationship with staff and students. CRM success however relies heavily on an adaptive organisational learning (OL) process upon which proactive decisions can be made. This paper emphasises that committed learning in post-implementation use is paramount to attaining further understanding of the capabilities, features and functionality of the CRM. Investigating how SaaS CRM usage reflect an organisation’s learning in a Higher Education context, the paper presents theoretical and practical contributions in a framework for effective SaaS CRM utilisation, and recommends a continuous cycle of exploration-exploitation-exploration. Yet the reality is that organisations explore, exploit, and then stop exploring

Selecting Cloud Service Providers - Towards a Framework of Assessment Criteria and Requirements

The on-demand usage of enterprise software services from the cloud rapidly evolves towards a viable IT outsourcing option. Although the successful use of software services considerably depends on the ability of the consumers to assess the various offerings and select the ones best suited, literature provides little support for the evaluation of software services and their providers. In this manuscript, we address the question of how to support the evaluation of software service providers. Building upon a design science research approach and a literature survey, we propose an assessment framework that assembles relevant criteria for the evaluation of software service providers. We examine the practical relevance of the assembled criteria using the results of an empirical study, in which we surveyed 28 experts on the subject matter. The results indicate that the framework is effective in supporting the assessment of service providers

The Business Perspective on Cloud Computing - A Literature Review of Research on Cloud Computing

This literature review synthesized the existing research on cloud computing from a business perspective by investigating 60 sources. It integrates their results in order to offer an overview about the existing body of knowledge. Using an established framework our results are structured according to the four dimensions following: cloud computing characteristics, adoption determinants, governance mechanisms, and business impact. This work reveals a shifting focus from technological aspects to a broader understanding of cloud computing as a new IT delivery model. There is a growing consensus about its characteristics and design principles. Unfortunately, research on factors driving or inhibiting the adoption of cloud services, as well as research investigating its business impact empirically, is still limited. This may be attributed to cloud computing being a rather recent research topic. Research on structures, processes and employee qualification to govern cloud services is at an early stage as well

Cloud computing adoption in regional councils

Cloud computing is becoming increasingly important in information technology as an enabler for improved productivity, efficiency and cost reduction; and is expected to offer benefits for public sector organisations. Cloud computing has the potential to improve the reliability and scalability of information technology systems, which allows organisations such as regional municipal governments to focus more on their core business and strategy. Research about the use of cloud computing in the public sector in general is limited. There is a lack of exploratory studies that provide an in-depth and holistic investigation of the factors perceived to influence the adoption of cloud computing. There are no empirical studies about the factors that are perceived to influence the adoption of cloud computing in reference to Australia. This research aimed at exploring perceptions of the potential for value creation from cloud computing in regional councils, to identify factors that are likely to influence adoption of cloud computing including factors that need to be considered when planning to adopt cloud, anticipated benefits of cloud adoption, and challenges and issues that faced cloud adoption. This research aimed to improve understandings related to the factors that influence cloud computing adoption decision making in regional municipal governments. The research employed a mixed method approach (qualitative and quantitative). In-depth interviews of Australian councils’ IT managers were conducted with the aim of providing insights into the factors that are perceived likely to influence adoption of cloud computing including factors that need to be considered when planning to adopt cloud, anticipated benefits of cloud adoption, and challenges and issues that faced cloud adoption. Survey data from 480 IT staff across 47 local government councils were collected to confirm the findings of the exploratory stage. The factors that were examined included: compatibility, complexity, cost, security concern, top management support, organisation size, government regulation, and information intensity. The findings of this research are expected to assist in making investment decisions on cloud computing adoption