On Cloud Computing Service Considerations for the Small and Medium Enterprises

The concept of cloud computing services is appealing to the small and medium enterprises (SMEs), with the opportunity to acquire modern information technology resources as a utility and avoid costly capital investments in technology resources. However, the adoption of the cloud computing services presents significant challenges to the SMEs. The SMEs need to determine a path to adopting the cloud computing services that would ensure their sustainable presence in the cloud computing environment. Information about approaches to adopting the cloud computing services by the SMEs is fragmented. Through an interpretive design, we suggest that the SMEs need to have a strategic and incremental intent, understand their organizational structure, understand the external factors, consider the human resource capacity, and understand the value expectations from the cloud computing services to forge a successful path to adopting the cloud computing services. These factors would contribute to a model of cloud services for SMEs

Trusted Supply Chains: Surveying Competitive Value Of The Cloud

Cloud computing has become a force multiplier for organizations as they realize the benefit from the shared computing platforms and services offered by cloud computing.  Providers market shared computing platforms and services because of their convenience, dynamism, elasticity, and scalability to meet the growing demands of organizations, specifically in widespread supply chain networks.   Yet, the issuance of trust has become a concern in the cloud web as cloud computing service technologies advance faster than measures to secure it.  This research presents a framework to determine which specific supply chain functions can derive the most value from cloud capabilities and to understand how to leverage these technologies strategically to develop a competitive advantage.  It proposes a strategic integration of cloud functionalities to create profitable supply chain network partnerships and to improve the processes, quality and innovation potential in the overall Supply Chain Management (SCM), while maintaining a trusted cloud environment

PURCHASING CLOUD-BASED PRODUCT-SERVICE BUNDLES IN VALUE NETWORKS - THE ROLE OF MANAGEABLE WORKLOADS

The implementation of electronic procurement processes for product-service systems, consisting of material and service components requires a consideration of strategic, tactical and operational issues in procurement processes and information technologies. Increasingly, in certain industries, these product-service systems consist more and more of cloud-based components like online storage or web applications. In the past, the alignment of business processes with a focus on traditional procurement processes for products or services has been well established. But with the rise of product-service systems as core offering from companies, the design of hybrid procurement processes in value networks has to be developed. The merging of different procurement processes for products and services, however, has severe problems and does not reflect the specific requirements in the procurement of product-service systems, especially with cloud-based components. This article highlights the need for a process-oriented view in procurement at multiple levels of abstraction and describes a model for the design of electronic procurement process in value networks for cloud-based product-service systems requirements. Different process characteristics are examined for applicability to hybrid value performance and allow an adjustment proposal for the hybrid procurement process. The proposed procurement model is validated in a typical case-study in the IT industry

Technology Manufacturing Leaders’ Innovation Strategies to Improve Users’ Choice Capabilities in a Fast-Changing Markets

Some leaders of technology manufacturing organizations lack strategies to educate their users on how to make the optimal cloud technology selection decisions for their organizations during rapidly evolving innovation, resulting in significant risk of wrong choices and loss of customer loyalty. Grounded in resource-based view theory, the purpose of this qualitative single case study was to explore strategies technology manufacturing leaders use to educate users on how to make optimal cloud technology selection decisions for their organizations. The participants were six executive-level leaders of the strategic sales division of a multinational technology organization based in the western United States who focus on educating their customers, partners, and users of cloud technology products. Study data were collected through semistructured interviews, a review of company websites, and organizational documents. Using an adapted version of Yin’s approach for thematic analysis, three themes emerged: (a) strategic customer intelligence, (b) credible agnostic cloud education, and (c) socially responsible involvement in the cloud industry ecosystem. The key recommendation to the leadership is to expand agnostic cloud education to include adaptive training tailored to evolving user needs and reposition the cloud education unit as a strategic business unit with significant autonomy to compete effectively in the new cloud curricula product line. The implication for positive social change is the potential to enrich employee careers, boost organizations’ sustainable innovation performance and capabilities to contribute more value to the business ecosystem and improve the quality of life in the community