Review of the environmental and organisational implications of cloud computing: final report.

Cloud computing – where elastic computing resources are delivered over the Internet by external service providers – is generating significant interest within HE and FE. In the cloud computing business model, organisations or individuals contract with a cloud computing service provider on a pay-per-use basis to access data centres, application software or web services from any location. This provides an elasticity of provision which the customer can scale up or down to meet demand. This form of utility computing potentially opens up a new paradigm in the provision of IT to support administrative and educational functions within HE and FE. Further, the economies of scale and increasingly energy efficient data centre technologies which underpin cloud services means that cloud solutions may also have a positive impact on carbon footprints. In response to the growing interest in cloud computing within UK HE and FE, JISC commissioned the University of Strathclyde to undertake a Review of the Environmental and Organisational Implications of Cloud Computing in Higher and Further Education [19]

Strategies Managers Implement to Ensure Information Technology Infrastructure Services for Overseas Users

Information technology (IT) has become a critical success factor for businesses. IT leaders’ potential failures in implementing IT strategies aligned with the business objectives may negatively impact the success of organizations in the current global market. Grounded in the technology-organizational-environmental (TOE) framework, the purpose of this qualitative, pragmatic inquiry study was to explore the IT strategies used by IT managers of multinational companies in the United States to implement IT infrastructure services to businesses for overseas users in developing countries. The participants were nine IT leaders with experience or who have implemented IT strategies for organizations in the United States with businesses in developing countries. Data were collected using semistructured interviews. Through thematic analysis, six themes were identified: (a) hybrid cloud and on-premises adoption, (b) IT infrastructure redundancy or failover process, (c) development of standardized IT best practices, (d) IT infrastructure strategies by region, (e) measurement of the IT infrastructure services, and (f) external factors impact the adoption of IT infrastructure strategies. A key recommendation is for IT leaders to have cloud file services such as Microsoft 365 or One Drive, allowing employees to work from anywhere. The implications for positive social change include the potential to guide IT managers’ decisions that can lead to the long-term sustainability of businesses, thereby improving the socio-economic lifestyle of individuals in the United States and developing countries