REVIEW AND SYNTHESIZE CLOUD SERVICE ADOPTION STUDIES- AN IMPLEMENTATION APPROACH FOR SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES
Table of Contents
Introduction
2
- Role of cloud computing in small and medium organizations and the benefits that the cloud computing provides for the organization
2
- Adoption of cloud computing by Small and Medium scale organizations for effective use of the services
4
Purpose, aim and target deliverables
6
Significance
7
Methodology
7
Project plan
8
Ethics
9
References
11
Introduction
Cloud computing is the latest buzz word in the field of computing where its novice and unique style of computing plays a vital role in the organization related computing as it can compute voluminous amount of information in an efficient and effective way. Cloud computing provides the activities as services where it provides three major services they are SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS. In the Introduction section here we will discuss the role of cloud computing in small and medium organizations and the benefits that the cloud computing provides for the organization. This research project will analyze the Adoption of cloud computing by Small and Medium scale organizations for effective use of the services.
In this research project, we are intended to explain the methodology that is involved in the development of proposed project, and it will be shown on a project plan that will display the insights in the contribution to the adoption of cloud computing. The proposed project plan includes the aim, purpose, & target deliverables along with the significance of the plan. This section discusses the importance and methodology of research along with the research ethics that have carried out in the research.
- Role of cloud computing in small and medium organizations and the benefits that the cloud computing provides for the organization.
Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is the most important element that can improve the competitiveness of business, and considered as the most efficient technology that provides numerous advantages for the small & medium-sized organizations (SMEs: Organizations with lesser than 199 employees). SME’s are the primary sources of the employment and country’s income; they are also the key source for technology development. The Small and Medium Scales organizations are the fast growing enterprises in the entire world with a greater proportion of business and GDP (Ericson, 2015). One of the most important of the SMEs is extensively recognized for the implementation and dissemination of innovations related to ICT as they are defined with the capabilities of innovative, adaptive and creative (Carroll, Helfert & Lynn 2014). The advancement of technologies and continuous development of the new innovative ICTs provide many opportunities for SMEs to adopt and gain benefits from ICTs (Zardari, Bahsoon, & Ekárt, 2014). Organizations in the present world are facing serious challenges in selecting, maintaining, managing, and updating of the ICT in the SME related organizations and implementation of ICT is more complex in SME’s (Ammurathavalli, & Ramesh, 2014). The issues in the application of ICT-related technologies has increased the concentration over the on-demand computing, or Cloud Computing, which provides the scalable IT-related operations as a service via Internet to meet the organizations need and it also reduces the operations costs in the Enterprise (Busch, Smith, ET.al, 2014).
The latest technology that most of the SME’s are enthusiastic to implement the modern business computing is the Cloud computing. The term cloud computing was initially stated by Professor Ramnath Chellappa in 1997, that Cloud computing is going to be a “new computing paradigm where the boundaries of computing are determined by economic rationale rather than technical limits alone” (ACMA,2014).
Cloud computing is a novel ICT that supports organizations to use the new IT development at reasonable prices (ACMA,2014) cloud computing is considered as an important area of the development for various services in business. There are numerous direct and indirect benefits for the adoption of cloud computing in the SME’s which are state below:
Cloud computing can be perceived as a new way to deliver the IT-enabled services in the form of platform, infrastructure, and software using the Internet as a medium. With the implementation of cloud computing services with various deployment models provides benefits such as on demand, and use pay-as-you-use method.
Cloud computing includes the benefits of improved scalability and reliability of the IT systems, which allows the SMEs to focus their limited resources on the core business. This makes the SMEs, to become the primary beneficiaries for the Cloud computing (Chang, Walters, & Wills, 2014).
In general, companies that obtain Cloud computing services such as SaaS from the Cloud computing environment provide various advantages to the latest developments in the IT technologies at an inexpensive rate. One of the major benefits of the Cloud computing services includes reduction in costs, scalability, and security (Xiao, & Xiao, 2013). Cloud computing delivers the finances of measure by relinquishing the initial expenses in the acquisition of infrastructure, by which there is a massive increase in cost savings (Accenture, 2010) and it also reduces or raises the demand for ICT depending on the organization demand (Xiao, & Xiao, 2013).
Hence, Cloud computing is considered as cost-effective IT solution that will benefit the SMEs and the country’s government along with public services. Cloud Computing provides the shared computing resources, storage, software, & on demand for information. Cloud Computing allows the SMEs to focus on their core business by not involving the IT management processes related to the system advancement, licensing, etc. From the above, it is evident to state that the Cloud Computing environment suits the best for the SMEs that are the scarce resources of time, money, and knowledge (Accenture, 2010). The organizations must understand the next impelling issues related to Cloud Computing (Ericson, 2015).
Even though there are numerous potential benefits, in the adoption rate of the Cloud computing it is still relatively less in SME’s of Australia (Bryman, & Bell, 2015). As per the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA), only less than 1/2 of the SMEs are presently adopting the Cloud services (ACMA,2014; Ericson, 2015).
Cloud computing was introduced as a solution to meet their needs, with flexibility & Internet accessibility as 2 of their greatest assets, that will cause the businesses to consider the efficient and appropriate approach to implementing the cloud services. Cloud computing is a model that allows organizations to influence dynamic providing capability and also adapt for the transforming business environs. Cloud computing has obtained interest from the major IT bodies such as Microsoft, Amazon, IBM, and Google (Zardari, Bahsoon, & Ekárt, 2014).
- Adoption of cloud computing by Small and Medium scale organizations for effective use of the services
Many are researchers have stated that the Cloud computing provides the initial opportunity for the SMEs to adopt a new approach in IT that is cost effective. The SMEs are not able to afford their own IT, but they provide with the adequate IT budget that will provide bandwidth & pay as per their needs & usage (Zardari, Bahsoon, & Ekárt, 2014). Cloud computing presents an environment for SMEs that can reduce their capital expenditure.
The proposed Cloud model will describe the various tiers of Cloud services from Cloud business layer which are selected as per the user’s business requirement. There are different types of business models that are related to the adoption of Cloud computing, and their application depends on over the nature & size of the enterprise, all direct and indirect go-to-market models in the Cloud computing can support the requirements of SMEs’; these are not inherently appropriate for the large companies due to the scale & complexity. The current transformation of pattern & other aspects of Cloud computing makes it more suitable for the SMEs rather than the large organizations (Chang, Walters, & Wills, 2014).
The Cloud services are additional satisfactory for the SMEs by their relative advantage, scalability and flexibility features. There are three fundamental reasons behind the possible use of Cloud computing by SMEs are:
1) Avoiding the capital expenditure in IT hardware, software and Information Security by outsourcing the infrastructure or platforms or services;
2) Scalability and Flexibility of IT resources; and
3) Disaster recovery capabilities and Business Continuity (Ericson, 2015).
There are eight key objectives to be considered to achieve when implementing the Cloud computing:
E-industry regulatory change,
Disaster recovery,
Improving capability and availability,
Minimizing IT investment in infrastructure,
Enhancing IT control, business agility,
Mitigating IT maintenance and management, and
Improving the IT productivity.
Cloud computing must be considered as one of the success factors of business that will improve the business outcomes & the national economy of a country (Dahiru, ET.Al, 2014; Ericson, 2015). Cloud computing can also be considered as one of the most critical success factors for business improving, survival, & managing the business processes and innovating the new business ideas (Baker,2012).
Cloud computing will help the SMEs organizations by providing maximum required utilities, which includes the hardware infrastructure of the operating systems, file storage, software, databases & much more, through the cloud services such as Saas, PaaS, IaaS using Pay-Per-Use method.
Purpose, aim and target deliverables
The main reason behind the selection of the execution of the research project is to analyze the adoption of cloud computing by the small and medium organizations and issues related to it.
The primary concern is related to the essentials of SMEs how to understand the organizations perceive Cloud computing & it is prominence to analyze when the organizations are adopting Cloud computing. This research study will also enable SME’s to disclose their critical factors which have influence the decisions related to the adoption of the Cloud Computing; i.e., How and Why Organizations are adopting or rejecting cloud computing adoption. (Chang, 2015).
The aim of the research to explore the factors that will influence the SMEs’ decisions to the adoption of Cloud computing. The objectives established to achieve the main aim of the research specifically are listed below:
- To empirically measure the theoretical model for adoption of Cloud computing by SMEs;
- To regulate the meta-factors that will influence the SMEs towards the adoption of Cloud;
- To measure the scheming & significant effects of business type & business size on the SMEs’ decision for adopting Cloud computing;
- To provide a clear understanding of the issues related to Cloud Adoption for Cloud agents, service providers, governments and other policymakers to accelerate the adoption of Cloud computing.
Significance
SMEs face some frightening dares when it comes to implementing information technology. Cloud computing has become an increasingly important for SMEs as one of the significant benefits the Cloud computing provides to SMEs is to access to the IT applications that earlier only large companies could afford (Chang, 2015). In future, Cloud computing adoption is anticipated to afford with several benefits that will result in reduced prices for SMEs, and they become more dynamic, achieve tasks more swiftly, and also provide cost benefits.
The research findings that will accomplish from the study extends the present understanding of the Cloud computing adoption by SMEs with the technology-based
Services adoption framework, and it also provides guidelines along with a better understanding of the potential benefits and risks associated with Cloud adoption by the SMEs to evaluate the possible alternatives and realize the factors influence the adoption process. This adoption framework is developed through a synthesis of a critical literature review for investigating the Cloud computing adoption by SMEs, by which the research gap bridges the gap, and it contributes to the Cloud computing adoption literature, relating to the SME context.
The outcome of this study will assist in the strategic planning from the perspectives of SMEs that are planned or in the process of implementing a review of their Cloud computing initiatives, and Cloud service providers using the Cloud technology to gain the competitive edge.
Methodology
The proposed project is a literature based project where the outcome of the proposed project is a survey-based research article. To accomplish this task the first step is to identify the potential sources for this research project and understand the topic. The next phase in the methodology involves collection of research articles in the proposed research domain. Once the research aim and objectives are defined, then the next step of the project includes the accomplishment of the study. The next step is to observe and identify the potential risks and threats that are associated with the proposed project.
The Proposed project is implemented using the Agile methodology Sprint model which will accommodate the proposed project and meet the specified aim and objectives of the project. Sprint is an agile process model that helps the change and agility in the proposed process model. The below figure displays the sprint process template.
Figure.1. Sprint Process Model
(Source: (Baker,2012))
Project plan
A project plan is prepared considering the constraints of time and budget for the proposed research activity. The table below represents the project. In this chart, the events are scheduled to be accomplished in 8 weeks where each week an activity has to be accomplished. The main reason behind such plan is due to the constraints of time and budget. In the W1 we gather the information and choose the topic. In W2 over the issue, a large literature review is performed, and we define the aim & objectives of the research. From week 3 (W3) t week 8 (W8) the complete analysis steps are accomplished by identifying the factors for SAAS, PAAS, and IAAS along with the synthesis of investigation and conclusion and recommendations.
The conclusion and recommendations are the last steps where the research will propose the conclusion and propose recommendations. These will be stated after the project is accomplished. The below figure represents the Gantt chart for the proposed project.
Figure 1: Gantt Chart of the Project Plan
(Source: Researcher)
Ethics
The proposed research is intended to accomplish through the faithfulness of the research ethics. The researcher has ensured the fact that no unethical pressure is exerted on the respondents to get the answers related to the research. Most importantly, the investigation, while collecting data or gather information through the means of the analysis provided the liberty to the respondents regarding their will in providing the answers to the investigator.
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