The Cloud Adoption Toolkit: Addressing the Challenges of Cloud Adoption in Enterprise

TL;DR

This paper introduces the Cloud Adoption Toolkit, a framework designed to assist enterprise decision makers in evaluating and addressing the feasibility challenges of adopting cloud computing, supported by case studies.

Contribution

It presents a novel framework, the Cloud Adoption Toolkit, to systematically support enterprise decision makers in cloud adoption feasibility assessment.

Findings

Toolkit shows promise in addressing feasibility challenges

Supports decision makers with tailored tools and techniques

Case studies indicate practical usefulness

Abstract

Cloud computing promises a radical shift in the provisioning of computing resource within the enterprise. This paper: i) describes the challenges that decision makers face when attempting to determine the feasibility of the adoption of cloud computing in their organisations; ii) illustrates a lack of existing work to address the feasibility challenges of cloud adoption in the enterprise; iii) introduces the Cloud Adoption Toolkit that provides a framework to support decision makers in identifying their concerns, and matching these concerns to appropriate tools/techniques that can be used to address them. The paper adopts a position paper methodology such that case study evidence is provided, where available, to support claims. We conclude that the Cloud Adoption Toolkit, whilst still under development, shows signs that it is a useful tool for decision makers as it helps address the feasibility challenges of cloud adoption in the enterprise.