Heading for the Clouds: Implications for Cloud Computing Adopters

TL;DR

This paper explores the motivations, challenges, and considerations of organizations adopting cloud computing, based on interviews with senior IT personnel, offering practical insights and recommendations for future adopters.

Contribution

It provides qualitative insights into organizational cloud adoption processes and highlights key considerations and questions for businesses contemplating cloud services.

Findings

Organizations share common concerns about security and compliance.

Successful cloud adoption depends on understanding operational and resource implications.

The paper offers a set of recommended questions for organizations to evaluate before adopting cloud services.

Abstract

Cloud computing projects have many implications, including issues such as security, compliance, funding, cohesion with existing systems, operational resource requirements, and number of employees involved. In order to gain a better understanding of why businesses are interested in adopting cloud services in spite of these potential difficulties, we interviewed senior IT personnel at five different organizations about their processes related to cloud decisions, their thoughts before and during the process, and the outcome of their endeavor. Our results provide insights from their perspectives into the similarities and differences among the organizations and the implications of going into the cloud. We conclude with a list of recommended questions and areas to consider for use by other organizations looking into adopting cloud services. The ultimate goal is to help businesses considering a cloud computing project by providing advice from other organizations based on their experience.