Examining cloud computing adoption intention,pricing mechanism,and deployment model

Cloud computing is a new information technology (IT) paradigm that promises to revolutionize traditional IT delivery through reduced costs, greater elasticity, and ubiquitous access. On the surface, adopting cloud computing requires a firm to address many of the same concerns they face in adopting any enterprise IT. However, cloud technologies also offer new pricing and deployment strategies that are unavailable in traditional enterprise solutions. It is unclear how previous research frameworks of enterprise IT adoption relate to these new adoption strategies. To bridge this gap in the literature, our study uses the technology–organization–environment (TOE) framework of innovation diffusion theory to develop a cloud service adoption model that deals with not only adoption intention, but also pricing mechanisms and deployment models. Our research model has been empirically tested using 200 Taiwanese firms. We found that: (1) Cloud adoption is still at its initial stage, since the adoption rates are very low; (2) the perceived benefits, business concerns, and IT capability within the TOE framework are significant determinants of cloud computing adoption, while external pressure is not; (3) firms with greater IT capability tend to choose the pay-as-you-go pricing mechanism; (4) business concern is the most important factor influencing the choice of deployment model, with higher concerns leading to private deployment options.     

Cloud computing as an innovation: Percepetion,attitude, and adoption

Cloud computing is a current trend that reveals the next-generation application architecture and it is estimated that by 2013 the cloud market will have reached $8.1bn. While cloud services such as webmail, Flickr and YouTube have been widely used by individuals for some time, it not until relatively recently that organisations have began to use cloud services as a tool for meeting their IT needs. This study aims to investigate how cloud computing is understood by IT professionals and the concerns that IT professionals have in regard to the adoption of cloud services. The study was carried out in Taiwan and used a survey by interview approach to understand IT professionals’ understandings and concerns about cloud computing. The findings of the study suggest that while the benefits of cloud computing such as its computational power and ability to help companies save costs are often mentioned in the literature, the primary concerns that IT managers and software engineers have are compatibility of the cloud with companies’ policy, IS development environment, and business needs; and relative advantages of adopting cloud solutions. The findings also suggest that most IT companies in Taiwan will not adopt cloud computing until the uncertainties associated with cloud computing, e.g. security and standardisation are reduced and successful business models have emerged.     

The role of trust and risk perceptions in cloud archiving — Results from an empirical study

This study presents and empirically validates a model that strives to explain end-user adoption of cloud storage as a means of personal archiving. Drawing from prior research on IT adoption, trust, risk and cloud computing, we develop a technology acceptance model that incorporates users' perceptions of risk and trust as well as major antecedents of trust. The research model is empirically tested with survey data collected from 229 cloud storage users. Our results show that trust can be conceived of as a factor that mitigates uncertainty and reduces the perception of risk, which is a significant inhibitor of the intention to use cloud storage for archiving. We find evidence that trust can be increased through both the provider's reputation and user satisfaction. Based on the results, we highlight important practical implications that can be used to inform marketing efforts of cloud storage providers and further suggest some opportunities for future research.     

An empirical study on business analytics affordances enhancing the management of cloud computing data security

The mechanism of business analytics affordances enhancing the management of cloud computing data security is a key antecedent in improving cloud computing security. Based on information value chain theory and IT affordances theory, a research model is built to investigate the underlying mechanism of business analytics affordances enhancing the management of cloud computing data security. The model includes business analytics affordances, decision-making affordances of cloud computing data security, decision-making rationality of cloud computing data security, and the management of cloud computing data security. Simultaneously, the model considers the role of data-driven culture and IT business process integration. It is empirically tested using data collected from 316 enterprises by Partial Least Squares-based structural equation model. Without data-driven culture and IT business process integration, the results suggest that there is a process from business analytics affordances to decision-making affordances of cloud computing data security, decision-making rationality of cloud computing data security, and to the management of cloud computing data security. Moreover, Data-driven culture and IT business process integration have a positive mediation effect on the relationship between business analytics affordances and decision-making affordances of cloud computing data security. The conclusions in this study provide useful references for the enterprise to strengthen the management of cloud computing data security using business analytics.     

Context matters: A review of the determinant factors in the decision to adopt cloud computing in healthcare

Cloud computing is an IT service paradigm that can, if used meaningfully, enhance traditional health IT approaches and offer major benefits to the healthcare industry. However, its adoption by healthcare organizations has been accompanied by diverse challenges that could impede its meaningful use. Decisions about its adoption should be made after serious consideration of relevant industry-specific factors. Whereas the literature has focused on cloud computing adoption in general, the industrial specificities that influence the decision to adopt cloud computing in the healthcare context have yet to be systematically addressed. We reviewed empirical studies on both information systems and medical informatics to investigate the determinant factors of the cloud computing adoption decision in healthcare organizations and the industrial specificities of those factors. Based on the results of our review, we proposed a conceptual framework of cloud computing adoption studies in healthcare and made seven recommendations for related future research. Our research contributes to the theory by providing a comprehensive list of industry-specific factors that influence cloud computing adoption decisions in healthcare and explains their specificities for the healthcare industry. For practitioners, the identified factors serve as a checklist that informs healthcare organizations’ decision making regarding cloud computing adoption.     

[2015年第2期] 云计算的价值创造及其机理

云计算在各行业的创新应用 , 衍生出诸多新型业态和新型商业模式, 产生了巨大的 经济价值和社会价值,主要体现在： 云计算集中了信息技术资源和服务,大幅提高了 IT资源的 应用效率; 降低了应用技术门槛, 最大限度扩展用户规模; 集中整合了数据资源, 挖掘出大数 据价值潜力; 引起体制机制的变革, 以技术方式突破体制屏障; 加强了信息系统综合集成, 实 现智慧管理与服务。 云计算应用创新具有独特的价值生成机理。 首先, 云计算通过将市场交 易双方的博弈改变为无限重复动态博弈, 形成诚信自律机制, 提高了市场交易效率从而形成 增值; 其次,云计算的创新应用向资本市场展示了收益前景,以内部学习效应形成了以未来收 益弥补当前亏损的资本补偿机制 , 挖掘了知识价值; 第三, 云计算形成了新型互联网商业平 台 ,以交叉补贴机制确保长期可持续经营,创造了低成本、高收益的价值增值模式。 鉴于云计 算平台已经成为涉及公共利益、承载公共服务的信息基础设施, 建议将云设施视为信息基础 设施,纳入监管保护体系; 制定针对云计算的知识产权和个人信息保护措施,鼓励云计算创新 应用 ;开展多层次试点示范,帮助中小企业和社会大众利用云计算创新创业。     

Service strategies of small cloud service providers: A case study of a small cloud service provider and its clients in Taiwan

Small enterprises play an important role in the technology innovation and economic development of most countries all over the world, particularly in Taiwan. Due to a lack of financial resources and expertise, small enterprises tend to find novel ways to utilize IT resources in order to reduce IT adoption costs, to achieve better flexibility, business agility and scalability, and to react faster to market demands. Whereas Taiwan has been promoting cloud computing to help Taiwanese enterprises adopt more effective information technologies, we found that the service strategies of small cloud service providers are individually differentiated in order to survive in the competitive cloud computing market. This paper reports a case study of a small e-learning service provider and its four clients in Taiwan. Some novel insights are revealed through this case study and recommendations are provided accordingly.     

Conceptualizing a model for adoption of cloud computing in education

Cloud computing is a pervasive computing paradigm that has revolutionized how computer infrastructure and services are delivered. Current research trends on cloud computing have been focused on the technology, applications, costs, benefits, and security of cloud computing at the organizational level within small and medium sized enterprises. Little research attention has been paid on adoption and usage of cloud computing at educational establishments and how contextual factors can influence diffusion and adoption of cloud computing. Universities in developing countries are faced with challenging socio-economic and political constraints that limit their ability to invest in expensive information systems to compete on the global stage. Using constructs from the diffusion of innovation theory and the technology acceptance model, this paper proposes a model that takes account of contextual, economic, and technological influences in the perception and adoption of cloud computing at universities in sub-Saharan Africa. Results from a pilot study, based on the model, through a survey of university lecturers and IS experts shows reliability and validity of the instrument and supports its usage for a more extensive study. Implications, potential contributions to research, and suggestions for future study are discussed.     

Implementation and management of cloud security for industry 4.O - data using hybrid elliptical curve cryptography

Industry 4.0 places a premium on cloud security since more and more companies are moving their activities to the cloud to reap the benefits of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.The term “cloud computing” refers to a collection of Internet-based hardware and software tools. Providers of cloud services use data centers situated in various physical locations. Cloud computing makes life easier for users by making remote, simulated resources available over the internet. Google Apps and Microsoft SharePoint are two examples of popular cloud applications. In addition to its exciting potential, the “cloud computing” industry's lightning-fast expansion raises serious security concerns. When discussing security, cloud really suffers from Open Systems' and the internet's perennial problem. The only thing stopping the widespread use of cloud computing is the lack of trust in the system. There are a number of security concerns with cloud computing, including protecting user data and vetting cloud service providers' practices. Using encryption, confidential information can be sent over an unsecured channel without fear of data loss or manipulation. Data encryption using various protocols has been used in various settings. Different cryptosystems were developed and used at various times. Additionally, cloud computing enables multiple users to access and retrieve data simultaneously through their own personal Internet connections, which increases the risk of confidential data loss and exposure in a number of different places. Elliptic Curve Cryptography and other cryptographic algorithms have been used to develop numerous methods and protocols that guarantee the security and privacy of transmitted data. In this paper, we suggest a safe and efficient method for sharing information in the cloud without compromising its safety or integrity. The proposed system is able to guarantee authentication and data integrity because it uses a hybrid of the ECC and the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) technique. The experimental results confirm the proposed approach outperforms the current gold standard.     

基于差值和改进TOPSIS的企业应用云计算技术研究

针对企业是否适合采纳应用云计算的问题提出一种新的基于差值和改进TOPSIS的多属性群决策方法。首先结合成本和技术-组织-环境(TOE)框架提出企业云计算采纳应用的评价标准,然后利用平均差和标准差最大化方法确定未知属性权重向量,再利用一种改进的逼近理想解(TOPSIS)方法获取决策者之间的权重,最后利用语言加权算术平均(LWAA)算子对各决策专家给出的偏好信息集结算出综合评价值以及上限和下限值,通过比较评价值和上限、下限值决定企业是否适合采纳应用云计算技术。算例分析证明了研究提出的方法的有效性。     

“云计算”环境下的网络信息资源开发与利用研究

在概括云计算基本原理及其特点的基础上,探讨了云计算技术的发展带给网络信息资源开发与利用的新模式,以及我国网络信息资源开发与利用的现状和网络信息资源配置的不足之处,并讨论了＂云＂化网络信息资源的构想以及此构想的发展前景,最后提出并详细介绍了云端信息资源流动架构模型的构成与功能,同时,分析了此模型的理论价值与实际意义。从而明确了云计算这种高效、强大的新型计算模型用在网络信息资源的开发与利用是有效可行的。     

Discovering the potential of cloud computing in accelerating the search for curing serious illnesses

Derided, when it emerged in 2007 as a fad, cloud computing has proved to be a viable business model for remotely delivering IT services through the Web (and other media) on a pay-as-you-go basis. The flexibility of this emerging computing service has opened many possibilities for organizations. Drug companies and medical research centers are among those organizations that are likely to benefit from this new IT service model. As well as providing massive cost-savings, cloud computing could offer these organizations the opportunity to greatly enhance the efficiency of their operations. For cloud providers, this is a new field to expand their reach. The aim of this article is to explore this new development and the potential of cloud computing in contributing to the advancement of research in life science and explain why this IT service model (despite many of its problems) could be game-changer for companies engaged in this business.     

商业生态系统视角下的云计算经济发展模式研究

云计算经济是伴随云计算的产生和发展而兴起的,对其发展模式的研究目前还是一个新的领域。从商业生态的视角对云计算经济发展模式进行研究,首先借鉴商业生态系统的研究成果,设计出云计算经济商业生态系统的结构模型,根据商业生态系统的特征提出云计算经济商业生态系统发展动力机制;最后根据商业生态系统结构特征和逻辑斯蒂增长模型设计商业生态下云计算经济发展的理论模型和数学模型。     

A cloud computing adoption in Indian SMEs: Scale development and validation approach

The purpose of this research article is to identify the critical success criteria/factors that affect the cloud computing adoption and examine structure, reliability and validity of the criteria in the SMEs industry. This study considers nine types of criteria/factors with fifty-one sub-criteria, which have somewhat previously been used, and creates a ranking model that offers decision makers to measure the prior implementation of cloud computing adoption. A questionnaire-based survey research was used to collect data from 110 firms belonging to the SMEs industry in India. In this paper, the data collected was analysed by an integrated approach. Firstly, an Analytic Hierarchy Process approach was applied to find the significant fact of each criterion as the assessable indices of the cloud computing adoption. Secondly, an Exploratory Factor Analysis and Confirmatory Factor Analysis were used to examine structure, reliability and validity of the criteria. The data was tabulated in a Microsoft Excel sheet and then imported in SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 20) for analysis. The findings discovered that ‘Security and Privacy’, ‘Organizational Risk’, ‘Sharing and Collaboration’, ‘Confidentiality’, and ‘Integrity’ have a major effect on the adoption of cloud computing. The research was conducted in the SMEs industry in India, which may limit the generalizability of the findings. The findings and recommendations offer cloud computing service providers as well as users with a better understanding of what affects the cloud computing adoption feature, with a relevant understanding of the current scenario. The research aided in the application of the new technology of cloud computing adoption in the SMEs industry in India through the use of a wide range of criteria. The findings also help organizations study their information technology investments when applying cloud computing.     

A fad or future of IT?: A comprehensive literature review on the cloud computing research

Cloud computing is now a global trend and during the past decade, has drawn attention from both academic and business communities. Although the evolution of cloud computing has not reached the maturity level, there is still adequate research about the topic. The main purpose of this paper is to examine the development and evolution of cloud computing over time. A content analysis was conducted for 236 scholarly journal articles, which were published between 2009 and 2014 in order to (i) identify the possible trends and changes in cloud computing over the six years, (ii) compare publishing productivity of journals about the cloud computing subject, and (iii) guide future research about cloud computing. The results show that the majority of the cloud computing research is about “cloud computing adoption” (19%), and it was followed by the “legal and ethical issues” of cloud computing (15%). It is also found that “cloud computing for mobile applications” (6%), “benefits & challenges of cloud computing” (5%) and “energy consumption dimension of cloud computing” (4%) are the least attention-grabbing themes in the literature. However, “cloud computing for mobile applications” and “energy consumption dimension of cloud computing” themes have become popular in the last two years, so they are expected to be trendy topics of the near future. Finally, another finding of this study is that the majority of the articles were published by engineering, information systems or technical journals such as “IT Professional Magazine”, “International Journal of Information Management” and “Mobile Networks and Applications”. It seems as if this topic is generally ignored by the managerial and organizational journals even though the impact of cloud computing on organizations and institutions is immense and is in need of investigation.     

Cloud-based business services innovation: A risk management model

Cloud computing providers and their software-as-a-service offerings have become more profuse and mature, making cloud technology an increasingly important platform for business services innovation. Although the cloud offers rich opportunities for transforming businesses—innovating existing services and introducing creative new ones—it also involves risks that business managers must identify and resolve to successfully drive innovation efforts. However, no comprehensive models are available to help managers assess and mitigate the risks they face. To address this void, we reviewed extant literature on cloud computing from a business innovation perspective to uncover the myriad challenges managers confront as they seek to leverage cloud technology in the ongoing transformation of their organization’s service offerings. Combining this systematic literature analysis with relevant theory, we synthesized an integrated model for managing risk during innovation of cloud-based business services. The model identifies three types of risks (services, technology, and process risks) and four types of resolutions (stakeholder engagement, technology development, innovation planning, and innovation control). The model also helps managers identify their organization’s general risk profile and link that profile to a specific configuration of resolutions.     

Examining the critical success factors of cloud computing adoption in the MSMEs by using ISM model

For cutting down cost and improving the efficiency of enterprises, adoption of innovations in ICT especially in cloud computing applications is the need of the time in the highly competitive global environment. It has been noted that generally, the Indian MSMEs are not utilizing the CC applications for the promotion of their business activities and are not availing their benefits. Hence, in the present investigation, the critical success factors (CSFs) for cloud computing adoption (CCA) in the Indian micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) are identified through an exhaustive literature review and expert opinions. The association between the identified factors is established by employing an interpretive structural modeling methodology that is a multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) approach. Later, the MICMAC analysis is carried out for identifying the factors having high influential power. The results of the study revealed that a CSF namely ‘previous technological experience’ is the most significant factor having the highest driving power. The findings of this research are intended to guide cloud service providers, enterprise managers, and governmental bodies in formulating the strategies and policies for effective implementation of cloud computing facilities and harness the benefits of the same. This study makes a significant contribution to the knowledge base of CC adoption for future research in the subject field.     

An empirical investigation of factors affecting ubiquitous computing use and U-business value

This research investigates the factors that influence the use of ubiquitous computing and U-business value. It considers system, information and service qualities as the major factors affecting the use of ubiquitous computing. System quality is measured by accessibility, stability and ease of use. Relevance, accuracy and timeliness are used to measure information quality. Reliability, quickness and secrecy are used to measure service quality. U-business value measures the value created from business operations, business processes, and customer relationships improved by the use of ubiquitous computing. Our results show that system accessibility, information accuracy and timeliness, and service quickness exert crucial influences on ubiquitous computing use. We also find that the use of ubiquitous computing creates value by enhancing business operations, business processes, and customer satisfaction. These findings suggest that information quality is relatively more important than system and service qualities for the creation of value in a ubiquitous computing environment. Our research model and empirical results provide valuable indicators for the direction of future research and also suggest managerial guidelines for the successful development and adoption of ubiquitous computing within an organization.     

Business intelligence and analytics as a driver of dynamic and operational capabilities in times of intense macroeconomic turbulence

Despite growing investments in Business Intelligence and Analytics (BI&A), the business value generation process associated with the adoption of these technologies is still unclear. Consequently, managers face difficulties in justifying such initiatives and subsequently evaluating their results. For companies that operate in extremely turbulent environments, the outcomes of BI&A investments may be even harder to estimate. In this study, we propose and statistically evaluate a causal model that connects the availability of BI&A resources and capabilities in a company to its operational marketing capabilities. Marketing processes are critical for the generation of innovations in products and services, and operational revenues, and thereby, for a firm's performance and competitiveness. In order to assess our model, we applied structural equation modeling techniques to data collected in multiple units of a large Brazilian telecommunications company during the worst economic and institutional crisis faced by the country. Our results suggest that the dynamic capabilities of a company fully mediates the positive effect of BI&A resources and capabilities on its marketing capabilities. In contrast to what is usually found in the literature, turbulence did not moderate the effect of dynamic capabilities on marketing capabilities.     

云计算环境下行业信息资源配置模式研究——以道路运输行业为例

针对行业信息资源配置存在的信息共享程度低和信息挖掘深度不足等问题,分析了行业信息资源配置四类主体及体系结构,从全局、顶层角度构建出云计算环境下四层行业信息资源配置模式:行业数据资源整合平台层、资源池、行业综合业务应用系统和行业信息应用平台,并以道路运输行业为例,建立了道路运输行业信息资源配置顶层应用模式,该模式为其他行业的信息资源配置提供了一定的借鉴意义.