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A Study on Cloud Computing Adoption Within Small and Mid-Size Businesses (smbs)
Resource type
Authors/contributors
- Richardson, Anthony (Author)
- Mate, Geoffrey (Author)
Title
A Study on Cloud Computing Adoption Within Small and Mid-Size Businesses (smbs)
Abstract
A growing number of organizations have difficulty scaling-up their IT infrastructure to handle
their growing needs and increased resource demands. Digital Technology Platforms (DTPs) have
been identified by Gartner, Inc. as one of the top 10 strategic technology trends of 2017. While
DTPs may be mainstream and easily adopted by large enterprise-sized organizations, there is an
opportunity for such platforms within Small and Mid-Size Businesses (SMBs). The bottom line is
that computing and server hardware is expensive for SMBs. Furthermore, it may be difficult for
SMBs to assess and price the labor and resources needed for a company to have acceptable
performance while controlling costs. The purpose of this paper is to examine how cloud computing
technologies are adopted by SMBs and the respective drivers associated with costs and capability
that may reduce costs for an organization. This paper explores how four variables – Robust
Capability, Limited Capability, Cost Constraint, and Resource Abundance interact to impact the
adoption of DTPs within SMBs. Adopters of DTPs are classified as Efficient, Proactive, Resistive,
and Reactive. With respect to adoption efficacy, a model is proposed for assessing the capability
and resource readiness as correlated to SMB adoption of DTPs. A study of 12 SMBs and the
implementations of DTPs is presented and posited with the proposed adoption model. Due to the
extensive investments required in procuring infrastructure services –adoption enablement is
imperative for SMB-sized organizations to realize a return on investment. Implications are
discussed.
Publication
International Journal of Interdisciplinary Research
Date
December 2018
Volume
7
Issue
2
Pages
47-64
Citation Key
richardsonStudyCloudComputing2018
Citation
Richardson, A., & Mate, G. (2018). A Study on Cloud Computing Adoption Within Small and Mid-Size Businesses (smbs). International Journal of Interdisciplinary Research, 7(2), 47–64. https://faculty.utrgv.edu/louis.falk/ijir/IJIRdec18.pdf
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