Abstract:

The adoption of Cloud Computing technology is an essential step forward within both the public and private sectors, particularly in the context of the current economic crisis. However, the trend is struggling for many reasons. The purpose of this study is to establish the foundations for the development of a framework to guide government organisations through the process of transferring to Cloud Computing technology. The main aim of this research is to evaluate the factors affecting the adoption of Cloud Computing in the government sector by conducting a multiple case study of Saudi government organisations, and to develop a Cloud Computing adoption framework. Investigating and identifying the main factors affecting the adoption of Cloud Computing is done by examining the literature and by conducting a mixed-method investigation. The most significant concerns are Service Quality, Usefulness, Security, Complexity, Cost, Organisation Size, IT Infrastructure Readiness, Senior Management Support, Feasibility, Trust, Organisation Culture, Organisation Structure, Privacy Risk, Direct Benefits, Indirect Benefits, Culture, External Pressure, Industry Type, Government Support, and Regulatory Concerns. This study will apply the TOE (Technology-Organisation-Environment) framework and the Iacovou model to obtain improved knowledge, to better determine the most suitable Cloud Computing adoption factors. These models form the conceptual framework for this study. Two phases are performed in order to collect the required data: firstly, a questionnaire-based survey; secondly, interview-based case studies approach. The data and hypothesis are analysed and tested using descriptive statistics, AHP, multi-regression and Pearson Correlation. SPSS is used to analyse the collected data and all statistics and figures are extracted from this software. The initial results show some of the main factors that could affect the adoption of Cloud Computing, and show the relationship between the dependent and independent variables which indicate the positive and negative impact.

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