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From the dawn ofthe industrial revolution in the late 18th century organizations adopt technology
to gain competitive advantage. The introduction ofcomputers and information systems accelerated
the momentum oftechnology acquisition, not only to gain competitive advantage but also as a
bare necessity.
Information and communication technology has rapidly evolved from mainframes that was
affordable to the large organizations to mini computers, personal computers networks, the internet
and mobile computing that quenches the thirst ofconvenience that customers demand and support
the employees who make it possible.
There are many proven models such as the Framework for Information Technology Adoption and
Technology Organization Environment (TOE) Model that showcase the factors that come into
play when an organization decides to invest or adopt a new technology.
Cloud computing solutions (specifically public clouds) entered this evolution ofICT changing the
landscape of some of the basic norms organizations took for granted. Leapfrogging to today’s
cutting edge technology, rapid deployment, pay as you go are bold promises it makes. The risks
ofprivacy, security, ownership, loss ofcontrol, territory restriction, regulatory and legal restriction
that organizations were not familiar was introduced by this same technology.
Public cloud alone is predicted to be worth USD 131 billion in year 2013 by Gartner (Gartner Inc.
2013b), together with the industry’s major players such as IBM, HP, Microsoft, Google and
Amazon joining the cloud market (Fairlie 2011), (Forrester 2011) makes cloud computing an
important technology, worthy of being researched into.
Does the proven models of technology adoption that worked for on premise ICT solutions also
capable offactoring in these risks and benefits ofcloud computing? Or does cloud computing call
for the reengineering ofthese proven models to factor in these new evolutions?
While creating or reengineering these time tested models and frameworks demands much more
resources than what is permitted, this research aims to begin the process using an Interpretive
Qualitative study so as to bring to light the factors and theories that affect the adoption of cloud
computing using Grounded Theory concepts.
The Banking, Finance and Insurance sector which is highly regulated, technology driven, highly
confidential yet with large economic impact is selected so that the theories built will encompasses
a wide range of possibilities. In depth interviews with some ofthe county’s top CIOs provide the
valuable input ofinformation to the theory building process.
A rich literature review on cloud computing, the monetary impact of cloud computing, the state
of cloud computing in Sri Lanka, the Banking Finance and Insurance the technology adoption
models provide the researcher and the audience a wealth of information. The research design
justifies in detail the selection ofa qualitative explorative research, the interpretive epistemology,
the in depth interview process over other tools that can be used, the hermeneutic nature and steps
taken to preserve the validity ofthe interpretive nature ofthe research.
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Grounded Theory based analysis ofthis research brings forth ten theories that are within the scope
ofthe organization ofwhich two are ofthe CIO, and three theories that come from the operating
environment. The research provides recommendations on what would leverage the adoption
process ofcloud computing as seen from the angle ofCIOs ofthe BFI sector toward cloud service
providers, communications solutions providers, the regulators and the legal system. Future
research is another important section that this research prescribes in order to understand more on
the adoption of cloud computing from a management perspective. |
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