A survey study on major technical barriers affecting the decision to adopt cloud services

• Published in: The Journal of systems and software Vol. 103; pp. 167 - 181
• Main Authors: Phaphoom, Nattakarn, Wang, Xiaofeng, Samuel, Sarah, Helmer, Sven, Abrahamsson, Pekka
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Elsevier Inc 01-05-2015; Elsevier Sequoia S.A
• Subjects: Adoption barriers; Adoption decision; Barriers; Cloud computing; Computer programs; Decision making; Inhibitors; Innovation adoption; Logistic regression; Recognition; Regression analysis; Risk; Risk factors; Security; Studies; Technology adoption; Innovation adoption; Cloud computing; Logistic regression; Adoption barriers; Adoption decision
• ISSN: 0164-1212; 1873-1228
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jss.2015.02.002

•The group comparison reveals three potential adoption inhibitors, security, data privacy, and portability.•Security concern results in an up to 26-fold increase in the non-adoption likelihood.•Concerns about availability, integration, and migration complexity are not likely to hold back cloud adoption initiatives.
In the context of cloud computing, risks associated with underlying technologies, risks involving service models and outsourcing, and enterprise readiness have been recognized as potential barriers for the adoption. To accelerate cloud adoption, the concrete barriers negatively influencing the adoption decision need to be identified. Our study aims at understanding the impact of technical and security-related barriers on the organizational decision to adopt the cloud. We analyzed data collected through a web survey of 352 individuals working for enterprises consisting of decision makers as well as employees from other levels within an organization. The comparison of adopter and non-adopter sample reveals three potential adoption inhibitor, security, data privacy, and portability. The result from our logistic regression analysis confirms the criticality of the security concern, which results in an up to 26-fold increase in the non-adoption likelihood. Our study underlines the importance of the technical and security perspectives for research investigating the adoption of technology.