=Paper=
{{Paper
|id=Vol-1848/CAiSE2017_Forum_Paper9
|storemode=property
|title=Cloudy with a Chance of Usage? – Towards a Model of Cloud Computing Adoption in German SME
|pdfUrl=https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-1848/CAiSE2017_Forum_Paper9.pdf
|volume=Vol-1848
|authors=Robert Deilr,Philipp Brune
|dblpUrl=https://dblp.org/rec/conf/caise/DeilrB17
}}
==Cloudy with a Chance of Usage? – Towards a Model of Cloud Computing Adoption in German SME==
https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-1848/CAiSE2017_Forum_Paper9.pdf
Cloudy with a Chance of Usage? – Towards a
Model of Cloud Computing Adoption in German
SME
Robert Deil and Philipp Brune
Neu-Ulm University of Applied Sciences
Wileystraße 1, D-89231 Neu-Ulm, Germany
mail@robertdeil.de
Philipp.Brune@hs-neu-ulm.de
Abstract. While Cloud Computing has become an important topic in
research and practice in recent years and widely adopted by consumers
and companies around the globe, especially German small and medium-
sized enterprises (SME) are reluctant with the respect to using cloud
services. Scientific literature on cloud adoption in German SMEs is still
scarce, in particular with respect to the use of PaaS solutions. There-
fore, in this paper a research model for the organizational adoption of
Cloud Computing and especially PaaS solutions is proposed, which is
based on the Diffusion of Innovation (DOI) and Technology, Organiza-
tion and Environment (TOE) theories. The proposed model is derived
from an explorative qualitative empirical study among German SMEs.
Within this model, security and privacy concerns and fast broadband
internet access have been identified as the most important technological
influencing factors for cloud adoption.
Keywords: Cloud Computing, PaaS, Adoption, Organizations, SME
1 Introduction
In recent years, Cloud Computing has become an important topic in research as
well as in practice [11]. It refers to providing computing infrastructure or software
services in a flexible way via the internet [14]. Three main service models could be
distinguished: Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) and
Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) [14]. From these, in particular PaaS is getting
increasingly important [1].
Furthermore, there is a need to focus especially on small and medium-sized
enterprises (SME). E.g., in 2014 an official study showed the importance of SMEs
for the German economy [2]. Nevertheless, so far few scientific studies exist on
the adoption of Cloud Computing and in particular PaaS by German SMEs.
Therefore, in this paper a research model for describing the influencing factors
on organizational adoption of Cloud Computing with special consideration of
PaaS is derived from an explorative qualitative study among German SMEs.
X. Franch, J. Ralyté, R. Matulevičius, C. Salinesi, and R. Wieringa (Eds.):
CAiSE 2017 Forum and Doctoral Consortium Papers, pp. 65-72, 2017.
Copyright 2017 for this paper by its authors. Copying permitted for private and academic purposes.
The rest of this paper is organized as follows: In Section 2 the related liter-
ature is analyzed in detail, Section 3 describes the research model used for the
empirical study and Section 4 the respective data collection and analysis. The
results of the empirical study are presented in Section 5. We conclude with a
summary of our findings.
2 Related Work
For evaluating the adoption of information Technology (IT) trends, in informa-
tion systems research (ISR) various adoption theories are commonly used. These
can be categorized into two groups: On the one hand theories with a psycholog-
ical focus, like the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) [7] or the Theory of
Planned Behavior (TPB) [3] and their various descendants, on the other hand
approaches taking an organizational perspective like the Diffusion of Innovation
(DOI) [19] or Technology, Organization and Environment (TOE) frameworks
[21, 16, 17].
By such frameworks, the organizational adoption of Cloud Computing has
been studied in recent years by various authors for different contexts and coun-
tries, but only partially for SMEs [5, 18, 20, 22, 9, 17, 15, 11, 23, 10].
While the importance of analyzing Cloud Computing adoption in SMEs has
been emphasized by various authors [18, 22, 9, 15, 11, 23, 10], only few studies
on the topic have been published (the term SME here is used according to the
definition of the European Commission [8]). In particular, only a limited number
of studies on SMEs in Germany exist [11]. Due to the big importance of SMEs
for the German economy [2], more research is required here. Despite its rising
importance [1], literature on the organizational adoption of PaaS is also scarce
[23], and in particular no scientific studies have been found focusing on the
organizational adoption of PaaS by SMEs in Germany.
Therefore, in this paper an organizational adoption model for Cloud Com-
puting in SMEs in Germany with a special focus on PaaS is derived from an
explorative qualitative empirical study.
3 Research Model
For the present qualitative study the TOE framework is combined with elements
of DOI model [19, 21]. The innovation characteristics of the DOI model have been
integrated in the technological context of the TOE model, as both aspects cannot
be clearly separated from each other. This approach represents an extension of
the work by Oliveira et al. [17], while adding some constructs based on further
authors’ results [20, 5].
Figure 1 shows the resulting initial research framework with its respective
hypotheses (HB1 – HB10) regarding the positive (+) or negative (-) influences
on the adoption. The influences on the adoption according to the TOE framework
are grouped into three major contexts:
66
Fig. 1. Research Framework for the qualitative study with its hypotheses (HB1–HB10)
(negative (-) or positive (+) direction of influence).
Technology Context. Contains the factors technological readiness and relative
advantage. Together with its sub-factors complexity and compatibility it has
been taken from the DOI model [19, 17].
Organizational Context. Consists of the factors top management support, sup-
port of Non-IT employees and firm size. Support of Non-IT employees has been
suggested to influence the adoption of Cloud Computing [5]. Firm size has been
recognized as an important factor when adopting new technology [5, 20, 17].
Environment Context. Describes the setting in which a company pursues its
business, consisting of the factors competitive pressure [18], regulatory support
or influence [5, 20, 17] and market environment [4].
In addition, the adoption is considered to be influenced by the actual Usage
of Cloud Computing, considered separately for the three service models (SaaS,
PaaS and IaaS).
4 Data Collection and Analysis
To evaluate and refine the described research model, a qualitative study among
SMEs in southern Germany was conducted. A convenience sample of 16 rep-
resentatives of SMEs was interviewed in November 2014 using semi-structured
interviews with a paper-based questionnaire. 10 interviews were performed face-
to-face, 5 by telephone and 1 via e-mail. 9 interviewees were CEO of a SME,
while the remaining participants were working in other positions (e.g. software
67
developers). In addition, public information about the enterprises of the inter-
viewees was collected and analyzed.
13 participants worked for actual SME according to the EU definition. The
majority of the participants were from the IT industry (13), but also from busi-
ness consulting (1), retail industry (1) or even indoor car racing (1). 10 of these
companies are mainly active on the German or regional markets, but also in
Europe (5) and even worldwide (1).
The interviews were audio recorded and transcribed. They were performed
in German language, with the resuls being translated for publication. The sub-
sequent coding and further analysis was performed using the MAXQDA 11Plus
software tool1 using a grounded theory approach [6] in combination with a qual-
itative content analysis [13].
5 Results
The combination of the codes/categories resulting from the qualitative analysis
with the predefined model structure is illustrated in figure 2.
Fig. 2. Results obtained from the qualitative study (circle size = Importance of code
/ category, green circle = Advantage / positive influence, red circle = Disadvantage /
negative influence, grey circle = Fact mentioned)
1
http://www.maxqda.com
68
Fig. 3. Research Framework of qualitative Study with hypotheses status (negative
(-) or positive (+) direction of influence, green check mark = confirmation of the
hypothesis, red cross = rejection of the hypothesis).
Technology Context. Deeper technical knowledge of Cloud Computing (in agreee-
ment with [17] but contradicting [12]) as well as its perception as being bene-
ficial for collaboration (contradicting [9]) while being rather uncomplicated to
use (contradicting [17]) have a positive impact on its adoption.
Data security concerns were considered the most important negative impact
on adoption of Cloud Computing. Topics as the NSA affair, and the necessity
to meet complicated legal requirements were mentioned in this context. This
aspect has not been found in previous studies so far. However, concerns about
the dependency on the provider and problems with internal IT or API played a
minor role.
Organization Context. In agreement with the literature [12, 5, 17], top manage-
ment support was considered as rather important for the adoption. With respect
to the role of Non-IT employees and firm size the results remain inconclusive.
Regarding firm size, this is in line with [5] but not [12, 17].
Environment Context. Competitive pressure played a minor role for the partic-
ipants. In contrast, the participants stated that Cloud Computing could enable
firms to become innovation leaders and as a result influence their cloud or soft-
ware providers. This is in line with [17], but not [12, 5].
The regulatory influence is considered ambivalent. While the ongoing ex-
pansion of the broadband network infrastructure is perceived positive by the
participants, the privacy and data protection regulations as well as unqualified
statements by German politicians are considered to have negative impact on
69
Fig. 4. Adjusted research framework according to the results of the study (Additional
elements have been added with ellipses as subordinated points. Color green = possible
positive influence, red = possible negative one, grey = neutral but still important one
on the adoption).
70
the adoption. This is probably specific to Germany and in contrast to previous
studies [5, 17].
Usage of Cloud Computing. Regarding the cloud service models, SaaS was fre-
quently mentioned, but PaaS and IaaS only by participants from the IT industry.
PaaS is well-known to software developers, but only about half of them are using
it. In line with the literature [9], simplified provisioning, improved testing pos-
sibilities and shorter development cycles are considered as positive, the higher
abstraction level as negative. PaaS is only used in development but not in pro-
duction environments.
Figure 3 summarizes these findings with respect to the original hypotheses
in the TOE research framework. Based on these results, the initial research
framework was refined as illustrated in figure 4. Compared to the initial model
in figure 1, cloud usage now was focused on PaaS.
6 Conclusion
In conclusion, in this paper a research model for analyzing the organizational
adoption of PaaS Cloud Computing in German SMEs has been presented. The
model was derived from an explorative, qualitative empirical study among SMEs
in southern Germany.
Technological factors have been identified to have a major influence on the
adoption in SMEs, in particular the availability of broadband internet access and
data security and privacy concerns. With respect to PaaS, the key reasons for
usage are better testing possibilities and shorter product development lifecycles.
The main limitation of the study lies in its qualitative nature. In addition,
mainly companies from the IT sector were interviewed so far, which may lead
to a bias in the results. So the study should be extended to other industrial
sectors as well. The obtained model now should be tested further by means of
a quantitative empirical study to obtain a more comprehensive picture of Cloud
Computing adoption by SMEs in Germany.
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