The Decision Criteria Used by Large Enterprises in South Africa for the Adoption of Cloud Computing

Cloud computing is a technology that has become increasingly popular over the past decade within several enterprises. This popularity can be attributed to its benefits, including lower operating costs, improved computational capabilities, increased flexibility and on-demand storage space. As a result, many enterprises are already in various Cloud Computing (CC) adoption and implementation stages. This study investigates the decision criteria used by large enterprises in South Africa (SA) for the adoption of cloud technology. The majority of large enterprises have comprehensive resources, resulting in established Information Technology (IT) systems and infrastructure set up within their organizations. Though this is the case, the adoption of CC by large enterprises has been on the rise. This may not be a surprise as CC literature points out to benefits and influencers of CC adoption. However, the decision criteria used by large enterprises in SA in adopting CC are lacking in the literature reviewed. The study followed an inductive approach making use of qualitative methods. Findings revealed that large enterprises do not make use of a formalized or standardized decision criteria. However, operational cost, enterprise strategic intent and product efficiency formed key criteria for adopting CC. In addition, security, cloud service provider adoption frameworks and data sovereignty were the key criteria used to select a CC service provider. The research will contribute towards CC technology adoption literature, particularly for developing countries.