Application of Decision Analytic Methods to Cloud Adoption Decisions

This thesis gives an example of how decision analytic methods can be applied to choices in the adoption of cloud computing. The lifecycle of IT systems from planning to retirement is rapidly changing. Making a technology decision that can be justified and explained in terms of outcomes and benefits can be increasingly challenging without a systematic approach underlying the decision making process. It is proposed that better, more informed cloud adoption decisions would be taken if organisations used a structured approach to frame the problem to be solved and then applied trade-offs using an additive utility model. The trade-offs that can be made in the context of cloud adoption decisions are typically complex and rarely intuitively obvious. A structured approach is beneficial in that it enables decision makers to define and seek outcomes that deliver optimum benefits, aligned with their risk profile. The case study demonstrated that proven decision tools are helpful to decision makers faced with a complex cloud adoption decision but are likely to be more suited to the more intractable decision situations