NAVIGATING YOUR WAY THROUGH THE CLOUDS : A qualitative study on the transition to cloud services within Swedish municipalities

In the wake of a digitally transforming environment, public sector organizations are realizingthe necessity to adopt new ways of managing their operations. The changing expectations anddemands of citizens and stakeholders are triggering such organizations to develop their deliveryof services, as well as digitally transforming their internal processes. As the public sector valuesservice delivery and cost-effectiveness, cloud services have become an attractive option to transition to, due to their flexible and economical characteristics. This qualitative study examines two Swedish municipalities in their transition to cloud services, studying the reasons behind said transition, and how those affect their adoption. The Technology-Organization-Environment (TOE) framework was utilized to evaluate the factors affecting the two organizations’ transitions and adoptions of cloud services, showcasing a connection between the framework’s elements and the analyzed results. The findings show pressure coming from both external and internal sources, restrictions involving governmental regulations and lack ofavailability, as well as how they manage these challenges, by finding new ways to innovate and preparing their organizations for future transitions.