Framework for cloud computing adoption : a roadmap for SMEs to cloud migration

Small and Medium size Enterprises (SME) are considered as a backbone of many developing and developed economies of the world; they are the driving force to any major economy across the globe. Through Cloud Computing firms outsource their entire information technology (IT) process while concentrating more on their core business. It allows businesses to cut down heavy cost incurred over IT infrastructure without losing focus on customer needs. However, Cloud industry to an extent has struggled to grow among SMEs due to the reluctance and concerns expressed by them. Throughout the course of this study several interviews were conducted and the literature was reviewed to understand how cloud providers offer services and what challenges SMEs are facing. The study identified issues like cloud knowledge, interoperability, security and contractual concerns to be hindering SMEs adoption of cloud services. From the interviews common practices followed by cloud vendors and what concerns SMEs have were identified as a basis for a cloud framework which will bridge gaps between cloud vendors and SMEs. A stepwise framework for cloud adoption is formulated which identifies and provides recommendation to four most predominant challenges which are hurting cloud industry and taking SMEs away from cloud computing, as well as guide SMEs aiding in successful cloud adoption. Moreover, this framework streamlines the cloud adoption process for SMEs by removing ambiguity in regards to fundamentals associated with their organisation and cloud adoption process