Cloud computing adoption decision making process: a sensemaking analysis

Design/methodology/approach We adopt an interpretive epistemology to understand the process of cloud adoption decision making. Following an empirical investigation drawing on interviews with senior managers who led the cloud adoption decision making in organizations from across Europe. We outline a framework that shows how cloud adoptions follow multiple cycles in three broad phases. Purpose We study how cloud adoption decision making unfolds in organizations and present the dynamic process leading to a decision to adopt or reject cloud computing. We thus complement earlier literature on factors that influence cloud adoption. Findings Our findings demonstrate that cloud adoption decision making is a recursive process of learning about cloud through three broad phases; building perception about cloud possibilities, contextualizing cloud possibilities in terms of current computing resources and exposing the cloud proposition to others involved in making the decision. Building on these findings, we construct a framework of this process which can inform practitioners in making decisions on cloud adoption. Originality/value This work contributes to our understanding of how cloud adoption decisions unfold and provides a framework for cloud adoption decisions that has theoretical and practical value. The study further demonstrates the role of the decision-leader, typically the CIO, in this process and identifies how other internal and external stakeholders are involved. It sheds light on the relevance of the phases of the cloud adoption decision-making process to different cloud adoption factors identified in the extant literature