IIUM

Thesis: Cloud computing adoption and perception amongs students of IIUM

Thesis: Information privacy concern and willingness to use cloud computing servi
ces: an empirical study on iium students
UPM
Adoption of cloud computing services in Malaysia: A quantitative study using tec
hnology acceptance model and innovation diffusion theory

General
Examining the relationship between technologies, organizational and enviornmenta
l factors and cloud computing adoption of penang manufactures.
The impact of social media adoption and cloud computing adoption on manufacturin
g firm competitiveness: the mediating effect of supply chain responsiblities
Thesis: Cloud computing adoption and perception amongs students of IIUM
Thanks to the rapid proliferation of internet across the world people have been
able to access it easily every day. With this of course comes new services and p
roducts that will tap into this phenomenon. Such a product/service is cloud comp
uting. Cloud computing is a technology that uses the internet as one of its basi
c building blocks. Since it has many uses and can be shaped in anyway, one can s
ee why companies like Google, Microsoft and Amazon have been offering their own
versions of cloud computing services. This is even evident in the types of resea
rch being conducted about cloud computing. The studies conducted deal with how b
usinesses, people and even educational institutions can gain benefits from the u
se of cloud computing. Others have dealt with why students might adopt cloud com
puting, or even why they might switch to it. As such this study will try to disc
over a students adoption and perception of cloud computing. This is what this dis
sertation will try to study. By using the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) this
study hoped to discover what the adoption and perception of cloud computing was
amongst IIUM students. In order to better answer this problem, computer self-ef
ficacy, perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, behavioral intention to use
and cloud computing usage were the variables used in the TAM model. The methodo
logy used to collect and analyze the information was quantitative research metho
dology. It was discovered that adoption and perception of cloud computing amongs
t IIUM students was above average, and behavioral intention to use and perceived
ease of use had the strongest effect on an IIUM students adoption of cloud compu
ting. The discovery made from these findings can help understand what IIUM stude
nts think of cloud computing and help IIUM find ways to use it to better the edu
cational services they provide the students. Not only students, but staff, and t
he university can benefit from this study. Cloud computing is not only meant for
everyday use but it can also help bring financial or resource management benefi
ts to an educational institution.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------The adoption of cloud computing for small and medium accounting firms.2015
Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate the current state of cloud
computing within the accounting industry, by studying how cloud computing techno
logy

had been used by accounting firms, and the factors that led to this rapid growth
of cloud computing over the last few years. There is virtually no prior empiric
al
research on cloud computing in the context of accounting.
Design and Methodology: the case study methodology is used, which consisted of s
ix accounting firms. Semi-structured interviews are carried out with key personn
el
in the firms, focusing on how cloud-based software is used, and the reasons why
they
Findings:
chose findings
cloud-based
suggest
software.
that cloud computing
should be differentiated into two categories: externally-focused and internallyfocused. Cloud-based accounting software is widely used by the firms, and it
improved the ability for accounting firms to collaborate with their clients, hen
ce a competitively viable tool. Internally-focused cloud-based software,
however,
Originality/value:
was not popular
this study
among highlights
the accounting
the importance
firms.
of defining the scope o
f cloud
computing (and information systems in general), and the introduction of strategi
c value into adoption studies.
Moreover, this study provides some empirical evidence into the under-researched
area of cloud accounting.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------Cloud computing for digital libraries
Information management systems (digital libraries/repositories, learning managem
ent systems, content management systems) provide key technologies for the storag
e,
preservation and dissemination of knowledge in its various forms, such as resea
rch documents, theses and dissertations, cultural heritage documents and audio f
iles.
These systems can make use of cloud computing to achieve high levels of scalabil
ity, while making services accessible to all at reasonable infrastructure costs
and
on-demand. This research aims to develop techniques for building scalable digita
l information management systems based on efficient and on-demand use of generic
grid-based technologies such as cloud computing. In particular, this study explo
res the use of existing cloud computing resources offered by some popular cloud
computing vendors such as Amazon Web Services. This involves making use of Amazo
n Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) to store large and increasing volumes of da
ta,
Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) to provide the required computational
power and Amazon SimpleDB for querying and data indexing on Amazon S3.
A proof-of-concept application comprising typical digital library services was d
eveloped and deployed in the cloud environment and evaluated for scalability
when the demand for more data and services increases. The results from the evalu
ation show that it is possible to adopt cloud computing for digital libraries
in addressing issues of massive data handling and dealing with large numbers of
concurrent requests. Existing digital library systems could be migrated and
deployed into the cloud.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------Assessing the socio-technical impacts of cloud computing in New Zealand organisa
tions: an exploratory study 2015
Master of Computer and Information Sciences
Abstract
The adoption of cloud based technologies ensures a fundamental shift in the stip
ulation of resources within organisations.
This research studies the socio-technical impact of migrating to cloud technolog

ies and its effects on the organisational culture, people and their relationship
s
and work performance. The following two questions form the basis of this researc
h: (a) what are the key factors which affect cloud adoption in NZ organisations?
and (b) what impact on work practices have been noted when cloud technologies ar
e adopted by organisations? Objective: The main objective was to discover the
theoretic attributes from grounded interview data that confirm, refute, or exten
d the principles and their applications suitable for cloud migration factors
and impact. Methodology: The research design included qualitative research using
grounded theory (GT) processes. Twelve interviews were conducted with employees
working in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in New Zealand (NZ). Partic
ipants were selected based on purposive sampling as the primary technique and a
secondary sampling technique known as snowball. Data Gathering and Analysis: The
transcribed interviews were analysed in three stages: using open coding, axial
coding, and selective coding. NVivo software was used to carry out the three cod
ing processes. Reflective memos and constant comparative analysis were used
to ensure reliability. Conditional Relationship Guideline (CRG) and Reflective C
oding Matrix (RCM) were used as analytical tools to interlink factors through
cloud adoption practices. Findings: Analysis of participants interview data estab
lished and extended the current practices of the factors which drive cloud
migration and its impact and offered additional suggestions for more effective p
ractical applications. Using the grounded theory approach, the interview data
were categorised into sixteen main categories. Then, the sixteen categories were
divided into two abstract themes: cloud adoption factors and impact of cloud
adoption on work practices, where the prior affects the latter. The findings rev
ealed eight categories belonging to the first theme of factors.
They were: business continuity, convenience, cost effectiveness, data centres, f
ree from maintaining IT Infrastructure, Cloud Service Provider (CSP) reputation,
speed, and suitability. The following eight categories belonged to the second th
eme of impact: best practices create awareness of policies and service-level
agreements (SLAs), improved collaboration, job losses, more time for IT managers
to strategise, loss of productivity and disturbances due to outages by provider
,
high degree of satisfaction with CSP, security concerns for business-critical da
ta and skill upgrade. Contribution: The research findings have important
implications for academia and great value to the decision makers such as manager
s and senior executives, CSPs and IT staff in an organisation,
in terms of formulating better strategies for cloud computing adoption. For CSPs
, using the research model in this study can assist in increasing
their understanding of why some organisations choose to adopt cloud computing se
rvices and what implications are felt in the workplace. Also, CSPs
may need to improve their interaction with organisations in terms of understandi
ng and meeting SLAs. Conclusions: The emergence of sixteen categories
from the two core themes, cloud adoption factors and impact of cloud migration o
n work practices is the principal finding. The findings of the research
illustrate the challenges that decision-makers and employees face when assessing
the practicability of adopting of cloud computing within their organisations;
they also describe a conceptual socio-technical cloud strategy framework to suppor
t cloud adoption in organisations.
Keywords
Cloud computing adoption; Cloud-based technologies; Adoption factors; Grounded t
heory; Leavitts model; Socio-technical impact