The notion of cloud computing capability is gathering momentum rapidly. However, the governance and enterprise architecture to obtain repeatable, scalable and secure business outcomes from cloud computing is still greatly undefined. There is very little research explored to define a framework that not only considers financial motivations, but also business initiatives, IT governance structures, IT operational control structures and technical architecture requirements to evaluate the benefits regarding cloud investment. We are proposing a novel model to address this. This model can be leveraged by an organisation to evaluate the 'tipping point' where the organisation can make an informative decision to embrace cloud computing at the expense of on-premise hosting options. The authors refer to this model as cloud computing tipping point (C2TP) model. The model is a service centric framework created by mapping cloud computing attributes with industry best practices such as ValIT, COBIT and ITIL.
In the current era of competitive business world and stringent market share and revenue sustenance challenges, organizations tend to focus more on their core competencies rather than the functional areas that support the business. However, traditionally this has not been possible in the IT management area because the technologies and their underlying infrastructures are significantly complex thus requiring dedicated and sustained in house efforts to maintain IT systems that enable core business activities. Senior executives of organisations are forced in many cases to conclude that it is too cumbersome, expensive and time consuming for them to manage internal IT infrastructures. This takes the focus away from their core revenue making activities. This scenario facilitates the need for external infrastructure hosting, external service provision and outsourcing capability. This trend resulted in evolution of IT outsourcing models. The authors attempted to analyse the option of leveraging the cloud computing model to facilitate this common scenario. This paper initially discusses the characteristics of cloud computing focusing on scalability and delivery as a service. The model is evaluated using two case scenarios, one is an enterprise client with 30,000 worldwide customers followed by a small scale subject matter expertise through small to medium enterprise (SME) organisations. The paper evaluates the findings and develops a governance framework to articulate the value proposition of cloud computing.. The model takes into consideration the financial aspects, and the behaviors and IT control structures of an IT organisation.
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