Perceived success factors affecting hybrid cloud adoption

Abstract

In this thesis, a case study has been carried out to identify the perceived success factors of hybrid cloud adoption. To support the case study a literature review was done as well. It is also investigated what the end goal for companies that have adopted a hybrid cloud model is, whether they want to stay in a hybrid cloud or for example move entirely into a public cloud. After reviewing the literature, interviews were carried out. The interviewees were cloud architects and cloud experts from a chosen case company. Additionally, the CIO of a customer organization of the case company was interviewed. The case company has helped the customer organization in adopting hybrid cloud and in their transition towards public cloud.

Based on the results, hybrid cloud adoption is primarily driven by perceived relative advantage, that public cloud offers. The public cloud is believed to bring competitive advantage towards competitors. For some organizations hybrid cloud is a transient state on the way towards public cloud. In other organizations hybrid cloud is meant to be the final state of the IT environment either because of a strategic decision or because of forcing circumstances. Whether or not an organization stays in hybrid cloud is affected by data security rating, requirements regarding data location and difficulty of moving legacy services.

The success factors found in literature were proven to still be relevant. The only success factor that was not found in literature was the importance of good documentation in hybrid cloud adoption projects, which multiple interviewees mentioned.

The thesis contributes to the theory and practice by shedding light on success factors that are related to adopting hybrid cloud computing and can work as a basis for more research into the topic. With public cloud adoption on the rise, hybrid cloud is a state where more and more organizations find themselves. More research into the topic is required as hybrid cloud will likely only be more ubiquitous in the future.