Barriers and Drivers to Adoption of Cloud Infrastructure Services: A Security Perspective

This study investigates the barriers and drivers to cloud infrastructure adoption as perceived by Information Technology Professionals. If the barriers to adoption of cloud computing technologies exist in small then the identification of these barriers will help organizations implement cloud technologies into their operating environments. This study will focus on the adoption of Infrastructure-as-a-Service technologies and not Software-as-a-Service technologies. Much of the literature on this topic revolves around security and the perception that it is less secure. While there are security issues to be addressed, many of the barriers can be overcome through an understanding of the cloud technology. A survey was conducted to measure the perception and readiness of Information Technology professionals and business decision makers. The results of the survey show that the major barriers to adoption are not always security related and that some benefits may also be found. Perceived security is found to be a significant driver for adoption of IaaS.