Business Impacts of Cloud Computing

Abstract

While many articles have discussed likely benefits of cloud computing, there have been relatively few empirical reports of the impacts of cloud computing. This study explores the business impacts associated with the adoption of a cloud-based business intelligence application. A generic benefits management framework was adopted to guide the study of five firms. Numerous types of benefit were identified, including strategic, managerial, operational, and functional and support. The results supported the literature in that managerial impacts were strongly correlated with business intelligence functionality. Additionally, operational and functional and support benefits were mainly positive, with some due to the cloud nature of the service.