Cloud computing and its implications for organizational design and performance

Abstract

Cloud computing has been at the center of attention for a while now. This attention is directed towards different aspects of this concept which concern different stakeholders from IT companies to cloud adopters to simple users of cloud services. Cloud computing is affecting the IT industry in terms of operations, product and service development, and strategy. It also affects the organizations that adopt cloud computing. Any new technology or new means of conducting business processes could have a potential effect on organizational structure as well as performance. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the implications of adopting cloud computing for organizational design and performance. It focuses on how a lowering in the costs associated with IT might influence the organizational design and in particular the decision making structure of organizations. Past research conducted on the effects of the costs associated with IT on organizational structure have been used to explain the implications of adopting cloud computing.