Cloudrise: Opportunities and Challenges for IT Governance at the Dawn of Cloud Computing

Abstract

Executives around the globe are investigating the benefits that cloud computing can deliver above and beyond cost savings. What is its contribution to competiveness - through improved agility, expanded business networks, and enhanced decision-making? At the same time, organizations, and specifically IT departments, have gotten a firmer grasp on IT governance and have embraced initiatives to adjust governance strategies and structures, as well as governance processes and software. What is cloud computing's impact on IT governance and the role of the IT department - and will it change how firms' request, prioritize, fund, monitor, enforce, and realign IT investments? This article presents and discusses a conceptual and operational research model combining research in IT governance, cloud computing, and business/IT alignment. The model is applied to a quantitative study of 21 European and North American cloud adopters and non-adopters across various industries. Our results indeed indicate that IT organizations need to change to keep in control and that IT governance is an important means to stay relevant.