The Impact of Cloud Computing on Information Systems Agility

As businesses are encountering frequent harsh economic conditions, concepts such as outsourcing, agile and lean management, change management and cost reduction are constantly gaining more attention. This is because these concepts are all aimed at saving on budgets and facing unexpected changes. Latest technologies like cloud computing promise to turn IT, that has always been viewed as a cost centre, into a source of saving money and driving flexibility and agility to the business. The purpose of this paper is to first compile a set of attributes that govern the agility benefits added to information systems by cloud computing and then develop a survey-based instrument to measure these agility benefits. Our research analysis employs non-probability sampling based on a combination of convenience and judgment. This approach was used to obtain a representative sample of participants from potential companies belonging to various industries such as oil & gas, banking, private, government and semi-governmental organizations. This research will enable decision makers to measure agility enhancements and hence compare the agility of Information Systems before and after deploying cloud computing.