An investigation into the drivers and inhibitors of Cloud adoption in public administration

Abstract

The Cloud, as an emerging technology, is taking many industries by storm. It has changed the way organisations procure and use IT resources by moving physical resources onto the network, making applications and more available anywhere and at any time. Its benefits have led to widespread adoption in the private sector, however adoption in the public sector has been found to be lagging behind. This study investigates the drivers and inhibitors of Cloud adoption in the public sector, while also investigating the role of policy and identity management issues in such adoption. To this end a questionnaire was designed and sent via the Malta Information Technology Agency (MITA) to key employees in the public sector, namely Chief Information Officers at various ministries, MITA heads of department, and a number of other employees that CIOs felt are relevant to the decision to move to the Cloud. Statistical analysis of the 50 complete questionnaire responses revealed that members of the public sector are eager to adopt the Cloud and are more interested in the benefits it presents than in the shortcomings that are a cause for concern. Additionally, despite policy not providing for it, some were already using the Cloud in their Ministry’s day to day work using independently procured services. Inadequate IT policies were found to be the chief inhibitor of Cloud adoption in the public sector. Respondents remarked that current policies lacked guidance on security, procurement, and best practices, and the majority outright called them an inhibitor of adoption. The study provides feasible recommendations on how IT policies should be revised with the Cloud in mind, such as to provide guidance on issues of security and procurement while being flexible enough to cater for emerging technologies.