A comparison between expected value and realised value of cloud computing: an exploratory study

The purpose of the research is to examine the business benefit of cloud computing by comparing the benefits perceived by respondents whose companies had already adopted cloud computing and the benefits expected by those whose companies had not. The motivation for the study is that while business benefits of cloud computing have been widely touted, a survey on practitioners shows that not all kinds of benefits were achieved to expectations. The study is intended to examine the realisation of claimed business benefits of cloud computing in three aspects: cost reduction, improved capability and enhanced scalability. The study shows that no sufficient evidence supports the existence of difference between realised and expected cost reductions. Furthermore, there is no difference between realised and expected improvement in IT and business capability. Nevertheless, respondents reported that their companies reaped more than expected in the aspect of enhancement of scalability.