A case study of a higher education IT department adopting public cloud computing

Abstract

Higher education depends on information technology (IT). In response to greater computing and storage demands, and anywhere and anytime access from any device with smaller budgets, universities are turning toward public cloud computing technologies like Office 365. This case study examined one IT department's progression through the adoption of Office 365. The research question guiding this study was: How did an IT department at a southeastern university progress through the adoption of a public cloud computing technology? There were five key themes, which appear in the order in which the participants progressed through the Office 365 implementation: perceived needs lead to the selection of Office 365; lack of Office 365 knowledge causes concerns; introducing change and generating awareness; feelings of loss of control; and user adoption of Office 365 drives change. This study has three recommendations for practice: public cloud computing creates opportunities to evaluate support models, IT department experiences support the development of a cloud strategy framework, and evaluate IT skillsets needed to support cloud computing. Three areas for future research are assess the fears and concerns of public cloud computing adoption at additional institutions, compare the changes in structure and support in IT departments after the adoption of public cloud computing, and compare and contrast cloud computing strategy models toward establishing a standard. Overall, this research may help higher educational institutions to plan for best practices relating to the adoption of public cloud computing technologies. Keywords: public cloud computing; Office 365; higher education; information technology; diffusion of innovation; best effort support