COVID-19 and Cloud Computing, the Leadership Paradoxes of Decision Making Acceleration and Data Regulation

Abstract

During Covid-19, decision makers realized the stressing need to transform their businesses in challenging setups characterized by urgency and need of rapid innovation and adaptation. Moreover, and specifically in emerging markets, leaders face challenges that are paradoxical in nature; those challenges affect society and businesses. As a consequence, reaching the level of a data driven and technology enabled high performance organization becomes critical and urgent. In this context, the leadership decision making to quickly adopt cloud paradigm while considering paradoxical factors becomes a flagship to survive businesses during Covid-19. Based on an inductive qualitative research, we try to clarify what do decision makers do to accept cloud computing in light of data sovereignty, and in contexts characterized by paradoxical factors. We try to identify what are these factors and how they relate to each other; and we try to answer the question of how Covid-19 effect the decision-making process. The research is relevant because we don't know much about the relationship among decision making, data and technology (Chaara et al 2019) and how they relate to pandemic challenges. Additionally, the research will help organizations accelerate their digital transformation during Covid-19 in light of the current policies and regulation about data sovereignty.