Understanding Business Strategy Factors that Support or Impede Moving Business Capabilities to a Cloud Environment in the Investment Services Industry

Abstract

This research investigates how the business strategy factors for South African organizations either support or impede moving business capabilities to a Cloud Computing (CC) environment. In particular, the research considers larger organizations within the investment services industry. By performing a qualitative study the research investigates the various business and Information Technology (IT) strategies. The various CC options are then explored to draw a correlation between the business strategy factors and CC. It concludes that cloud computing offers no competitive differentiation for South African investment services organisations. For these organisations, their existing business models remains profitable. Business strategy, therefore, has no compelling reason to consider cloud computing. South African investment services organizations align with their business strategies through the service-level method, which cause the IT departments to focus on stability and reliability.