What Factors Determine Cloud Computing Adoption by Colleges and Universities? Bill Klug Instructor, BCIT
What Will Be Presented Today? My interest in cloud computing What is cloud computing? Who did I survey? Theoretical framework Research questions Online betting Findings Implications 2
My Interest in Cloud Computing Virtualization (2009-present) Virtual machines in a traditional computing lab VMware Workstation Linux and Windows Server classes Problems: disk space, VM deletion, backups Private cloud (2011) Collaboration with BCIT s IT department Citrix Lab Manager (XenServer) Linux class 3
My Interest in Cloud Computing (cont.) UBC s EduCloud Server Service (2013- present) Pilot program with UBC Linux class Future: other courses, like Windows Server Private cloud (2014-present) Four-node, Microsoft Hyper-V Server cluster Student project and teaching tool 4
My Interest in Cloud Computing (cont.) Teaching a course on Cloud Computing and Virtualization (2014-present) Amazon Web Services Microsoft Azure Google Cloud Platform What is everyone else doing (2010- present)? Research into virtual labs and cloud computing at other colleges and universities 5
BCIT s Next Marine Campus 6
What is Cloud Computing? 7
A Definition The term "cloud computing" is defined as "a model for enabling ubiquitous, convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications, and services) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction" (Mell & Grace, 2010, p. 50). 8
NIST Model 9
Service Layer Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) Processing capabilities, data storage, networking Platform as a Service (PaaS) Hosting environments for a customer s own software applications Software as a Service (SaaS) Vendor applications over the Internet 10
User Perspective 11
Typical University IT Environment 12
Why Adopt Cloud Computing? Need to replace outdated technologies Lack of funding for new, in-house systems Regional costs of living effecting the ability to hire talented personnel Stressed IT staff Protection against natural disasters Performance issues with legacy technologies Cost savings related to e-mail servers, storage, ongoing systems maintenance, licensing, and staffing expenses 13
Who Was Surveyed? 119 institutions in the U.S. and Canada 18 responses from Canadian institutions 14
Who Responded? CIOs CTOs VPs of IT IT Directors IT Managers 53% of the responses were from CIOs 15
Public or Private? 58% Public institutions 42% Private institutions 16
2-Year or 4-Year? 24% were 2-year only 11% were 4-year only, no graduate degrees 65% were 4-year plus graduate degrees 17
100% Online? 2 institutions were 100% online institutions 1 was in Canada 18
How Many Students Do You Have? 33% less than 3,000 20% 3,000 6,999 21% 7,000 11,999 10% 12,000 19,999 15% 20,000 or more 19
How Many Employees Do You Have? 62% less than 1,000 15% 1,000 2,999 18% 3,000 5,999 5% 6,000 or more 20
What Is Your Annual Revenue? 72% under $300 (million) 14% $300 - $699 6% $700 - $1,299 8% $1,300 or more 21
Have You Adopted Cloud Computing? 98 (82%) said Yes 21 (18%) said No If you said Yes, then 22
What Cloud Deployment Models Do You Use? 48% Public or commercial cloud 30% Private or internal cloud 11% Community cloud or cloud consortium 10% Hybrid cloud 23
What Cloud Service Models Do You Use? 96% SaaS 41% IaaS 37% PaaS 24
What Cloud-Based Resources and Services Do You Use? Top 5 out of 14 items surveyed 89% E-mail 60% Online learning management system 57% Online collaboration or conferencing 50% File sharing 47% Website hosting 25
What % of IT Budget Spent on Cloud? 62% less than 10% 20% 10 19% 13% 20 29% 5% 30% or more 27
Theoretical Framework Technology-Organization-Environment Framework By L.G. Tornatzky and M. Fleischer 28
Research Model 29
Technology Context Relative Advantage the perception that adoption of an innovation will be advantageous to the institution Complexity related to adopting cloud computing resources perceived difficulty by an institution to understand and use an innovation Compatibility of cloud computing environments with other institutional systems consistent with the values, past experiences, and needs of the adopter 30
Organization Context Institutional Size in terms of employees and revenues Technology Readiness of the institution to adopt cloud computing systems Two factors: IT infrastructure and IT human resources Perceived Barriers within the institution to cloud computing adoption ranges from the suitability of the innovation to the business, to the lack of security, to legal issues 31
Environment Context Regulatory Policy related to adoption and use of cloud computing resources government incentives or pressure to adopt security and privacy concerns Service Provider Support by the vendors of cloud computing resources purchasing cloud computing services at reduced costs technical support and training 32
Research Questions Q1. How does Relative Advantage affect cloud computing adoption? Q2. How does Technical Complexity affect cloud computing adoption? Q3. How does Compatibility affect cloud computing adoption? Q4. How does Institutional Size affect cloud computing adoption? Q5. How does Technology Readiness affect cloud computing adoption? Q6. How do Perceived Barriers affect cloud computing adoption? Q7. How does Regulatory Policy affect cloud computing adoption? Q8. How does cloud Service Provider Support affect cloud computing adoption? 33
How Were These Questions Tested? 31 survey items, 7-point Likert scale Strongly disagree to strongly agree Three to five questions per factor Two items, closed-ended, 4-point ratio scales Employees Revenues Binary dependent variable Has your institution adopted cloud computing? (Yes/No) 34
Online Betting Time! http://kahoot.it One Yes/No question for each of the eight factors Questions displayed on the screen Answer choices on your mobile device Scored on correct answer and speed 30 seconds for first question 20 seconds for second question 10 seconds for the each of the six remaining questions 66
Findings (+) Factors which determined cloud computing adoption Complexity Institutional Size Technology Readiness 67
Findings (-) Factors which did not have an effect on cloud computing adoption Relative Advantage Compatibility Perceived Barriers Regulatory Policy Service Provider Support 68
Complexity (+) Not a barrier to adoption by colleges and universities Differentiates what resources and services may be adopted Many may not require technical integration into existing software systems Example: Cloud-based e-mail systems Complexities of implementation and maintenance reside with the service provider 69
Institutional Size (+) Number of employees and annual revenue High correlation with enrollments Revenue is a function of student tuition, and federal and state or provincial funding Revenue determines the number of employees that can be hired at an institution 70
Technology Readiness (+) Related to the technical competency and the level of sophistication of resources within each organization (Low et al., 2011). We adopt cloud computing services when there are inadequate internal resources and expertise to manage the application(s) and/or hardware resources required. 71
Relative Advantage (-) Mean responses (4.0 neutral assessment) 5.57 for adopters 4.96 for non-adopters Our institution has saved a great deal of resources (personnel, budget, etc.) by utilizing cloud computing. We have been able to offer better and sometimes more reliable services through the cloud without adding staff. 72
Compatibility (-) Measurement items related to compatibility were eliminated from the data analysis because of cross-loading or factor loadings below the threshold of 0.5. These items did not correlate with the other variables. 73
Perceived Barriers (-) Measurement items related to perceived barriers were eliminated from the data analysis because of cross-loading or factor loadings below the threshold of 0.5. These items did not correlate with the other variables. 74
Regulatory Policy (-) It was expected that regulatory policy would be a discriminating factor between adopters and non-adopters. Example: Privacy issues between U.S. and Canada Mean responses (4.0 neutral assessment) 2.30 for adopters 2.35 for non-adopters 75
Service Provider Support (-) In some cases, businesses receiving higher support from technology vendors, adopted those technologies more intensely (Ghobakhloo et al., 2011). Mean responses (4.0 neutral assessment) 4.14 for adopters 3.90 for non-adopters 76
Implications for Institutions Consider the size of your institution Evaluate the complexity of implementing cloud computing at your institution Assess the technology readiness of your institution and staff Like any form of outsourcing, it needs to be carefully and actively managed. [Cloud computing] is not a 'fire & forget' solution. 79
Implications for Institutions One participant in this study noted some resistance to adoption from 1. general security concerns, and 2. US Patriot Act/related practices and the resulting resistance to hosting in the US (even though hosting in Canada may provide little or no protection). 80
Implications for Service Providers Focus on larger institutions For small institutions, offer single cloud solutions, such as e-mail or online collaboration and conferencing tools Many vendors are unwilling to change the terms and conditions in their contracts, such as the governing laws and indemnification, to accommodate state institutions. 81
Implications for Service Providers There is an initial discomfort with the loss of control and detailed knowledge of the operation of the cloud computing service especially when there are problems and outages. The vendors need to work on being more transparent. 82
See you at the beach! 86
Contact Information Bill Klug E-mail: bill_klug@bcit.ca Phone: 604-451-7148 Twitter: @BCITcloud 88