It has been established beyond the shadow of a doubt that ICT has caused tremendous
transformation in the way modern businesses are conducted. However, development of
ICT software and hardware platforms is a capital-intensive process. ICT investment does
not always lead to equivalent monetary rewards. According to Al-Shehab et al. (2005),
ICT investment is high-risk, and reports of failed project implementations or limited
project returns are not uncommon. Hence, organizations should carefully evaluate their
ICT investments (Todorova, 2006). Cloud computing is a revolutionary paradigm through
which organizations can optimize their ICT investments.
According to the concept of cloud computing, instead of purchasing hardware or
software, a user purchases remote access via the Internet. It is an emerging computing paradigm where data and services reside massively in scalable datacenters that can be
ubiquitously accessed from any connected device over the Internet. It is a serviceoriented
business/software/hardware platform on the Internet, rather than a specific
identifiable device that aims to deliver supercomputing power over the Internet. It can
help businesses in transforming their existing server infrastructures into dynamic
environments, thereby expanding and reducing server capacity. It can be any
subscription-based or pay-per-use service that in real time extends ICT existing
capabilities over the Internet. Therefore, organizations can purchase resources on need
basis and save capital cost of hardware and software. Moreover, in cloud computing, ICT
resource requirements can be adjusted easily and quickly in response to changes in the
demand.
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