Old Ideas in the Information

Old Ideas in the Information Age: From Mainframe to Cloud Computing

The pervasive adoption of cloud computing is revolutionizing how small businesses manage their supplier, customer and service provider relationships. Cloud computing's many benefits financially and from an ease of introduction standpoint are increasing adoption of this computing platform throughout small business (DeFelice, Leon, 2010). The intent of this research is to determine the financial benefits of cloud computing adoption to small businesses throughout the United States. Cloud computing has been shown to increase the financial performance of small businesses by automating significant segments of their operations (Truong, 2010).

Methodology

Through the use of secondary research sources including Jigsaw, Hoovers and One Source database applications, small businesses below $5M in annual sales in the U.S. are the sampling frame of this study. Using the random sampling technique of selecting every nth respondent will be completed within the three key industry segments of manufacturing, professional services, and consumer packaged goods. Respondents will be defined by to the CEO and founder level. As the CEO and founder of these small businesses will be the one who made the decision of which systems and applications to use in a cloud computing environment, they are the best possible respondent group.

The primary approach for getting in touch with these respondents will be through the use of personalized letters first, followed by e-mails. The research study will be defined as entirely academic in scope, with the data being destroyed after the end of the study. Complete anonymity will also be assured through the cross-tabulation and aggregation of data. Execution of the methodology will be completed to completely assure the anonymity of the respondent.

Design

Using a stratified random sampling technique to evenly select respondents from the three segments of manufacturing, professional services, and consumer packaged goods will be verified with a t-test to ensure statistical reliability as well. The design of the study will be two-phased with secondary research completed of the existing series of studies and body of research on the impact of cloud computing on the financial performance of small businesses. This first phase of study will also serve as the foundation for the second phase of analysis, which is questionnaire design. The questionnaire will be comprised of questions on the levels of investment in cloud applications, the resulting savings attained, and the planned savings as a result of the investment.