The approach proposed in this project will consist in elaborating a variety of means (conceptual and operational) that will make significantly simpler the elaboration, the decision and the evaluation of cloud-based solutions from information system management and business point of view, and able to accommodate the need for an holistic approach. The objective will however remain at a relatively high level (e.g. strategic, decision making), aiming at helping people to understand the different facets of a Cloud-based solution, rather than really elaborating a system able explore all the details of a solution (which would increase the complexity and therefore the “accessibility” of the approach).
Practically this will consist in different means allowing:
- To easily model the different components and aspects of a cloud solution
- To evaluate and to simulate this model in different cases
One of the activities of this project will therefore consist in getting a better understanding and evaluate the different Cloud Computing configurations (i.e. potential cloud-based organizational designs) from a business and organizational point of view, with the notable intention to facilitate the operationalization and simplification of cloud computing solutions in real world settings by the academics and as possible by the practitioners.
The project will elaborate (cf. Task 3) a toolbox (conceptual & technical) allowing to model and simulate a cloud configuration and able to cover the different dimensions (business models, organizational settings, etc.). This toolbox may rely on system dynamics approach (e.g. similar to Stella), agent-based modeling approach (e.g. Repast Simphony platform), or some other tools (e.g. Business Model Toolbox for iPad, excel applications, etc.).
The project will look at insuring that the toolbox (conceptual framework supported by some tools) covers the different dimensions that relevant to Cloud computing such as:
- Business models
- Value chain analysis / Business ecosystem
- Organizational design and adoption
- Service modeling
- Etc
This approach will also elaborate different cases studies (e.g. in Task 4) and scenarii (e.g. in Task 5) reflecting different significant organizational contexts (organizational adoption, nature of the actors, international comparison, etc.). These cases and scenarii will first generate “substance” on the domain, and notably in aspects such as cloud computing Business modeling and economics or Cloud computing adoption in organizations. It will also be used to inform and to validate the core components of the project. It will finally contribute to the dissemination dimension of the project, and for instance its educational significance.
We expect this project to fill a gap in providing to the Management Information System community some conceptual and operational tools that will make the understanding and the decision making of Cloud-based organizations more comprehensible to both researchers and practitioners. To our knowledge, no approach is currently available able at combining at the same time: (1) a holistic business perspective (e.g. business models and organizational adoption); (2) concepts and models that are comprehensible by the non-expert; (3) an approach that is actionable (that people can experiment with). We however acknowledge the existence of different projects and initiatives that have tried to address a particular aspect (cf. further the state of the art).
We are aware of a number of challenges that the project will be confronted with and that the partners are going to address such as: the difficulty of dispersion and dilution of our efforts; the risk associated with the multidisciplinarity of the approach (and the competence needed from the different domains, and how to combine them); the difficulty of coming-up up with a comprehensible holistic but not too simplistic model; the difficulty to design modeling and simulation tools; the difficulty to be able to model formally behavioral aspects in a realistic manner (cf. adoption of cloud in organizations, resistance to change); etc.
Mitigating these risks will first consist in relying on a good availability of expertise from the different partner and notably business and processes (i.e. Paris Sud), organizational (i.e. Telecom ParisTech) and technical (i.e. INRIA). The success of the project will also benefit from a first task overviewing the domain and in the elaboration of limited but concrete set of case studies and scenarii, providing a relevant covering of significant issues. In order to reduce the risk, the project will also not initially try to cover all the “cloud computing” issues, but only a subset of relevant issues, that will validate the pertinence of the approach. More exhaustive covering of the issues may be left for follow-up projects (for instance from the European commission). Finally, modeling and simulation tools will not be designed from scratch, but will as much as possible try to make use of existing framework (such as the Repast Simphony agent-based modeling system), and tools (e.g. business modeling tools).