Abstract:
The main objective of this study is to understand the level of awareness and adoption of cloud computing by the academic staff in Sri Lankan universities. This study aimed at investigating the level of awareness of this emerging technology and the extent that they use cloud computing, and the reasons for adoption and non-adoption. The study found that two-third of the sample respondents are not aware of cloud computing. The level of adoption is limited to several applications, namely Google Apps Engine and Dropbox. Cost and time saving were stated as the reasons for adoption and the lack of benefits and security concerns were stated as the most important drivers for non-adoption. Although 78.4% of the respondents stated to be aware of cloud computing, but only 14% confirmed they are very knowledgeable about it. Considering the benefits that cloud computing could offer to organizations, this trend provokes for more involvement from the government and cloud computing service vendors to further promote this technology to the universities.