Abstract:
The purpose of the study was to explore the Cloud
computing Practicing level, Cloud computing Satisfaction level
and the Preferred Cloud service provider among the Online
Business SMEs (OBSMEs) in Sri Lanka that have adopted Cloud
services. Prior studies have shown that SMEs significantly benefit
due to the adoption of Cloud computing services. The study was
conducted among 260 randomly selected OBSMEs using
self-administered questionnaires from managerial and ICT
professionals who were capable of making ICT decision at
OBSMEs under this study. However only 247 questionnaires were
returned with complete data required for the purpose of analysis.
A descriptive analysis was used to analyse the data. The findings
have revealed that 31% of the OBSMEs are frequently Practicing
Cloud computing for their ICT needs, while 69% of them relies on
Cloud computing for their different ICT needs usually. Findings
reveals that 35% of the OBSMEs are moderately Satisfied in this
study, while 61% of OBSMEs have been reported that they are
very Satisfied with Cloud computing services, at the same time 4%
of the OBSMEs are reported that they have extremely Satisfied
with Cloud computing services. In the context of OBSMEs it has
been reported that 78% of the Cloud service providers are
rendering reliability of services and OBSMEs are very satisfied,
while 12% of the OBSMEs are moderately satisfied with the
reliability of services and other 10% of the OBSMEs are extremely
satisfied with the reliability of services provided by Cloud Service
Providers in Sri Lanka. This study extends the existing body of
knowledge by providing empirical support for explaining cloud
computing adoption by OBSME in Sri Lanka. The study add value
for various parties engaging in promoting the adoption of cloud
computing among various business industries in Sri Lanka.
Therefore, the researchers are able to recommend that cloud
computing technology is playing a significant role for the
improvement of business industries in Sri Lanka and the software
vendors, policy makers and technological service providers should
consider the findings of this study if they have intention to adopt
this technology in future. Moreover, the findings of this research
would assist and enhance service providers to consider their
investment in information technology when adopting and
implementing Cloud computing in Sri Lanka.
