TOWARDS A STRATEGIC CLOUD COMPUTING FRAMEWORK: A SOUTH AFRICAN CONTEXT

This paper covers the current research about cloud computing in the context of South African information technology professionals. The main question is how should cloud computing be strategically adopted and used sensitively to the South African context. In this paper, the research argument is that, there is a need for a framework that would assist to strategically adopt and use cloud computing in a uniformed and coordinated manner. To help understand the adoption and use of cloud computing, the stakeholder theory (Freeman, 1984) and contingency theory (Blanton, Watson, & Moody, 1992) are used as research lenses. This study follows an interpretivism philosophy. The adoption and use of cloud computing will be understood through interviews. The findings from this paper proposed a strategic cloud computing framework that will provide guidance for adoption and use of cloud computing in general. The framework will be analysed based on cloud computing factors, stakeholders, and contingency variables.