Abstract
Cloud Computing is an exciting topic, which is providing a paradigm shift from
computation as a product to computation as a service. It is a phenomenon where various
types of IT capabilities are centralized into data centers to ensure that such resources are
available wherever and whenever they are needed and instead of purchasing costly
hardware and software which requires installation, maintenance and configuration, Cloud
Computing provides the usage of Cloud application and infrastructures based on pay per
usage scheme.
To better understand the organizational application of Cloud Computing this research
aims both to investigate economic payoffs from Cloud Computing investment and
explores Cloud Computing adoption within the firm. More specifically, the influential
factors that impact adoption of Cloud-based technologies by Small and Medium
Enterprises in Emerging Markets, in particular Brazil. Opportunities and challenges in the
area of Cloud Computing adoption and its impact in the growing economies are also
discussed.
Brazil is South America's most influential country and an economic giant. Brazilian SMEs
and Entrepreneurs do not have mass computation to run their applications and to meet
the changing requirements. Thus, Cloud Computing is growing by offering advanced IT
applications to meet the rapid changing environment.
This dissertation is based on the study and evaluation of SMEs using Salesforce.com
services and its adoption framework in Brazil. For this study 170 Salesforce.com users
from different SMEs organizations, were surveyed, a number of quantitative
measurements were performed to provide a better understanding of some of the
adoption aspects. The main conclusion from this study shows for a better adoption
companies should use these solutions as part of a strategic effort for the organization. The
proposed study can make contributions for IS adoption literature and emphasis aspects
for a successful adoption of Cloud Computing solutions. Author keywords: Adoption, cloud computing, emergent markets, Brazil, salesforce.com
