Organizational Effects of Public Cloud : How the Implementation of Public Cloud Affects an Organization with Substantial IT Legacy

Sammanfattning: Migrating from IT legacy systems to Cloud Computing, is a complex task for an organization to undertake since changes of both technical end organizational aspects are required to take advantage of all capabilities that Public Cloud offer. A limited number of studies have been conducted exploring the organizational perspective of the migration process to Public Cloud for larger organization, which are bounded to their IT legacy. This thesis aims to contribute with knowledge to this gap by addressing the following purpose: investigate how the migration to Public Cloud affects an organization with large IT legacy. Anchored in a case study at an incumbent enterprise, the thesis bridges literature on Cloud Computing, organizational change management and organizational aspects of the migration process. Findings from empirics indicate that the case company is experiencing multiple layers of complexity of change management such as: change management, culture, internal processes, IT legacy and security, are essential to be managed to successfully migrate to Public Cloud. These findings suggest that the challenges are constraining the migration towards Public Cloud and especially the development of the IT environment, and therefore inhibit the essential value-creation processes. Another challenge is the generalized view of security being a great risk which further inhibits the evolvement and process towards Public Cloud. The thesis presents that although the migration to Public Cloud is primarily of technical concern, the migration process is also a major organizational change management process with large challenges that needs to be considered for a successful migration. Hence, the thesis contributes to better understanding of how an organization with substantial IT legacy can prepare for the emerging changes of a potential technology shift.