Adoption of Cloud Computing by the Ngo Sector in Kenya

Abstract

Innovations are necessary to ride the inevitable tide of change. Most of organizations are striving to reduce their computing cost through the means of virtualization. This demand of reducing the computing cost has led to the innovation of Cloud Computing. Cloud Computing offers better computing through improved utilization and reduced administration and infrastructure costs. Cloud Computing is the sum of Software as a Service (SaaS), Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and Platform as a service (PaaS). In a nutshell, it’s a computing model based on utility Computing. Cloud Computing is still at its infant stage and a relatively new technology for the organizations especially the non-governmental organizations in Kenya. Therefore, most of the organizations are not very confident and ready to adopt it. This research paper tackles this issue for organizations in terms of adoptability of the technology especially the NGO sector in Kenya. In this paper the researcher discusses the perceived benefits, awareness levels, drivers of adoption as well as barriers to cloud computing adoption and assess the extent to which this technology has been adopted in the international NGOs in Kenya. This study revealed the awareness levels to be overwhelming and further validated that economical, technical, strategic and functional being the key drivers of adoption. Lack of clear strategy, lack of ownership and loss of confidentiality were also endorsed as key barriers to adoption. Majority of the NGOs had more than 71% computerization levels with a paltry 26% of this having adopted the cloud. Cloud providers key concerns according to the study include security, the perceived loss of ownership and fear of confidentiality breach so us to encourage organizations to take up more of the cloud services on offer. Organizations should also be deliberate to capture cloud computing in their strategies to motivate adoption. The intention of this research is to provide information about cloud computing that will assist those interested non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in this technology in making well-informed decisions. NGOs must become aware of the predictors that if adequately examined will indicate successful adoption of cloud computing for NGOs in Kenya.