Research Report: Cloud Computing Adoption in Australian SMEs

This research report assesses the extent of cloud computing innovation adoption among small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Australia. It explores the benefits and challenges of cloud computing implementation within SMEs' operations. The study investigates the impact of cloud computing innovation on Australian SMEs, considering various factors that drive success and the roles cloud computing plays. The report includes a literature review covering cloud computing concepts, models, and its application in SMEs. The methodology section details the sample size, questionnaire design, data collection, and analysis methods. Key findings, a conclusion, and references are provided, offering insights for SMEs considering cloud adoption. The report also addresses the current market competition and technological advancements influencing SMEs' decisions to embrace cloud computing to enhance their business operations. The research provides recommendations to mitigate risks and challenges associated with cloud computing implementation in Australian SMEs.

Assessment of the extent of cloud computing innovation adoption among small and medium
enterprises in Australia 1
ASSESSMENT OF THE EXTENT OF CLOUD COMPUTING INNOVATION ADOPTION
AMONG SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES IN AUSTRALIA
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Table of Contents

Assessment of the extent of cloud computing innovation adoption among small and medium
enterprises in Australia 2
Justification of Survey.................................................................................................................5
Research Aim...............................................................................................................................5
Research questions.......................................................................................................................6
Literature review..............................................................................................................................7
Cloud computing..........................................................................................................................7
Concept of Cloud Computing......................................................................................................8
Models of Cloud Computing......................................................................................................10
Cloud computing and SMEs in Australia..................................................................................13
Cloud computing innovation in SMEs.......................................................................................15
Benefits of implementing cloud computing innovation within operations of SMEs in Australia
....................................................................................................................................................18
Challenges of adopting cloud computing innovation for SMEs within Australia.....................23
Gap in Literature........................................................................................................................25
Research methodology...................................................................................................................26
Sample size and sampling approach..........................................................................................26
Questionnaire design..................................................................................................................27
Data collection...........................................................................................................................27
Data analysis and interpretation.................................................................................................28
Summary of findings.....................................................................................................................29

Assessment of the extent of cloud computing innovation adoption among small and medium
enterprises in Australia 3
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................29
List of References..........................................................................................................................31
Introduction

Assessment of the extent of cloud computing innovation adoption among small and medium
enterprises in Australia 4
In the present digital era along with globalization, several small alongside medium
enterprise business (SMEs) are adopting the application of cloud computing for their different
actions. Application of cloud computing remains to be the growing data center technology that
operates in line with increasing traffic on the internet in the period of an Internet of Things (IoT)
(Safari, Safari, Hasanzadeh, and Ghatari 2015). Execution of cloud computing innovation within
SMEs has allowed business operators to have access to sophisticated services of computing
through the internet on a fee-service basis. Besides, this study is necessary as it aim at explaining
how cloud computing innovation has enabled SMEs to have the opportunities to become as
technologically advanced as their larger counterparts, without significant outlays in finance
(Kreslins, Novik, and Vasiljeva 2018). Nevertheless, there are still several SMEs that are unsure
of the benefits along with challenges of using the innovated cloud computing into their
operations especially in Australia. Therefore, this survey will be completed to examining extent
of innovation of cloud computing among SMEs within Australia.
Competition in the market has been increasing between variousorganizations in recent
world. There has been huge enhancement in the technological background of various companies.
Various big companiesare using advance technologies to capture market. However, among them
small and medium enterprises are lacking behind in the race. SMEs are looking for increase their
business operations in the market. They have been looking for multitasking technology at low
cost. In this scenario, Cloud Computing has been the best opportunity for SMEs in the market.
Cloud computing has been helping these SMEs in various ways (Ross and Blumenstein 2015).
This research discusses about the impact of cloudcomputing in SMEs. Various theirs and models
related to cloud computing have been discussedinthe research. The role of cloud computing in

Assessment of the extent of cloud computing innovation adoption among small and medium
enterprises in Australia 5
the SMEs have been discussed in the research. The benefits offered by Cloud computing in
SMEs have been reflected in the research. There have been some issues faced by the
implementation of cloud computing in the SMEs have been discussed in the research. This
research provides some recommendations related to cloud computing for mitigating these risks
and challenges in the SMEs.
Justification of Survey
It is clear that utilization of cloud computing innovation can help in boosting the
competitiveness of SMEs as well as leverage economies of countries. However, in a country like
Australia, there is the emerging tendency that SMEs commence to accept the use of cloud
technology in their traditional trade operations. Conversely, they have not paid great focus to
assess different aspects that impact cloud computing innovation amongst the operations of SMEs
in the region (Twum-Darko and Sibanyoni 2014). To fill such arising disparity in operations, this
research paperwork instigated the significant aspects that impact the choice on accepting services
of cloud computing for operations of SMEs within Australia (Shee, Shah, Fairfield, and Pujawan
2018). Therefore, outcomes of this paper will help to address and verifies the importance of
difficulty together with viable pressure aspects within the execution of cloud computing amongst
SMEs within Australia.
Research Aim
The major target of this research work goes deeper in different surveys to effectively
review the extent of cloud computing innovation implementation among different SMEs within

Assessment of the extent of cloud computing innovation adoption among small and medium
enterprises in Australia 6
Australia. By attaining the primary aim of this research, different managers and workers of
SMEs along with authorized personnel in Australia will be capable to understand how idea of
embracing of cloud computing within operations of SMEs can positively or negatively affect
their operations. Besides, by achieving the set objective, management of SMEs within Australia
will be able to understand some of the factors that can affect their operations when they adopt
cloud computing innovation in their operations.
Research questions
More clearly, this study intends at offering suitable answers to various research problems that
comprise of:-
i. What are the impacts of using cloud computing innovation in actions of SMEs
within Australia?
ii. What are various aspects that compel the accomplishments of SMEs under the
application of cloud computing?
iii. What are different roles of cloud computing in operations of SMEs within Australia?
All these questions in this study can assist in giving appropriate answers to the vital target of this
plan under assessment. The results obtain to such inquiries can assist in offering necessary
choices of plans that each SME in Australia can concentrate on achieving to improve their
efficiency, by adopting application of cloud computing innovation in their actions.
Literature review
Just like any state around the global community, SMEs in Australia performs a
significant purpose in the advancement of the economy of the region. SMEs in Australia

Assessment of the extent of cloud computing innovation adoption among small and medium
enterprises in Australia 7
perceived as a source of earnings, opportunities for the creation of employment, social
prosperity, regional advancements, together with exportation of products. Wang (2013) stated
that SMEs in Australia form a huge portion of the private segment. Hence, it is clear that
technological modernization through cloud computing can furnish SMEs in Australia with
essential potentials to improve its financial system. Cloud computing innovation has
considerably impacted diverse phases of life as well as altered the manner of how business is
done. Amazingly, SMEs in Australia are not far from this signal of innovation as it is moving
steadily towards implementation of cloud computing innovation (Hassan 2017). Hence, cloud
computing is the expertise that has existed for an extended duration and it has high expectations
of solving different business disputes that SMEs in Australia faces in their operations.
In the Australian community, the SMEs remain to be the skeleton of the economy of the
country. For an idea that comprises of facilitation of such alterations in any organization, three
vital mechanisms need to be taken into consideration. These components comprise of processes,
individual, along with technology. Continues process in business is significant to its achievement
and it is the continuing effort to enhance the superiority of business products, actions, or services
(Budrienė and Zalieckaitė 2014). The embracing of cloud computing innovation is promoted
with different business providers in offering robust, efficient, as well as the modern system of
information needs to improve operations of trade.
Cloud computing
Cloud computing according to Thakurta and Mohapatra (2019) is the growing data center
technology in line with the increasing traffic of the Internet in the period that deals with the

Assessment of the extent of cloud computing innovation adoption among small and medium
enterprises in Australia 8
Internet of Things (IoT). This kind of technology allows individuals within operations of SMEs
to store various documents on this network, and then the document can be accessed on another
computer outside the network. Even though the adoption of cloud computing, different programs
of software do not run from an individual’s computer, but instead they are stored on different
servers that are examined all through internet. Additionally, the application of cloud computing
has been recorded by Saedi and Iahad (2013) to provide the resources together with the
capabilities of IT throughout different services presented by various providers of cloud service.
Cloud computing that it used to support operations of different SMEs in Australia comprises of
different contents. Such contents include the Infrastructure as a service (IaaS), Communication
as a service (CaaS), Software as Service (SaaS), together with Platform as a service (PaaS).
Concept of Cloud Computing
Cloud Computing is one of the recent Internet-related technologies in the market.
Various organizations have been adopting tis technologies to enhance their businesses in the
market. The Cloud computing has been providing various services based on the internet to
companies. As per Assante et al. (2016), cloud computing can be termed with internet as it
provides all services online. Cloud Computing has helped in changing the business scenario in
the market. There have been various characteristics of cloud computing. Some of the
characteristics are mentioned below:
On-demand self-service:Cloud computing has been helping in providing self-service
portals to users and companies. This help in accessing various products and services over the
clouddatabaseonline using the internet.

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enterprises in Australia 9
Rapid Elasticity:The issues in IT resources have been related to elasticity and in-demand
services Cloudcomputing has been helping in providing elasticity to users (Khan and Al-Yasiri
2016). The resources have been provisioned to users for unlimited access and available in time
when needed.
Resource pooling: The cloud service providers used to merge different IT resources
including memory, storage, and network bandwidth and processing pooled computing resources
for multiple customers.
Figure 1: Basic cloud computing model
(Source: Doherty, Carcary and Conway 2015)
The above figure shows about the basic model of cloud computing that specify simplest
process of accessing application and processes with a common network and man server. These
services can be accessed by different organizations and SMEs.
Models of Cloud Computing

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enterprises in Australia 10
As per research done by Doherty, Carcary and Conway(2015), services provided by the
cloud computing can be categorized under four models based on their characteristics. The four
deployment models of cloud computing have been discussed below:
Public Cloud Computing: A public cloud computing service has been available from third
party service provider. As commented by Sohaib et al. (2019), public cloud has been utilized by
general public Cloud consumers and cloud service provider has total ownership of public cloud
with its own policy. There are various public cloud service providers including Amazon EC2,
Google AppEngine, S3 and Force.com.
Figure 2: Public cloud computing
(Source: Sohaib et al. 2019)
Private Cloud Computing: As commented by Wang et al. (2016), private cloud
computing refers to private use of cloud services for user and organizations. Private cloud has
been internal data center of organization that is not available for general public. However, the

Assessment of the extent of cloud computing innovation adoption among small and medium
enterprises in Australia 11
physical hardware can be owned by other individual or organization. The security controls and
data inside the database is controlled by the desired organization. This type of cloud provides
maximum security to data and information stored in the cloud database.
Figure 3: Private cloud computing
(Source: Wang et al. 2016)
Hybrid Cloud Computing: As suggested byHosseini et al. (2019), hybrid clouds refers to
combination of public and private clouds. Hybrid cloud has been benefitted by the capabilities of
each cloud deployment type. Some information and data stored in the hybrid cloud are private
and some are public. This can be adjusted by the company using the hybrid cloud services for
selection of public and private data respectively.

Assessment of the extent of cloud computing innovation adoption among small and medium
enterprises in Australia 12
Figure 4: Hybrid Cloud computing
(Source: Hosseini et al. 2019)
Community Cloud: As commented by Vidhyalakshmi and Kumar(2016), some
organization used to make a joint Cloud infrastructure that might help both organizations
accordingly. Such type of cloud model is referred to community cloud computing. This cloud
community forms an efficient degree of performance and economic stability in the organizations.
Figure 5: Community cloud computing

Assessment of the extent of cloud computing innovation adoption among small and medium
enterprises in Australia 13
(Source: Vidhyalakshmi and Kumar 2016)
Cloud computing and SMEs in Australia
Most investigators have raised the theme of implementation of cloud computing
innovation within actions of SMEs within different regions around Australia to be vital. Research
conducted by Makena (2013) pointed out that the essential element for adopting cloud
computing comprises of different organizational factors. Some of those factors consist of support
of top administration, size of organization, along with technological inclination. However,
organizational factors are assessed by different variations that influence cloud combusting within
operations of SMEs in Australia. Such factors can be applied for makers of decisions within
organizations that want to appraise implementation of services of cloud computing within their
organizations. Furthermore, Kauffman, Ma, and Yu (2018) denoted that successful execution of
cloud computing needs sufficient support of government within form of reviews to regulations
linked to the protection of data and review of policy and incentives in promoting adoption. The
outcomes of such reviews also highlight that awareness remains to be the key aspect in diffusion
of cloud computing within functions of SMEs within Australia. Additionally, Ahmad and Sinha
(2016) confirmed that application of cloud computing within operations of SMEs can be
successful when organization is capable of maximizing the revenue raised by the use of this
service. The benefits of adoption of cloud computing can be an attractive alternative as it is faced
with the necessity for high dispensation capabilities and the need for large storage capabilities.
Moreover, the quality of cloud computing innovation poses various contests for SMEs in
Australia simply because there are still several businesses that consider applying it in their

Assessment of the extent of cloud computing innovation adoption among small and medium
enterprises in Australia 14
operations. Such challenges do arise because there are present issues that comprise of security,
regulations, and legal compliance. Generally, most SMEs implement the use of cloud computing
of content of Software as a service (Pathan, Jianqiu, Latif, and Tunio 2017). The use of SaaS by
different SMEs tends to help them to manage their business operations in an effective and
appropriate manner. Most SMEs utilize public clouds, although some SMEs utilize private
clouds because organizations need appropriate security and privacy in their operations.
The decline in the present Australian economy on the operation of SMEs is calling for
affordable resources of IT. Cloud computing adoption remains one of the promoting
technologies that can aid the region to achieve such targets. This is one of the main reasons for
operators of SMEs within Australia to continue using cloud computing that offers reduce capital
investment, scalable techniques, and flexibility, alongside advanced robust models of business
operations. Additionally, it had been recorded by Haider and Khateeb (2018) that
implementation of cloud computing innovation within operations of SMEs within Australia aid
in the process of creation of advance opportunities for their operations. According to a study by
Daniel, Wilson, and Myers (2014), 75% SMEs that adopts of cloud computing innovation
services within the Australian economy tend to have a 25% reduction in their operating
expenses. Such businesses also tend to have a fifty percent decline in capital expenses in their
operations (Adetula, Owolabi, and Igbanibo 2016). More specifically, different examinations
have revealed that implementation of cloud computing in operations of SMEs within Australia
leads to significant cost savings of 0.15% to 0.2% of the annual GDP of Australia. Furthermore,
Carcary, Doherty, and Conway (2013) denoted that there are other benefits that are non-
monetary that cloud computing acceptance has on businesses of SMEs. Such advantages are

Assessment of the extent of cloud computing innovation adoption among small and medium
enterprises in Australia 15
higher than the idea of saving the costs of operations of SMEs. For instance, other merits of
implementing cloud computing innovation within operations of SMEs in Australia comprise of
improved flexibility in the operation, improving remote access of products and services being
offered by SMEs, as well as eliminating redundant systems in operations.
Cloud computing innovation in SMEs
SMEs have been lacking behind in the market due to their small size of business and
employee number. The main aim of SMEs have been growing economically in the market. The
Cloud computing has been playing an important role in enhancing the performance of SMEs in
the market. Complexity in business operations of SMEs have been a major problem in the
market. The economic condition of SMEs are also nit good as compared to othercompanies in
the market. Therefore, SMEs are not able to adopt costly hardware and software in their
business operations. Therefore, cloud computing has been playing an important role in the
SMEs. As research dine by Jungck and Rahman(2015), Cloud computing has been helping in
providing various software and hardware at minimum cost to SMEs. According to Gangwar,
Date and Ramaswamy(2015), cloud computing has helped in getting immediate access to
modern technologies used in the market. Modern technologies are high in cost and SMEs are not
able to avail such technologies in the market. Therefore, cloud computing has been helping in
availing such cost technologies at a minimum price. As research done by Isma'ili et al. (2016),
SMEs have been looking for effective system upgrade in their systems that might help in
meetingkeenapproach in the development of the company in the market. The idea of cloud
computing in SME has been focused in overall development of business operations in the

Assessment of the extent of cloud computing innovation adoption among small and medium
enterprises in Australia 16
market. SMEs are unable to implement modern technologies in the operations due ti budget
issues. However, with the implementation of cloud computing in the SMEs have been helping in
providing efficient services to the users and SMEs. The use of cloud computing has been helping
in getting access to varioustechnologies with the help of the internet. There have been various
reasons for adopting Cloud Computing in SMEs. Some of the reasons are mentioned below:
Flexibility and Scalability in resource utilization: As mentioned by Anomelechi et al.
(2018), there has been various types of flexibility offered to SMEs with the help of Cloud
Computing. Cloud computing has been providing huge internal storage for storing data and
information over the cloud. This help SMEs in string their data over the cloud and there is no
need to purchase extra hardware for storing data and information. Datastorage facilities are
flexible over the cloud computing, as SMEs have to pay only forthe memory they need to use for
storing data and information. Therefore, SMEs are able to increase or decrease the memory space
and its payment according to its need.
Cost effectiveness: As mentioned by Isma'ili, Shen and He(2016), scalability and
flexibility has been an important resource utilization in a SME. This has led to enhanced
efficiency and scalability of cloud services in the SMEs. It has helped SMEs for controlling
financial spending over upgrading as cloud computing assisting for installing continuous updates
at reasonable costs. SMEs do not have to pay extra for any maintenance. It helps in enabling
competing in the market by offering cost reduction structure and enhancement in the IT
solutions.

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enterprises in Australia 17
Low Technology Risk: As mentioned by Khan and Al-Yasiri(2016), there have been low
risk in technology used in the cloud computing for SMEs. SMEs can easily utilize cloud
computing at low risks. Various cloud service providers have been guarantee of minimizing risk
of data unavailability over cloud.
Figure 6: Cloud commuting in SMEs
(Source: Created by Author)
Data Security: SMEs have concerned about their data security and data breach from their
databases. Implementation of cloud computing has been providing better opportunities regarding
data security.
Effective IT support:As commented by Fortiş, Munteanu and Negru(2016), the corporate
productivity of SMEs have been enhanced due ti the adoption of cloud computing. SMEs have
been getting proper support from cloud technologies. SMEs have been spending more time on
training of their employees. This help in increasing the production and performance of the SMEs
in the market.

Assessment of the extent of cloud computing innovation adoption among small and medium
enterprises in Australia 18
Benefits of implementing cloud computing innovation within operations of SMEs in
Australia
There are several benefits that adoption of clouding computing innovation has on
operations of different SMEs in Australia. The adoption of such innovation has helped different
SMEs to provide effective services to operators and clients of SMEs. The application of cloud
computing innovation has greatly aided the business operations in getting access to the usage of
a variety of technologies with the assistance of advance usage of internet (Carcary, Doherty, and
Conway 2014). Therefore, different benefits make it necessary for different SMEs to focus on
improving the application of cloud computing in their actions. Hence, some of the benefits that
make it necessary for SMEs to focus on implementing or adapting to the application of cloud
computing within their operations include need to improve their operations to be cost saving,
minimizing the purchase of new licenses for software, and improving their trial services. Other
benefits include increasing their flexibility together with the ability to scale how they use
resources, to make their operations to below technology risk, enhance the security of their data,
and to effectively support the use of information technology in their operations (Sabi, Uzoka, and
Tsuma 2018). For example, the application of cloud computing within SMEs can assist to reduce
cost of capital expenditures, particularly in the early formation of business operations.
The application of cloud computing innovation within SMEs has been reported by
Dubihlela (2013) to help in driving businesses actions without having to channel huge funds by
utilizing applications that provide services such as those used in massive organizations. Ordinary
cloud computing also enables SMEs in Australia to use different rental services for services
offered by providers of cloud computing. Execution of cloud innovation inside operations of

Assessment of the extent of cloud computing innovation adoption among small and medium
enterprises in Australia 19
SMEs within Australia helps in facilitating the process of communication to create innovation
(Trinh 2016). For instance, the application of cloud computing has enabled SMEs to overcome
different barriers in communication. Such barriers that are overcome are either found between
fellow workers of SMEs, between business and their suppliers, or between businesses and their
consumers. According to Powelson (2015), the presence of cloud computing enables the
communication of multiple users to be done at ago, thus making business operations of SMEs in
Australia to be easier.
As per research done by Priyadarshinee et al. (2017), cloud computing has been
providing a list of benefits to the users and SMEs based on different deployment models. One of
the majorbenefits of the cloud computing has been cost saving feature of cloud computing.
Cloud computinghelps in minimizing the initial cost of the software and hardware used by
SMEs. This help in maintaining the budget of the SMEs in the market. As suggested
byAlrokayan, Smith and Kurnia(2016), Cloud computingprovides new opportunities for SMEs to
grow in the market. The efficiency and speed of operations get increased with the
implementationof cloud computing. It helps in scaling up resources used by SMEs in the market.
Ease of utilize and flexibility have been the two other advantages of cloud computing. These
include software updates, latest frameworks and easy collaboration with other hardware and
software. Cloud applications looks like normal web browser and working is simple.

Assessment of the extent of cloud computing innovation adoption among small and medium
enterprises in Australia 20
Figure 7: Advantages of cloud computing
(Source: Priyadarshinee et al. 2017)
Cloud computing has been helping in reducing the time complexity of using software and
applications in the market (Priyadarshinee et al. 2017). Cloud computing helps in providing data
centers where data and software have been stored safely and securely. SMEs can access their
cloud portal from anywhere and anyplace with the help of the internet. Therefore, it helps in easy
access to their data and information in the market. It also help in maintaining akeen approach in
the market. SMEs have been missing behind in the market because of their little size of business
and representative number. The fundamental point of SMEs have been developing monetarily in
the market. The Cloud registering has been assuming a significant job in upgrading the
exhibition of SMEs in the market. Unpredictability in business tasks of SMEs have been a
noteworthy issue in the market. The financial state of SMEs are additionally nit great when

Assessment of the extent of cloud computing innovation adoption among small and medium
enterprises in Australia 21
contrasted with different organizations in the market. Along these lines, SMEs are not ready to
receive exorbitant equipment and programming in their business activities. Hence, distributed
computing has been assuming a significant job in the SMEs. As research done by Yu, Xu and
Lu(2015), Cloud registering has been helping in giving different programming and equipment at
least expense to SMEs.
As indicated by Clohessyet al. (2016), distributed computing has helped in getting quick
access to present day advances utilized in the market. Present day advancements are high in
expense and SMEs are not ready to benefit such advances in the market. Along these lines,
distributed computing has been helping in profiting such cost advances at any rate cost. As
research done by Fortiş, Munteanu and Negru(2015), SMEs have been searching for viable
framework redesign in their frameworks that may help in gathering sharp methodology in the
advancement of the organization in the market. Cloud registering in SME has been engaged in
generally improvement of business activities in the market. SMEs are unfit to execute current
innovations in the tasks due to spending issues. Be that as it may, with the usage of distributed
computing in the SMEs have been helping in giving proficient administrations to the clients and
SMEs. The utilization of distributed computing has been encouraging in gaining admittance to
different advancements with the assistance of the web.Some of the advantages have been
mentioned in the below table:
Cost effectiveness Cloud computing helps in running
applications and software in cloud platform
that minimizes the purchasing cost of
software and applications. SMEs can directly

Assessment of the extent of cloud computing innovation adoption among small and medium
enterprises in Australia 22
use aplications and software without installing
it onto their own devices.
Flexibility Cloud computing has been allowing
organizations for starting the project quickly
without caring about costs. Computing
resources including CPU, RAM, and
diskstorage can be installed when required.
This help SMEs to install and uninstall their
hardware and software as per their
requirement in a project.
Data Safety Organizations have been purchasing storage
in data centers situated hundred miles away. It
helps in increasing data safety in case of
natural disaster and other external factors.
High availability Various cloud service providers including
Microsoft, Google and Amazon have been
providing better chances with more up-tome
than other companies.
Ability to handle large amount of data Cloud computing has been using pay-for-use
business model which has been allowing
academic institution for analyzing terabytes of
data used in distributed computing in short

Assessment of the extent of cloud computing innovation adoption among small and medium
enterprises in Australia 23
time cost.
Reduced costs Cloud Computing technology has been paid
incrementally saving money of organization.
Increased storage Organization help in storing more data on
private computer system.
Highly automated IT personnel are not worried for updating
software. Cloud computing automatically
update the latest version of application and
software.
More mobility Employees have been able to access
information from any place and any time with
the help of internet.
Allows IT to shift focus There has been auto updating of server and
network policies with other co outing issues.
Challenges of adopting cloud computing innovation for SMEs within Australia
With several advantages that executions of cloud computing within operations of SMEs,
there exist different challenges that such business face in line with implementation of cloud
computing in their actions within Australia. Some of such challenges in operations of SMEs
consist of lack of control capability and the need to employ ICT specialists that make business
operators to incur extra costs in their operations. The companies that are in small scale are unable
to do anything if at any moment the server service is down for some reasons making the cost of

Assessment of the extent of cloud computing innovation adoption among small and medium
enterprises in Australia 24
their production to reduce during such moments (Seethamraju 2015). Besides, Australian
government regulations are sometimes considered to be unregulated about the legal structure for
data placement by third parties in operations of SMEs. In some cases, such regulations make the
government to cut short their services that are much-needed to improve operations of SMEs
(Sook Ling 2017). For instance, the Australian government has in sometimes fail to provide their
expected services and effective infrastructure that support quality internet connections for
activities to deal with cloud services that are much-needed by SME companies.
There have been various limitations of cloud computing in implementation in SMEs. As
mentioned by Anomelechi et al. (2018), the major limitations of cloud computing has been
constant internet connection. Many SMEs faces low speed Internet connection. Therefore, SMEs
faces issues in fetching and accessing data and information room cloud server and database. As
per research done by Gangwar, Date and Ramaswamy (2015), Security, privacy, ownership of
data and reliably are other issues in cloud computing.
Lack of Control: As commented by Anomelechi et al. (2018), cloud computing is totally
controlled and monitored by cloud service providers. Therefore, Cloud Users and SMEs have
minimumcontrol over the cloud. SMEs only have control over services, application and data.
User does not has administrative tasks including firmware and updating management for
accessing the server.
Network Dependency: As suggested by Jungck and Rahman(2015), cloud computing has
been a totally internet depended service. Therefore, this has become the major issue for
cloudcomputing as all SMEs do not have fast internet connection all time. Service interruption

Assessment of the extent of cloud computing innovation adoption among small and medium
enterprises in Australia 25
might occur at some places where there is no internet or low speed internet. This create issues in
file transferring, downloading, transmission and other tasks might get delayed.
Risk:As commented by Gangwar, Date and Ramaswamy(2015), every component of
cloud computing has been highly accessible from internet server. Internet connected services
have not been secure and sometimes IT teams have been suffering from hard security breaches
and attacks. As research done by Khan and Al-Yasiri(2016), there have been various cyber-
attacks reported regarding data loss from several cloud service providers all over the world.
Gap in Literature
Thisliterature review has focused on the various concocts of cloud computing. The
benefits of the cloudcomputing has been discussed in the review with referring to several
journals. The role of cloud computing in the SMEs have been discussed in the section. However,
this literature lacks in analyzing the practical implementation of cloudcomputing solutions in the
SMEs. There is agap between theoretical and practical implementation of cloudcomputing in
small and medium sized enterprises. Data has not been collected regarding practical
implementation of cloudcomputing in SMEs. Therefore, the gap in the literature review will be
removed in the next section, Methodology. Data will be collected regarding the practical
implementation of cloud computing in one of the SME in Australia. This will help in understand
the research questions and answering them in a proper manner.

Assessment of the extent of cloud computing innovation adoption among small and medium
enterprises in Australia 26
Research methodology
This research section consists of the assessment if diverse procedures together with
techniques used in conducting this examination. It comprises of detailed report on the research
method used, sample size alongside approach of sampling, and size of the population in use.
Besides, this segment also contains different techniques of gathering, analyzing, and
interpretation of data together with a summary of the findings during the survey (Mondal and
Mondal 2018). This study uses a qualitative research method by interviewing different SMEs
within different cities in Australia.
Sample size and sampling approach
The slighter size of the number of SMEs within Australia will be taken into consideration
to represent the entire population of different SMEs that operates within the area. The identified
sample unit of a small number of SMEs in Australia forms the much-required sample size for
examination (Sanz-Alonso 2018). Efficient selection of the size of the sample makes the survey
to be efficient in character in the course of collecting the necessary data. In this survey, two
hundred respondents form the sample size that will be used to examine and get the specified
answers to research questions and objectives (Shirey 2018). Sample in this survey will be
distributed in accordance with the mathematical power of the set of SMEs in Australia with the
target of evading or eliminating cases of prejudices from arising.
Group Targeted Number of
Population
Size of Sample
Interviewed
Sectors of Manufacturing 3,500 120

Assessment of the extent of cloud computing innovation adoption among small and medium
enterprises in Australia 27
Trade 1,700 58
Sectors of Services 650 22
Sum Total 5,850 200
Questionnaire design
The primary data in this examination will be collected through the use of well-schemed
questionnaires. As recorded by Cape (2017), such questionnaires will be administered to
different respondents that had been identified to take part in the study through a stratified process
of sampling. Besides, these questionnaires used in this study shall be delivered to respective
SMEs in Australia and later picked as a way of providing the respondents with humble time and
opportunity to fill the question s asked in an efficient manner (Goodwin and Goodwin 2014).
The questionnaires will be designed to contain both the qualitative and quantitative questions.
The use of these two different formats of presentation in the questionnaire will aid the researcher
to get personal views of different respondents in various SMEs instead of providing answers that
are similar to both individuals involved in the study (Campbell 2014).
Data collection
The procedure of data collection of this survey is based on the survey. It involved the
development of a questionnaire that is reviewed as well as modified by the panel of different
experts. Given that SMEs lack a universal description, process of conducting this study in
Australia adopted the ABS’ description that is SMEs employ at most two hundred individuals.
Hence, all the organizations that had less than 200 workers were the major target where

Assessment of the extent of cloud computing innovation adoption among small and medium
enterprises in Australia 28
questionnaires were delivered for the collection of data for further analysis to review extent of
cloud computing innovation within SMEs in Australia (Höhne 2018). The use of Qualtrics
helped in the process of developing online questionnaires that were sent through the mail to
different respondents in various cities around Australia (Reddy and Ramasamy 2018). All the
developed questions in this survey are precise to perspective of cloud computing innovation
within SMEs.
Data analysis and interpretation
Techniques for analyzing the gathered data in this survey comprise of different
approaches that include qualitative as well as quantitative approaches. For example, the
utilization of quantitative technique of survey of analyzing the collected data will concentrate on
getting impacts of execution of cloud computing innovation ion operations of SMEs (Fletcher
2016). Besides, the utilization of the quantitative technique of examination target at developing
the considerable application of different carts, figures, mathematical models, and excel sheets to
analyze the gathered data. Different statistical approaches found within online sites such as
SPSS and Strata can be used in analyzing the data (Omair 2014). Furthermore, the use of
statistical tables as presented by SPSS can help in the interpretation of data that have been
collected. Excel sheets, figures, and other mathematical models can be used to interpret that data
in terms of getting the mean, median, standard deviations, and moments. All these findings can
aid in interpretation of how execution of cloud computing innovation has impacted operations of
SMEs in Australia (Suhaimi and Yusof 2018). Interpretation can comprise of descriptive

Assessment of the extent of cloud computing innovation adoption among small and medium
enterprises in Australia 29
technique that will be necessary for attaining the statistical variances and mean among other
aspects for the already collected data.
Summary of findings
From the finding, it is apparent that implementation of cloud computing offers a variety
of services that are suitable to run operations of SMEs in Australia. Based on the interviews of
100 respondents from different SMEs in Australia, it is clear that most traders engage in the
utilization of cloud computing to increase their actions. In total, out of 200 hundred targeted
respondents a total of 191 responses were received. From the study, it is clear that there is a
significant and firm positive connection amid the implementation of cloud computing innovation
along with its awareness by Australian SMEs (Grolemund and Wickham 2014). Seventy-five
percent of the respondent indicated that execution of cloud computing within operations of
SMEs within Australia is influenced through diverse factors that range from technological,
organizational, together with environmental aspects.
Conclusion
It is apparent from this research that most apparent benefit of implementing cloud
computing innovation within operations of SMEs in Australia comprises of cost-saving as it aid
in reducing capital expenditures within their operations. On other end, execution of cloud
computing aid in process of enhancing the internal organizational processes of SMEs by
accelerating processes of making decisions, expanding markets, and accelerating the process of
communication between the operators of SMEs with their targeted and esteemed customers.
Besides, aspect of security together with instances of the limited infrastructure of internet

Assessment of the extent of cloud computing innovation adoption among small and medium
enterprises in Australia 30
connection in Australia still remains to be main challenge for execution of cloud computing
within SMEs around Australia. Consequently, there is the need for the Australian authority to set
in place different effective strategies together with plans of the SMEs to be capable to reduce
cases of negative impacts when they implement the usage of cloud computing within their
operations. Besides, there are number of limitations to this study as the examination was
restricted to Australian SMEs, limiting study on a larger extent on how the adoption of cloud
computing innovation can affect operations of different SMEs globally.
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