An overview of cloud computing adoption across industries in a developing country

Ibrahim Osman Adam University of Development Studies Ghana [email protected] Abstract: The purpose of the study is to investigate the nature of cloud computing adoption across different industries of Ghanaian organizations with the view of providing adoption trends and patterns for policy direction, practice and future research. A quantitative research approach consisting a survey of 305 Ghanaian organizations was adopted. The findings indicated the following. Firstly, the level of cloud computing adoption is low in Ghana. Secondly, information technology services, financial institutions, educational and telecommunication firms are the front runners in cloud computing adoption in Ghana. Thirdly, Ghanaian organizations tend to adopt software-as-a-service (SaaS) type of cloud service than infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) and platform-as-a-service (PaaS). Also, Ghanaian organizations tend to adopt private cloud deployment than hybrid, public and community. Lastly, cloud computing adoption is largely dominated by medium sized organizations. This study makes the following contribution to research and practice. First, it provides insight into cloud computing adoption trends and patterns across different industries in Ghana which arguable was non-existent. Second, this study has laid the foundation and provided direction for future research on cloud computing in Sub-Saharan Africa. Finally, this study contributes to practice by pointing out potential investment sectors for cloud computing business. It is therefore envisaged that these constructive and valuable findings contribute to the development of the cloud industry in Ghana as it is in its infancy.