Collaborative Microcredit Project Moves To The Cloud

ABSRACT A framework was developed to engage U.S. and Vietnamese university faculty and students in the establishment and management of a microcredit fund program in the Mekong Delta region of Vietnam. Several meetings between a private donor and an information systems professor resulted in the necessary support to develop a plan to help some of the world's poorest become self-sustaining. The program is now in its second year, after the successful completion of its first loan cycle. Until recently, all electronic communications between the Vietnamese and U.S. faculty and students was conducted vie email and Skype. While simple and efficient, this often resulted in issues including redundancy and multiple file versions in different locations. A cloud-based environment is currently being developed to provide a centralized, online location for project management. The result will be an open and cost-effective space for real-time collaboration, information sharing and accountability that will to enable authorized users from any location to create and access reports, pictures, news, and updates. Preliminary results from this effort will include the technical and cultural factors associated with the migration to the cloud as well as a proposed model that could be replicated for a similar collaborative project.