The importance of demonstrating the value achieved from IT investments is long established in the Computer Science (CS) and Information Systems (IS) literature. However, emerging technologies such as the ever-changing complex area of cloud computing present new challenges and opportunities for demonstrating how IT investments lead to business value. Recent reviews of extant literature highlights the need for multi-disciplinary research. This research should explore and further develops the conceptualization of value in cloud computing research. In addition, there is a need for research which investigates how IT value manifests itself across the chain of service provision and in inter-organizational scenarios. This open access book will review the state of the art from an IS, Computer Science and Accounting perspective, will introduce and discuss the main techniques for measuring business value for cloud computing in a variety of scenarios, and illustrate these with mini-case studies.

Measuring the Digital Transformation: A Roadmap for the Future provides new insights into the state of the digital transformation by mapping indicators across a range of areas – from education and innovation, to trade and economic and social outcomes – against current digital policy issues, as presented in Going Digital: Shaping Policies, Improving Lives.

Guide to Cloud Computing for Business and Technology Managers: From Distributed Computing to Cloudware Applications unravels the mystery of cloud computing and explains how it can transform the operating contexts of business enterprises. It provides a clear understanding of what cloud computing really means, what it can do, and when it is practical to use. Addressing the primary management and operation concerns of cloudware, including performance, measurement, monitoring, and security, this pragmatic book: Introduces the enterprise applications integration (EAI) solutions that were a first step toward enabling an integrated enterprise Details service-oriented architecture (SOA) and related technologies that paved the road for cloudware applications Covers delivery models like IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS, and deployment models like public, private, and hybrid clouds Describes Amazon, Google, and Microsoft cloudware solutions and services, as well as those of several other players Demonstrates how cloud computing can reduce costs, achieve business flexibility, and sharpen strategic focus Unlike customary discussions of cloud computing, Guide to Cloud Computing for Business and Technology Managers: From Distributed Computing to Cloudware Applications emphasizes the key differentiator—that cloud computing is able to treat enterprise-level services not merely as discrete stand-alone services, but as Internet-locatable, composable, and repackageable building blocks for generating dynamic real-world enterprise business processes.

The recent explosion of digital media, online networking, and e-commerce has generated great new opportunities for those Internet-savvy individuals who see potential in new technologies and can turn those possibilities into reality. It is vital for such forward-thinking innovators to stay abreast of all the latest technologies. Web-Based Services: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and Applications provides readers with comprehensive coverage of some of the latest tools and technologies in the digital industry. The chapters in this multi-volume book describe a diverse range of applications and methodologies made possible in a world connected by the global network, providing researchers, computer scientists, web developers, and digital experts with the latest knowledge and developments in Internet technologies.

The Open Group s long awaited guidance on Cloud is now published! Cloud Computing is the major evolution today in computing. It describes how the internet has enabled organizations to access computing resources as a commodity and when needed in much the same way as households access household utilities. For Enterprises with complex and expensive IT systems, the idea of paying on demand for someone else to provide IT services is attractive. This authoritative guide is specifically designed for business managers to understand the benefits that can be achieved; including Improved timeliness and agility Resource optimisation Control and reduction of costs More innovation Increased security Decreased exposure to risk Demonstration of compliance Improved quality of support Improved business continuity resource The authoritative title, published by the globally respected Open Group, gives Managers reliable and independent guidance that will help to support decisions and actions in this key operational area.

Exploring the Cloud Computing (CC) commercial landscape as it matures; this book asserts that the key ingredient in sustaining the Software as a Service (SaaS) business model is subscription renewal. Chronicling the evolution and future trajectory of the CC concept, the authors examine the new paradigm it is creating for the distribution of computer software applications among business-to-business (B2B) clients. CC enabled SaaS has been fundamentally changing the revenue expectations and business model for the application software industry, and impacting on how SaaS providers pursue, acquire and retain B2B clients. Securing SaaS subscription renewal is critical to the survival and prosperity of this business as attrition can have a significant impact on the financial viability of SaaS businesses based on this model. Focusing on the B2B client and the SaaS industry dependency on renewal subscriptions delivered through the CC channel, the primary research presented in this book seeks to examine the key drivers behind the B2B SaaS subscription renewal decision and, in doing so, to explore the recurring revenue framework for the Cloud SaaS business.

The proliferation of entrepreneurship, technological and business innovations, emerging social trends and lifestyles, employment patterns, and other developments in the global context involve creative destruction that transcends geographic and political boundaries and economic sectors and industries. This creates a need for an interdisciplinary exploration of disruptive technologies, their impacts, and their implications for various stakeholders widely ranging from government agencies to major corporations to consumer groups and individuals. Disruptive Technology: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and Applications is a vital reference source that examines innovation, imitation, and creative destruction as critical factors and agents of socio-economic growth and progress in the context of emerging challenges and opportunities for business development and strategic advantage. Highlighting a range of topics such as IT innovation, business strategy, and sustainability, this multi-volume book is ideally designed for entrepreneurs, business executives, business professionals, academicians, and researchers interested in strategic decision making using innovations and competitiveness.