Veröffentlichung

Titel:

Who Governs the Cloud? The Impact of Software as a Service on IS Authority–A Contingency Perspective

AutorInnen:

Till Winkler
Christoph Göbel
Alexander Benlian
Francis Bidault
Oliver Günther

Kategorie:

Arbeitspapiere

erschienen in:

Publications of Darmstadt Technical University, Institute for Business Studies (BWL), 2011

Abstract:

Cloud-based software deployment models such as Software as a Service (SaaS) are about to become an industry standard. The usage of SaaS-based sourcing reduces efforts in internal IT operations, however, it is largely unclear how SaaS adoption affects arrangements between business and IT. In this study we investigate the question, who should govern a SaaS application, rather business or IT? To answer this question, we draw on governance theory and derive a contingency model for the mode of IT governance on the application level. Based on a number of 6 semi-structured interviews with IT and business representatives of companies that have adopted the wide-spread SaaS product Salesforce CRM, we apply this model and present four comparative case studies. The results indicate that for most cases, there are dominant and/or reinforcing contingencies which induce either one or the other form of SaaS …