Cloud Computing Offered Capabilities: Threats to Software Vendors

Cloud computing has permeated and penetrated every aspect of our lives both personal and professional. This technology has gained a phenomenal acceptance as it provides opportunities for organizations, by offering large collections of easily accessible data. This has transformed the way businesses are done. The ever-changing demands of users, fierce competitive activities, and rapidly evolving technology pose a great challenge to software vendors to be innovative and constantly seek to be on top of their game. Cloud computing allows business to scale efficiently as they constantly adjust their operations to the new realities that help them to optimize cost, quality, and time. The main objective of this project is to ascertain if cloud computing offered capability is a threat to software vendors, and the extent of the threat, thus proposing solutions. This study used multi-stage research technique and the research instrument being questionnaire. The completed questionnaire forms were collated, coded, and analyzed using both descriptive and parametric statistics. Quantitative data was coded and entered into statistical packages for social scientists and analyzed using descriptive statistics for expressing the demographic characteristics of the respondents. Qualitative data was analyzed based on the content of the responses. Responses with common themes or patterns were grouped together into coherent categories. Chi-square analysis and logistic analysis were used to show dependencies and relationships between the variables and also to determine the probability that software vendors are aware of cloud computing threats and the severity of those threats. Quantitative data was rendered in tables and explanation was presented in logical prose.