A proposed framework to assess and increase the cloud computing readiness of financial institutions in South Africa

Among the various industry sectors, the financial industry in South Africa (SA) has been one of the early adopters of cloud computing (CC) but they have not fully implemented it because of barriers such as security and privacy, governance issues, inadequate cloud service level agreements (SLAs), vendor lock in, poor vendor transparency, inability to assess risks, confidentiality, integrity and availability. Few guidelines exist to help organizations improve their CC readiness level. This is particularly risky for financial institutions that deal with sensitive customer information as the safety of that information is not guaranteed if a desired readiness level is not attained before implementation. In order to assist financial institutions with this hurdle, this paper proposes a framework that will serve as a tool by which financial institutions can determine and improve their CC readiness. The framework is called “Becoming Cloud Computing Ready” (BCCR) and it would help financial institutions to determine which stage they are with their CC readiness. It will also provide guidelines that will assist financial institutions to improve their level of readiness in order to ensure successful CC adoption. The proposed framework is grounded in both the literature as well as empirical data obtained from interviews with the largest financial institutions in SA.