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The Service Trajectory

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Moving to the Cloud Corporation

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Abstract

Cloud computing is the consequence of the evolution of two distinct strands: technological innovation — based around virtualization and shared computing provision — and a distinctive service-based perspective on computing. Following from this dual-strand perspective on cloud computing, we argue in this chapter that the drivers of the near-term development of cloud computing will have their origins in both strands. We have already seen in the previous chapter, with the Desires Framework, how important it is to see and focus on the business service dimension inherent in cloud developments. In this chapter we develop the notion of the service trajectory with cloud. On a larger canvas, based on our interviews and analyses of the IT industry, we identify three big impacts that relate to the service trajectory in cloud computing. These are: a radical shift toward service performance, a move from products to business services and a radical reconfiguration of the supply industry. In practice, as will emerge, these three shifts present major challenges to the IT supply industry and also to its user organizations.

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Notes

  1. The typology of innovations comes from Willcocks, L., Cullen, S. and Craig, A. (2011) The Outsourcing Enterprise: From Cost Management to Collaborative Innovation. London, Palgrave. See also chapter 6.

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  3. See Willcocks, L. and Lacity, M. (2009) The Practice of Outsourcing: From Information Systems to BPO and Offshoring, London, Palgrave; Willcocks, Cullen and Craig, op. cit. for summaries and illustrative examples.

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  7. SERVQUAL is a well researched, longstanding, simple, and useful model for qualitatively exploring and assessing customers’ service experiences and has been used widely by service delivery organizations. It is an efficient model for identifying the gap between perceived and expected service and is the most complete attempt to conceptualize and measure service quality for use across industries. A detailed assessment appears in Pitt, L., Watson, R. and Kavan, C. (1995) ‘Service Quality — A Measure of Information Systems Effectiveness.’ MIS Quarterly, 19(2): 56–67.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. London School of Economics and Political Science, London, UK

    Leslie Willcocks (Professor of Technology Work and Globalization), Will Venters (Lecturer in Information Systems) & Edgar A. Whitley (Reader in Information Systems)

Authors
  1. Leslie Willcocks
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  2. Will Venters
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  3. Edgar A. Whitley
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© 2014 Leslie Willcocks, Will Venters and Edgar A. Whitley

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Willcocks, L., Venters, W., Whitley, E.A. (2014). The Service Trajectory. In: Moving to the Cloud Corporation. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137347473_3

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