Change Management in the Cloud Age-Change and Culture management in the context of an increasing use of cloud services

Abstract

Cloud computing is coming of age; the keyword of digital transformation is pervasive. And as the IT world is fast evolving, not only the bigger companies but also the smaller ones face essential questions. Firstly, the question is whether to go into the cloud or not, but secondly, it is also crucial to assess the potential which cloud computing offers and how it can affect one’s own industry and one’s very own business. But not only the technical implications are challenging for (the many small) Swiss companies: besides having little IT resources, it is also common that little knowledge and awareness for change management is present. At exactly this point, there is a need for support that can be met by the knowledge of the universities of applied sciences. The extensive literature about the relevant topics of change management, cloud computing, the digital transformation and the respective relations shows that even though many studies about the importance of change management and others about the effects of cloud computing and the digital transformation exist, little concrete help for the above mentioned Swiss companies to rely on when transforming their business is available. This is why this master thesis tries to process the theoretical knowledge and develop a practical product (framework and guidelines) in order to support these companies in dealing and succeeding with the tremendous changes cloud computing can imply.