Introduction
3
problem to be discussed in this thesis. The empirical part is based on qualitative
research in form of in-depth interviews, which were conducted with experts. The
theoretical part is also supported by the findings derived from the interviews and
thus creates a homogeneous picture of theory and practical examples given by the
experts. However the empirical findings are explicitly discussed and analyzed in the
section “Empirical Findings” of this thesis as well.
1.3.1
Literature Research
Extensive literature research was done upfront in order to get familiarized with the
topic and also conducted during the writing process of the paper. Valuable
information was derived from books, journals, articles as well as Internet sources.
Due to the novelty of the topic “cloud services”, most sources used in this thesis
were published just within the last few years. The literature research was done to
provide a comprehensive and meaningful picture of the problem, to support
assumptions and hypotheses, as well as to establish the framework for the
conducted interviews.
1.3.2
Qualitative Interviews
In order to derive a high value from the conducted interviews, it was necessary to
state the questions in a way that the experts were able to give concrete examples
from their field of business, to give their opinion about the topic, as well as to answer
the formulated research questions. For this purpose the interviews consisted of two
parts: A general one that should answer for example the research questions or
definitions and a second on, which was individually designed for the interviewed
persons to share their opinion about cloud related topics based on their experience
and expertise. In favor of different views towards the topic, experts were elected
based on several criteria: such as company, position, involvement in the topic
“
cloud”. Based on these criteria the following experts have been interviewed:
Dr. Tobias Höllwarth, CEO of EuroCloud
Erich Seher, CIO of VOITH IT-Solutions
