Empirical Findings
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expertise and circumspection is required for companies, as it is required for drivers
in the same way. An assessment of risks should be done with regards to profitability,
competitiveness, and innovation capability. In this case data does travel as secure
as flight passengers.
Especially when it comes to the topic of compliance with regulations, the experts
mutually agree upon the fact that this is indeed an important issue, which should not
be taken lightly (Faltus, 2013) & (Höllwarth, 2013) & (Schweighofer, 2013) & (Seher,
2013).
Depending on the industry and the data provisioned into the cloud, non-
compliance can result in legal effect. Höllwarth (2013) sees a great potential in the
EuroCloud project, which tries to create awareness for cloud computing. In order to
achieve this objective, the EuroCloud association organizes events and offers
guidelines to facilitate knowledge and information about cloud computing. They try
to establish trust towards cloud through certificate procedures for cloud service
providers, as well as showing best practice examples and case studies (Höllwarth,
2013).
Faltus (2013) thinks that an “Austro Cloud”, meaning a cloud service provider
with datacenters in Austria, is a possible alternative for companies to minimize the
risk of non-compliance with regulations and policies when using cloud services. Due
to the fact that an Austrian based provider is also subject to the national and
European regulations and policies towards data handling and protection. Other
possibilities for companies cautiously optimistic towards cloud services are Private
Cloud or Hybrid Cloud models. Private Cloud models are datacenters on-premise
with the only task to provide computing power and services to a single entity, the
company itself. Such a model is currently in use at VOITH IT-Solutions (Seher,
2013).
Hybrid Cloud models on the other hand are a mixture between deployed
services off-premise and on-premise. For example sensitive business processes
still remain on-premise, while “commodity” functions are provisioned through a cloud
service provider (Faltus, 2013) & (Seher, 2013).
The basis to incorporate cloud services in a business environment with regards to
technology is a high level of standardization of the integrated IT infrastructure within
the company. Due to the standardized nature of cloud services, this is a logical
conclusion. A company requires homogenous IT systems to fully derive a potential
