The Specification

Step	Short Description
Hypothesis	A Cloud Operation Management Framework will improve the ability of IT managers to manage associated organizational resources for cloud services.
Research Methods	literature review.Review different organization structures for IT functions.Interviews with selected IT managers from different sectors (small/Medium) and cloud technology architects. Conduct surveys on selected group of IT managers for cloud operations.
IT Artefact	A framework that includes set of processes for cloud operations, roles and responsibilities related to cloud operations, and KPI’s to measure the success of implementations.
Evaluation	A survey will be sent to selected IT managers in small/medium business who are not part of the interview and research process the survey will framework in order to ascertain if it will improve the ability of IT managers to manage the cloud services organisational resources.

The Context of the Research

In the emerging markets, the cloud computing services consumption by the end-user businesses have been uneven (Yeboah-Boateng & Essandoh, 2014). A significant majority of the cloud computing vendors are the large western corporations including Google, Amazon and Salesforce.com which majorly prefer offering their services directly to the large corporations. While the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are significantly attractive clients, vendors find it uneconomical offering their services to this market segment in large volume as a consequence of high costs of distribution and the need for set-up, integration, testing and customer development (CompTia, 2016). As a best traditional practice, this gap in the supply of information technology (IT) products to the SMEs has significantly been solved by the IT channel partners forming a significant part of the wholesalers/distributors and value-added resellers (VARs). As a consequence of the business change towards the adoption of the cloud-based business models, the IT channel partners and providers have had their business models significantly distributed by the involved players (Schein & Lewis, 2015). To ensure a successful merger of their practices, it is essential to establish a successful cloud operation management framework that successfully leads to improvement of the capacity of IT managers to manage associated organizational resources for cloud services. Part of the framework could include setting the roles of the IT managers could include delivery of the infrastructure as a service (Iaas) with a combination of enhancements including Network as Service (NaaS), Software as a Service and Platform as a Service (PaaS) (Manvi & Shyam, 2014).

Problem Statement

In essence, cloud vendors including Microsoft and Amazon represent a critical role in their performance for assisting IT solutions providers in transforming their distinct channels for aligning with the available technology. In the Middle East region, a significant number of IT managers and partners have not been in a position of harnessing a comprehensive transformation of their business models to be in tandem with the cloud-business model. It is hence critical identifying all factors that pose as unique challenges and barriers available in the vendors, partners and the IT managers. This is a critical aspect that is yet to be adequately investigated in the context of emerging markets such as UAE. Through this, it is possible to establish processes for cloud operations, roles and responsibilities linked to cloud operations, and KPI’s for measuring the overall success of implementations. The current study hence assists in identifying the extent in which the vendors can assist in intervening for ensuring the partner’s leverage from the readiness of their cloud computing and associated organizational resources for cloud services and cloud-related technologies. In regard to the IT service provider failure of enhancing their channels in line with the cloud-business model which can end up compromising the capacity of leveraging and maintaining their position in the existing IT value chain.

In the Middle East region, the uptake of the SMEs is still significantly low (Danaher & Chong, 2014). Substantially, the IT service providers have an implication of increasing the overall cloud consumption through the delivery of services in a manner meeting the local end-user business needs which are not possible with the large vendors and IT managers to directly meet their needs. In this case, end-users have a likelihood of benefiting from cloud business model innovation which could potentially harness the capacity of retaining their current and attracting new clients and using cloud technology in creating new products and services and utilizing payment methods.

Dissertation Questions

In this study, the objectives would include the following;

To establish relevant opportunities for cloud services in the UAE market and the resources available
To investigate the role of IT managers in the management of the cloud services organizational resources in the UAE market
To investigate the adequacy of measures being taken by IT managers and service providers in ensuring their channels are cloud ready with resources available
To investigate the challenges faced by IT managers and partners in their process of transitioning from traditional to cloud business models
To establish the role that IT managers can perform in ensuring that they have sufficient organizational resources for implementing cloud services

To be in a position of achieving the identified research objectives, the following research questions would be answered;

Which are the relevant opportunities for cloud services in the UAE market and the resources available?
What is the role of IT managers in the management of the cloud services organizational resources in the UAE market?
Which is the existing adequacy of measures being taken by IT managers and service providers in ensuring their channels are cloud ready with resources available?
Which are the challenges faced by IT managers and partners in their process of transitioning from traditional to cloud business models?
What is the role that IT managers can perform in ensuring that they have sufficient organizational resources for implementing cloud services?

Ethical Implications

In this study, the ethical implications would take a center stage as it involve sourcing of relevant information and data from individual respondents. First, the ethical issues were sourced from the University as the basic requirement for all studies that involve human respondents. One of the assurance that was provided to the respondents is to ensure that they sign the consent letter as a sign of agreement for their participation in the current study. This improved the level of confidence by the respondents in answering the questionnaire due to their direct relationship with the researcher. Additionally, a cover letter was also used with all the essential information for active participation and support by the researcher with leveraging from the trust held by the respondents. Further, the researcher elaborately explained to the respondents that all the sourced data would be treated in high confidentiality and only used for the academic purposes. Hence, the ethical issues were addressed by the collection of quantitative and qualitative data and not identifying their names or identities. All these aspects were anchored on the view that active involvement or participation in the collection of the quantitative and qualitative was voluntary with no coercion to participate in the study whatsoever. For the sake of avoiding any form of misrepresentation of the respondents, a transcribed copy of the interview was offered with the aim of reviewing and editing the data on the basis of their relevance.

Anticipated Outcomes

It is anticipated that at the end of this study, a framework would be developed that highlights the approach that can be used to examione the issues of cloud computing and utilization of the resources from the end-user perspective and the legal and ethical issues. The resources that would be identified would be evaluated on their extent of managing a successful transition from the traditional channels to the modern cloud-ready channels which are critical for all the involved stakeholders in the organisation. Essentially, the current study offers a fresh theoretical perspective regarding to the role of the IT managers in the IT industry in the organizational resources development specifically in context of the area of cloud computing. Further, an additional literature sources would be developed in the context of this study. In particular, the lack of sufficient literature sources in context of the Kuwait market on effective cloud operation management framework to improve the ability of IT managers in managing associated organisational resources for cloud services.

Literature Survey

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