Strategies Federal Government IT Project Managers Use to Migrate IT Systems to the Cloud

Abstract

Several processes, security, and confidentiality challenges cause the slow adoption of cloud computing within the federal government. Information Technology (IT) senior leadership in the federal government is concerned about the slow adoption of cloud computing because it impedes federal IT systems management. Grounded in the technology acceptance model, the purpose of this exploratory multiple case study was to explore strategies federal government IT project managers used to select systems to migrate to the cloud. Participants consisted of 10 IT project managers from 3 federal organizations in Virginia and Washington, D.C., responsible for migrating federal government systems to the cloud. Data were collected using semi-structured phone and video teleconference interviews and 37 organizational documents. The participants' interview transcripts were analyzed using inductive coding. Three major themes emerged: mission owner readiness, leveraging industry expertise, and application categorization. A recommendation for IT project managers is to determine the processes needed to place specific systems in the cloud by leveraging industry best practices to address sluggish transitions to the cloud. Information technology managers can use the findings to understand the policies, the support needed, the training, communications, and cloud transitions strategies to improve federal government organizations' cloud transition initiatives. The implication for positive social change includes the potential to lead to home and workplace reductions of the carbon footprint by consolidating data and allowing data to be stored, managed, and processed remotely at a data center instead of locally.