Adopting cloud computing within the healthcare industry: opportunity or risk?

Abstract

Innovative technologies enable firms to strengthen their market position in today’s increasingly turbulent and competitive business environment. Cloud computing, an innovative technology, allows users to process and store data virtually via the internet and central remote servers. The purpose of this paper is to examine the forces that influence the adoption of cloud computing within the healthcare industry, through the theoretical lens of innovation resistance and the innovation decision process. This paper applied an evidence-based research methodology that consists of a systematic review of primary literature and a thematic synthesis of findings. The findings indicate that the primary reasons for resistance to cloud adoption within the healthcare industry are security and privacy risks to sensitive patient data, integration challenges, and a firms’ potential to lose control of data to cloud providers. However, incorporating analytical tools and safeguards into the decision process can mitigate these challenges. This study deepens knowledge of innovation resistance, which has been limited to innovation research thus far, and presents a conceptual model of how resistance affects each stage of the innovation decision process. This study proposes the cloud adoption toolkit to healthcare decision makers as a practical solution to address the challenges of cloud adoption.