Virtual organization in the cloud: The case of a web self-service portal

Abstract

The interpretation of organizations like dynamic entities imposes some fundamental challenges for today managers. Firms have not derived value simply by linking IT to their business processes: they have learned how to benefit from IT by developing a competency in creating and evolving an enterprise in IT architecture, able to identify and implement the organization’s strategic objectives. Some providers that operate in the Cloud market have faced this challenge by developing their infrastructure as a virtual platform, which are useful to reach economies of scale and to support innovation at the same time. This work, through the analysis of a successful case, is aimed to point out the organizational characteristic of a Cloud self-service portal, and its coherence with the main business drivers of Cloud market.