Cloud Computing: Adoption Issues for Sub‐Saharan African SMEs

Abstract

This paper explores the emergence and adoption of cloud computing by small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) and points towards its implications for developing countries in sub‐Saharan Africa. Several studies have shown the importance of technologies to SMEs and the potentials of SMEs for economic growth. Using qualitative techniques we obtained and analysed data from ten SMEs that have adopted cloud computing as an IT strategy. These SMEs span across various sectors including finance, information and communication technology (ICT), and manufacturing in Nigeria, a developing country in sub‐Saharan Africa. We found that, contrary to the literature on cloud computing adoption in the global north, these SMEs are less concerned with challenges like security, privacy and data loss rather; they continue to show optimism in using the potential opportunities that cloud computing presents to them. We envisage that as cloud computing evolves, more SMEs in sub‐Saharan Africa will adopt it as an IT Strategy. This could positively contribute to the successes of these SMEs and consequently contribute to the economic growth desired by these developing countries.