Drivers affecting cloud ERP deployment decisions: an Australian study

Cloud-based Enterprise Resources Planning (Cloud ERP) is hosting an ERP system through the cloud environment. Cloud ERP is responsible for organisational business processes such as purchasing, financial, and human resource by providing a real-time infrastructure for the enterprise. With the development of technology, cloud ERP is noticed by more and more enterprises. Currently, limited researches have been conducted for cloud ERP systems in the Australian context. Furthermore, no studies have indicated how different perspectives (client company & consultant company) bring insights into the deployment decisions on cloud ERP. Hence, this research intends to understand drivers affecting cloud ERP deployment decisions from both the client company and the consultant company perspective in an Australian context. This paper identifies 31 relevant literature on cloud ERP adoption; 79 critical drivers affecting cloud ERP deployment decisions were identified from the selected literature, and those drivers are then categorized using the Technology-Organisation-Environment (TOE) framework to develop the initial theoretical model. By conducting a Case Study Approach using a semi-structured interview and secondary resources analysis, findings are then compared to the theoretical model. As a result, an empirically validated model on drivers affecting cloud ERP deployment decisions from both client company and consultant company perspectives has been developed; this model contains 15 drivers and 7 of them are new. The theoretical and practical contributions of the findings are then outlined.