Economic Evaluation of Cloud Computing Investment Alternatives

We provide an economic evaluation model to help managers make reasonable decision for the investment in the appropriate type of cloud computing. Cloud computing can be classified into public, private and hybrid architecture and we evaluate their attractiveness using traditional NPV and real option methods. We conduct economic analysis by comparing traditional software delivery model with various types of cloud computing. The work compares each mode of cloud computing against each other using passive NPV and dynamic real-option method. For more objective and conservative evaluation of investment alternatives, we eliminate conventional benefits that are often subjective or hard to measure, and count only the reduction of investment cost and maintenance cost as benefit. We argue that hybrid and public cloud computing can be undervalued without their intrinsic options such as abandonment, expansion and contraction.