Cloud service management decision support: An application of AHP for provider selection of a cloud-based IT service management system

PURPOSE: This paper examines the applicability of the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) model to solve the decision problem of a provider selection for a cloud-based IT service management (ITSM) solution. Furthermore, critical selection criteria for the process of provider selection are identified. DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH: This article describes an approach which supports IT organizations in their decision-making process to select an appropriate provider using the AHP. Therefore, an AHP-based model is created and applied to standard cloud use cases. For standard cloud use cases, seven IT executives were interviewed and their priorities related to each cloud level were discussed. In addition, a case study was conducted with a large publishing company, which has recently implemented a cloud-based ITSM solution. FINDINGS: Using the AHP approach, criteria for cloud provider selection are successfully applied to ITSM selection. The findings suggest that IT security and compliance is perceived as a mandatory dimension. Although the interviewed company is almost exclusively concerned about IT security and compliance issues, it does not consider these dimensions for provider comparison. Furthermore, provider selection is a complex and multi-criteria decision problem with the following most important factors: service elasticity (IaaS), information security (PaaS), and continual service improvement (SaaS).