Influential factor analysis for cloud computing technology service provider

Nowadays, computer processes and applications are run on remote Internet servers providing many cloud services for their users. The increasing number of services, whose features are continually being refreshed, make it challenging to choose the most appropriate option. Evaluation of CCT (Cloud Computing Technology) service providers requires identifying important criteria and their impact on users' decision-making. This paper provides a detailed literature review of these criteria. The method is based on Multi-Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM) since unfavorable and beneficial criteria must be evaluated together to ensure that decision-making is efficient and comprehensive. The process is handled by gathering linguistic expert evaluations on different CCT service providers using a group decision-making (GDM) approach. The 2-Tuple DEMATEL method is applied to reveal the relationships between criteria and dimensions. The weights of the evaluation criteria are determined based on the findings of the empirical study. The impacts of each evaluation criterion are also obtained. The proposed framework enables IT managers and/or related managers to better evaluate CCT services. The empirical findings may produce a guide for users to find out about the system components of CCT. The research results will help companies assess and select the most suitable CCT using linguistic evaluation. The originality of this paper comes from its comprehensive strategical analysis of key factors of CCT to determine standards for service provider assessment. In addition, the researchers recommend the linguistic DEMATEL application, in which decision-makers (DMs) use the linguistic set with which they are comfortable and familiar to assess the relationship between evaluation dimensions and criteria.