Fuzzy set theory-based comparative evaluation of cloud service offerings: an agro-food supply chain case study

IT has unarguably become a technology pillar for companies operating in highly competitive markets, characterised by shrinking margins. A typical example is the flexible manufacturing domain, where effective management of IT is the enabling factor of competitiveness. The challenge for these companies is achieving effective IT management at low costs. In this context, cloud computing is an extremely promising paradigm. However, unleashing this potential is not a trivial task, since it requires the ability to evaluate the pros and cons of a wide range of technologies and commercial offerings from a multitude of angles. In this paper, we propose an approach based on fuzzy set theory for enabling a group of companies to select the most convenient cloud offering available on the market. The approach is presented with respect to a real case study in the flexible manufacturing domain, specifically of agro-food industries.