A Group Decision-Making Method for Selecting Cloud Computing Service Model

Cloud computing is a new technology that has great potential for the business world. Many business firms have implemented, are implementing, or planning to implement cloud computing technology. The cloud computing resources are delivered in various forms of service models which make it challenging for business customers to select the model that suits their business needs. This paper proposes a novel group-based decision-making method where a group of decision makers is involved in the decision process. Each decision maker provides weights for the cloud selection criteria. Based on weight aggregations and deviations, decision makers would select the alternative which has the highest ratio of deviation to mean is selected. The method is illustrated with an example on the selection of cloud service models. This method is useful for IT managers in selecting the appropriate cloud service model for their organizations.