Mitigating user concerns to maximize trust on cloud platforms

Cloud computing has proved to be a viable model for delivering information technology services through the web. It provides users the ability to share distributed resources owned by a central service provider at minimal setup costs. However, due to its nature, existing and potential users of the cloud are more concerned about the integrity, security and privacy of their data, and also the ability of the platform to offer a reliable service with minimal disruption. This paper investigates the extent to which cloud service providers can mitigate user trust concerns by exploring various techniques. The paper discusses the service provider attributes that users look for before they adopt a cloud application, and the mechanisms they can put in place to mitigate the various user trust concerns. The contribution of this paper is six critical success factors to assist cloud providers in cultivating user trust on their cloud platforms.