Technological Forecasting & Social Change xxx (xxxx) xxx–xxx

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Technological Forecasting & Social Change

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/techfore

EaaS Optimization: Available yet hidden information technology

infrastructure inside medium size enterprise
JosephNg P.S.
Faculty of Computer and Information Science, University Technology Petronas, Bandar Seri Iskandar, 31750 Tronoh, Perak, Malaysia

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Information technology infrastructure procurement is a focal issue for Malaysia Medium Size Enterprises con-
Cloud computing fronting shortage asset amid economic turbulence. In this paper, we propose a financially savvy asset pooling
Economic turbulence shared service that improves on-request benefit yet dependable as the enterprise revolves. Further, we look at
Exostructure the appropriateness of legacy hypotheses for the commodity of IT infrastructure and disruptive innovation. Our
Framework
provocation opens up a key investment association between the proposed integrated IT infrastructure benefits
Grid computing
IaaS
with the key enterprise factors in monetarily feasible. The exploration was completed by means of a survey with
ICT infrastructure data collected from 100 respondents in Peninsular Malaysia and test-retest again the validity of the past 122
Malaysia respondents for data consistency. The findings posits that despite the fact that innovation highlights have its own
Optimization points of interest, however, un-optimized and un-reusabilities of existing desktop are two critical determinants of
Reusability infrastructure investment. It additionally rationalized that wasteful spending is a basic determinant of invest-
Resource pooling ment, giving the huge impact to over-speculation and over-spending plan. The findings drive us to propose an
Small and medium sized enterprise organic flexibility infrastructure solution that will expand or recoil with the business execution prompting the
Virtualization
discoveries for Exostructure as a Service framework as a Technology Management manual.

1. Introduction to the MSE business values
With more than $1billion ringgit of contribution and 23% to the
Malaysian Gross Domestic Productivity (GDP), the Malaysia Medium
Size Enterprise (MSE) plays an important factor in the business sector
(Edge, 2016, Tsai and Hsu, 2012). As the electronic economy continues
to improve and enlarge the market, digital tools will continue to affect
the uprising budget allocation of each enterprise (Zhang et al., 2015).
The "Manufacturer must adopt technology to gain the competitive edge
to keep cost down and profit up" (Focus Malaysia, 2016). MSEs are
trapped in the middle with sales growing nearing the bigger Multi-
National Corporations (MNCs) while constraint with smaller resources
like the Small and Micro Enterprise (SMEs). While running with limited
IT budgets and uneconomical production volume, yet MSEs still need to
trade off the rising 54% capital expenditure and operating expenses
(Vinotharan, 2014).
The research is primarily focused on the applied concept of using a
proven and stable shared services technology. Uber, one of the leading
ridesharing service provider have incorporated a disruptive online
booking technology that revolutionises the taxi services (Uber, 2016).
AirAsia (2016) new budget airfare moves into a new marketplace with
online booking capabilities and emphasising the importance of bare-
bone services while still maintaining the use of the same aeroplane
E-mail address: josephnps@hotmail.my.
infrastructure. Web and email server technology are pretty much
common for enterprises, however, hosting services provided by infra-
structure provider is a great financial and resources relief for the
smaller enterprises (Amazon, 2016). The above examples underline that
although technology is the enabler, what is more, important is services
differentiation that drives the competitiveness that is being adopted and
implemented in our typical lifestyles (Haddon, 2008).
In contrast to the common generalisations about the impact of
technology on society, this fascinating collection of original studies
shows that we can only really understand ICTs by looking at how they
are adopted and used in everyday life settings. MORAR Consulting has
highlighted that 89% enterprises had risk associated with unplanned
expansion while 79% enterprises relate optimize and the enterprise-
wide solution will be the driver for profitability (Vinotharan, 2014).
This is also shown in JosephNg and Kang (2016) alarming research of
over-investment findings. The problem statement is then translated into
the following research objective below:
• RO1: To explore the current infrastructure investment effectiveness
and efficiency level.
• RO2: To identify the infrastructure services that are core to opera-
tional excellence.
• RO3: To optimize the available infrastructure investment cost.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2018.01.030
Received 18 April 2017; Received in revised form 11 January 2018; Accepted 24 January 2018
0040-1625/ © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Please cite this article as: P S, J., Technological Forecasting & Social Change (2018), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2018.01.030
P.S. JosephNg Technological Forecasting & Social Change xxx (xxxx) xxx–xxx

• RO4: To synchronize the capabilities and capacity of infrastructure Ultimately, this research output will provide a commercially viable
performance with enterprise dynamic growth. technology management guidebook for the MSEs to optimize their
currently available infrastructure for sustainable growth.
With the development of IT technology outsourcing, MSEs could be
able to embark towards deeper complicated business environment. Kun
2. Medium size enterprise infrastructure investment outlook
et al. (2013) has highlighted that as MSEs start to develop, they should
literature
“invest in information technology, which allows the organization to process
more information without overloading the communications channels”. The
Nicholas Carr (2003, 2005) from Harvard University emphasize the
advance and maturation of technology that have over time integrated
concept that “technology is a commodity product” and MSEs can use it
into standard operating procedures like automated manufacturing have
as a weapon to make that competitive attack. However, technology
pushed MSEs to be much more efficient thus enabling their global
updating can be a costly weapon in the context of MSEs financial
competitiveness. The above-mentioned challenges have led to the for-
constraints. Therefore, MSEs need to strike a balance between de-
mation of the research questions below:-
ploying latest most advanced technology to capture competitive and
overdoing it as advocated by George in his research “Outsourcing and
• RQ1: What is the current infrastructure investment breakdown?
• RQ2: How can we prioritize the core infrastructure services?
Globalization: The View from the United States” (George et al., 2004).

• RQ3: Where are the major infrastructure investment spent on?

• RQ4: How can the infrastructures be provided on demand when only
needed?
The creation of phenomenon needs for an “Organic Infrastructure”
capability and capacity in MSEs has provoked the preliminary justifi-
cation for research, generating the following hypothesis summaries in
Fig. 1 as below:
H1. Volatile business performance has effects on infrastructure
investment.
As usual, infrastructure investment requires huge capital ex-
penditure that is highly associated with the enterprise business per-
formances. Furthermore, it requires steady financial consideration in
operating expenses for continuous maintenance. Amidst the current
market uncertainty, enterprises are having dilemma on deciding the
most appropriate timing to invest and payback period.
H2. MSE resource constraints have impacts on Infrastructure
implementation difficulties.
With their financial hands tied, MSEs is constantly facing challenges
in the infrastructure implementation. This has lead un-economy of
scales, leading negative productivity. Yet, with the availability of effi-
cient infrastructure, it will truly enhance the central infrastructure
services satisfaction.
H3. External services have influences on hardware maintenance.
While new hardware helps to lower maintenance cost, the main
challenges are actually the utilization rate of invested infrastructure.
This is how consultancy aids the unveiling of available yet hidden
services to drive MSE competitiveness.
H4. Business performance has correlation with efficiency of organic
infrastructure growth.
Typically, organization size is related to the dynamics of the busi-
ness wealth. As the enterprise moves positively, the infrastructure
growth in tandemly naturally. However, when the enterprise faces
challenging times, does the infrastructure downsize naturally?
Christensen (2006) from Harvard University emphasizes the con-
cept that “disruptive technology product lifecycle” and is unavoidable
during the economic turbulence period. MSEs must be aware of the
stage at which the technology is currently at. Deploying the technology
at the “too early” stage requires higher premium investment to skim the
market while using outdated or “everyone has it” technology will not
create significant uniqueness to acquired competitiveness (Bannister &
Remenyi, 2005, Bhatt & Grover, 2005). This is an expensive lesson
learned by this enterprise in “Disruptive technology: How Kodak missed
the digital photography revolution” as written by Lucas and Goh (2009).
“The success of a firm depends on its ability to take advantage of the
technology shifts to innovate in their business models and eventually to
compete differently” is a wake-up call by Lee et al., 2013).
Although financial and expertise limitation is known for the MSEs
but it should be their ultimate excuse to shy away from deploying
competitive technology as localizing infrastructure becomes more sa-
turated (Lee et al., 2013, Chandio et al., 2013). IT infrastructure is the
backbone of the MSEs computerized operation which produces impacts
only after matured deployments, beyond traditional management result
oriented benchmark (Joseph et al., 2012). Therefore, infrastructure is a
“long and continuous capital investment” even during the profitable
period and can stretch into possible during the economic turbulence
period.
Based on the above two concepts, it has affected the MSEs infra-
structure design consideration in the near future. While cloud archi-
tecture is already legacy with limited competitive differentiation, the
current volatile business market put more stress and complication for
the MSEs. The window for hardware to show significant business sense
in small time frame also makes decision making difficult will be ad-
dressed in this paper. JosephNg (2018/JosephNg and Kang, 2016 and
JosephNg et al. (2016a,b,c) and Sen and Raghu (2013) have highlighted
the impact of “over-invested on IT infrastructure after being pressured by
their peer competitive advantages resulting significant impact on their fi-
nancial returns”. It is also not uncommon to hide such “unmatching
technology” from public domain news while unfamiliar enterprises
continue to invest in such technology. Most importantly, JosephNg
(2018/JosephNg and Kang, 2016 and JosephNg et al. (2016a,b,c) re-
search has identified that IT infrastructure was considered as a com-
modity due to the different view of procurement classification angle

VOLATILE BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY

H1 H3
CONSULTANCY
CENTRAL
INFRASTRUCTURE
RESOURCE BUSINESS
H2 H4 PERFORMANCES
CONTRAINT

Fig. 1. Conceptual framework for hypothesis relationship.

2
P.S. JosephNg Technological Forecasting & Social Change xxx (xxxx) xxx–xxx

Table 1
Research methodology summary.

Research Phenomena explanatory sequential dimension

dimension

Research design • Random Survey • Personal Interview • Focus Group Discussion –

Technical Level
• Focus
Level
Group Discussion – Strategic

Data collection • End users - Managerial level. • End users - Top management • Consultants, vendors & end- • Malaysian Manufacturing
• Across peninsular Malaysia. level. users. Federation.
• January to February 2012 • Central Malaysia. • Central Malaysia. • Central Malaysia.
• 228 respondents. • January to March 2013 • October 2013 • Targeted October 2014
• 10Convenient
respondents. • 10Convenient
respondents. • 10Convenient
respondents.
Research
methods
• Convenient sampling using
available organization hosting final
• willing to participate
sampling who are
and share
• willing to participate
sampling who are
and share
• willing to participate
sampling who are
and share
year industrial training students. information. information. information.
• Distributed by undergraduate
student to the site supervisor during
• Interviewed by First Author. • Facilitated by First Author. • Facilitated by First Author.
their industrial internship.
Data analysis Spearman correlation quantitative Qualitative reasoning explanation Delphi inductive conclusion Qualitative reasoning explanation
exploration
Contribution Draft framework Preliminary framework Pilot framework Validated framework

while the technology features are applicable but in a differentiation
environment. Although moving to a shared service is unavoidable, but
the more important question should be just limiting shared service as a
cloud technology. Local shared service inside the MSEs is also the next
available options.
3. Research methodology
Based on the research questions discussed earlier, we had for-
malized a few essential questions to be asked in the survey. The ques-
tions asked to emphasize and focus on the infrastructure utilization,
prioritizing core infrastructure, infrastructure investment and coping
with the on-demand request. The rationale of the questions asked
would provide justification to the research questions and aid in the
initial EaaS framework design and creation. The researchers had used
questionnaire survey to collect primary data related to the phenomenal
sequences happening in this research (Venkatesh et al., 2016/2013,
Agerfalk, 2013, Creswell, 2013, Zachariadis, 2013, Zhang & Shaw,
2012). The research uses mass survey of 100 respondents again (refer as
Data 2) as to test and retest the reliability of the previous mass survey of
122 respondents data (refer as Data 1) conducted by JosephNg and
Kang, 2016 and JosephNg et al. (2016a,b,c) and deploys the same re-
search dimension of Explanatory to provide Generalization output
consistency (JosephNg 2018/JosephNg et al. (2016a,b)/JosephNg
et al., 2015/4/3; Ng-Poh-Soon et al., 2011). This provides important
quantitative justification for the further infrastructure capital ex-
penditure for MSE and shown in table below.
The sequential design was used to justify the magnitude of the re-
search environment. It helps to provide justification for the action of the
following steps. This help to provide the explanation to behaviour
linking of various primary data collection stages to identify possible
relationship or abnormality.
The quantitative feedback is used to generalize the viewpoint of
numerous respondent from various MSE located in scatted part of
Peninsular Malaysia. This allows greater control on the predefined set
of the possible best matching answer within the survey “question and
answers” options. Using survey as the data collection tool allows the
research team to collect more data when to compare to using the sin-
gular tool like interviews which are also more time consuming with
expensive travelling charges.
The previous 1st phase of the survey was conducted from one
hundred twenty-two respondent collected by IT students who were
undergoing their undergraduate final year internship onsite in various
enterprises across Peninsular Malaysia. This current 2nd phase of the
survey was conducted the main author to respondents who are mem-
bers of some computer association with Malaysia or professionals at-
tending computing industry seminars. Both sets of data collected here
are used to validate the consistency of the information tabulated.
The (Edge, 2016) Mass Survey with Test-Retest data method used in
this current research to gather primary data is an extension of the
previous () Delphi Focus Group with technical expert team and ()
personalized interview with top management. Based on the research
questions discussed earlier, we had formalized a few essential questions
to be asked in the survey. The questions asked to emphasize and focus
on the infrastructure utilization, prioritizing core infrastructure, infra-
structure investment and coping with the on-demand request. The ra-
tionale of the questions asked would provide justification to the re-
search questions and aid in the initial EaaS framework design and
creation. The researchers had used questionnaire survey to collect pri-
mary data related to the phenomenal sequences happening in this re-
search (Venkatesh et al., 2016/Venkatesh et al., 2013, Agerfalk, 2013,
Zachariadis, 2013). The research uses mass survey of 100 respondents
again (refer as Data 2) as to test and retest the reliability of the previous
mass survey of 122 respondents data (refer as Data 1) conducted by
JosephNg and Kang, 2016 and JosephNg et al. (2016a,b,c) and deploys
the same research dimension of Explanatory to provide Generalization
output consistency (JosephNg, 2018/JosephNg and Kang, 2016 and
JosephNg et al. (2016a,b,c)/Joseph et al., 2015/Joseph et al., 2014/
Joseph et al., 2013; Ng-Poh-Soon et al., 2011). This provides important
quantitative justification for the further infrastructure capital ex-
penditure for MSE and shown in table below.
Table 1 below shows the profile of the respondents selected for this
research. In this current survey data gathering, 222 respondents were
collected to discuss various questions pertaining to this study. The use
of three different instruments for the whole project is part of Table 2
Concurrent Validity method aims to affirm the consistent views and
opinion from all executive ranks within the enterprise.
As for Construct Validation in Table 2, the instruments have been
tested in both the university and the industry level. The views and
opinion from the lecturers have helped to test the research theoretical
framework to ensure all possible theories have been revisited. The in-
dustry respondents are required to test the practical implication of

3
P.S. JosephNg
Table 2
Research validation.
1. Content validity
Domain distribution
Language, depth
2. Concurrent validity
Mass survey
Personalized interview
Focus group
3. Construct validity
Lecturer
Industry experts
framework in non-controlled environment with multi-factored con-
straints. Validation was gathered from the executive interview with the
top management on the MSME strategic direction of computing infra-
structure (Joseph et al., 2013). As the infrastructure investment is
higher, the deliverable is mapped to the long-term strategic direction of
the enterprise which is set by them. Further validation was obtained
from the focus group discussion via email with the technology subject
matter experts. This was conducted between March to May 2013
(Joseph et al., 2014). This Delphi method was used to share view and
comment from the experts and their feedbacks were analyzed.
The sequential design was used to justify the magnitude of the re-
search environment. It helps to provide justification for the action of the
following steps. This help to provide the explanation to behaviour
linking of various primary data collection stages to identify possible
relationship or abnormality.
The quantitative feedback is used to generalize the viewpoint of
numerous respondent from various MSE located in scatted part of
Peninsular Malaysia. This allows greater control on the predefined set
of the possible best matching answer within the survey ‘question and
answers’ options. Using survey as the data collection tool allows the
research team to collect more data when to compare to using the sin-
gular tool like interviews which are also more time consuming with
expensive travelling charges.
The previous 1st phase of the survey was conducted from one
hundred twenty-two respondent collected by IT students who were
undergoing their undergraduate final year internship onsite in various
enterprises across Peninsular Malaysia. This current 2nd phase of the
survey was conducted the main author to respondents who are mem-
bers of some computer association with Malaysia or professionals at-
tending computing industry seminars. Both sets of data collected here
are used to validate the consistency of the information tabulated.
4. Findings and discussion
While the MSE continue to embrace the volatile business landscape,
they look into enhancing their computing infrastructure technology as
competitive weapon to differentiate themselves. While capital invest-
ment continues to haunt the MSE at 50% of the Implementation
Difficulties shown in Fig. 2 consistent in Data 1 and Data 2, it is also
important to understand the contribution of Processes (18% & 12%).
This justifies the proposition for hypothesis H1: Volatile business per-
formance has effects on infrastructure investment. Although the MSE
operates mostly within a single site (with limited branches) operation,
they lacked the infrastructure capacities and capabilities to integrate
their operation.
With over concern of putting too much investment in non-profitable
computing infrastructure, they continued to operate with skeleton silo
solutions. With scarce budgets to support disintegrated operation pro-
cesses, it furthers add burden to Internal and External Support (21%) of
the MSEs. As competition put more pressure to deliver more superior
goods and services, enterprise needs to stay ahead with better product
knowledge. This support the creation of H2: MSE constraint has impacts
on infrastructure implementation difficulties. Yet, without the much-
4
Technological Forecasting & Social Change xxx (xxxx) xxx–xxx
Quantitative Data Collection
and Generalize Exploratory
Analysis
Identify outlier and Qualitative Data Collection
follow up with … and In-Depth Explanatory
Analysis
Characteristic
Interpretation
Fig. 2. Sequential design.
centralized infrastructure to support the rapid deployment of new
knowledge, MSEs will remain to be uncompetitive.
Amidst continuous challenges with scarce resources and bustling
turbulence climax, MSE must be able to spend less while gaining
more returns. However, Fig. 4 shows an uncomfortable quarter
(17 + 15 = 32% & 16 + 13 = 29%) of their investments level goes
into questionable “over-invested” or” underinvested” decisions. This
could have help to minimize the budget constraint faced in Fig. 1 or
used for further investment to help boost better product knowledge to
strengthen internal and external support. Therefore H3: External ser-
vices have influence to hardware maintenance operation expenses. In
addition to questioning whether the MSE is investing sufficiently, over
or under in line with the business performance, there must an infra-
structure solution that can understand the dynamics of enterprise. As
the organic infrastructure, these solutions will grow or shrink its per-
formance capacities and capabilities in line with H4: Business perfor-
mance has correlation with efficiency of organic infrastructure growth.
This optimization strategy help MSEs to concentrate on the already
scarce resources to address their budget constraints. An organic virtual
infrastructure also helps to improve physical space utilization within
the typical smaller office space within the MSE, plus also the associated
supporting systems like power consumption, rental and maintenance.
This helps to minimize the ‘over-invested’ syndrome highlighted in
Fig. 1.
Table 2 shows a consistent slightly weak correlation among the
variables from both data, concluding four difference independent cri-
tical investment. Hardware has a weak correlation with Software at
0.298 (Data 1) and 0.317 (Data 2) with p = 0.01 for both, showing a
typical environment where new software will be installed on every new
hardware. However, since a new hardware will come will with a war-
ranty protection and more reliable components, therefore reducing the
needs for a Maintenance program as shown in the negative −0.155
(Data 1) and −0180 (Data 2). Hardware also has a negative −0.571
moderate correlation with Consultancy since MSEs are faced with ex-
clusive but limited resources as mentioned in Fig. 1. Therefore, MSEs
need to find a solution that can reduce the future investment in hard-
ware while controlling further operating expenses on hardware main-
tenance renewal inline with H3: External services have influences on
hardware maintenance.
With budget being the half the problem as shown in Fig. 3, MSE is
struggling to accommodate all the four distributed critical processes
due to the weak correlation from negative −0.364 to positive 0.285 in
Table 3. The Client and Supplier have weak dependencies and therefore
creating concerns in allocating resources. As the MSEs are relatively
smaller when compare to the larger Multi-National Corporation (MNC)
as reflected in the negative correlation of −0.193 and, therefore, are
P.S. JosephNg
Data 1
Fig. 3. Implementation difficulties.
concentrated at a single site (or limited branches) operation. Due to
their higher focus on Client processes, their Internal processes are
sidelined as reflected in the negative −0.364 correlations (Table 4).
The MSEs are a unique yet significant enterprise group that uses the
cloud computing IaaS to remain competitive in the current volatile
business environment. However, as resources become highly scarce,
enterprise also need to reconsider the survival element of running it
with the basic necessity. Technology enabler is common but enterprise
needs to reconsider technology optimization (Rong et al., 2013, Tambe
and Hitt, 2013, Gu and Jung, 2013, Sen and Raghu, 2013, Bharadwaj
et al., 2013, Santos et al., 2012, Brown et al., 2012). With reference to
initial Carr (2003) Commodity theory of availability of technology
features for larger enterprises with the greater economy of scale, such
advancement is considered premium offerings for the MSEs. In Clayton
(2006) Disruptive theory where technology innovation does not induce
more competitiveness, yet is does promote sustainability in operations.
Table 5 summaries the overall findings of the research.
5. Exostructure as a Service (EaaS)
The essence of this research to study and identify the IT infra-
structure investment effectiveness and efficiency that are core to the
operational excellence. However, we all understand that quality and
excellence have a direct relationship with cost-effective adversely.
Hence, it is very critical to have a balance between the both of them.
Another concern of this research is the ability of MSEs to synchronize
the capabilities of infrastructure performance to cope with organiza-
tions' dynamic growth. Hence, to achieve the ROs mentioned earlier,
the EaaS framework is an excellent solution for the MSEs to start im-
plementing.
Data 1
Fig. 4. Investment level.
5
Technological Forecasting & Social Change xxx (xxxx) xxx–xxx
Data 2
The technology solution in Fig. 5 is a combination of Grid Com-
puting and Virtualization. The “centralize server” emerged from the
organic integration of various underutilized desktops, servers or com-
patible computing devices within the enterprise forming an optimized
Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS). The IaaS will then host all the re-
quired Software as a Service (SaaS) applications to run their core En-
terprise Resources Planning (ERP) operation to enhance operational
effectiveness and efficiency as per RO1 and RO2.
EaaS is a virtual yet organic platform that is born from internal
infrastructure resources. This allows greater management access and
control when to compare to external outsource web hosting service,
especially in service level priority especially from increasing con-
sultancy service from Fig. 1. Being a local infrastructure also means
much more assured security confidence level to minimize possible im-
plementation difficulties as addressed in Fig. 1. As the business en-
vironment become much more dynamic yet time-sensitive, the need for
minimum third-party dependencies should be avoided as much as
possible. This help to address the dynamic nature of business perfor-
mance and resolve the answer to RQ3. This is particularly important in
digitizing operation where processing capability and capacity is an in-
creased operating cost for conventional external IaaS.
The virtual server is a dynamic server that will blend with the at-
mosphere of enterprise performance to achieve RO4. As the enterprise
enjoying positive growth, it will logically expand its operations thus
invest more computing devices. Furthermore, as the technology per-
formance power and feature enhanced, so will be the server. This
tandem increased (or reduction) of the virtual server performances as
addressed by RQ4 as “to synchronize the capacities and capabilities of the
infrastructure performance with the enterprise dynamic performance".
Nevertheless, the virtual server will also shrink according to when the
Data 2
P.S. JosephNg
Table 3
: Competitive critical ICT investment.
enterprise experience challenging period. This flexibility will help the
enterprise to sustain survivability and aids sustain barebone investment
cost from RO4 especially the 32% poorly invested infrastructure men-
tioned in Fig. 2.
The project uses the BONIC (Berkeley Open Infrastructure for
Network Computing) open source grid solution developed by Berkeley
University (2016). The use of open source solution help to encourage
greater participation in the use of a new technology without the over-
whelm initial high capital expenditure, traditionally associated with
computerization license fees. This also helps to mitigate implementa-
tion difficulties shown in Fig. 1 while addressing RO1 and RO3. With
open source, it also allows much wider flexibilities in the future en-
hancement and annual maintenance charges.
Each of the workstation, which could be a typical desktop or laptop
is installed with a BONIC client agent. A central administration server
will be used to manage the whole grid solution. This server can also be
configured from an existing server, thus lowering the initial capital
investment. Whenever the workstation is started up, the agent will
activate the BONC application as background services. It will be pre-
configured to receive the external task from the BONIC server for local
6
Technological Forecasting & Social Change xxx (xxxx) xxx–xxx
workstation processing. The server will also detect and monitor the
availability or performance capabilities and capacities of each work-
station as the enterprise grows or downtime in line with the business
performances to resolve challenges faced by RO4 for a synergetic
growth.
The external task can be capped at a specific threshold of the local
workstation processing capabilities so not to burden the user front end
application processing capabilities and distort their performances.
When incorporated with desktop's WakeOnLAN feature, it can remotely
boot up the desktop during the night for month-end heavy processing
requirements. This allows the workstation to perform on-demand ex-
ternal service yet maintained a reasonable cost-effective financial
health while achieving RO2.
6. Conclusion
Taking a look at the current monetary downturn (Bloomberg, 2016/
2013, Tong, 2016, StarBiz, 2013, Reuters, 2013, SunBiz, 2013), MSEs
needs to deliberately and proactively roll out improvements critically as
IT infrastructure procurement requires more time to yield results. While
P.S. JosephNg Technological Forecasting & Social Change xxx (xxxx) xxx–xxx

Table 4
Critical processes.

most enterprises are starting to set out the typical cloud service, many
are as yet ignorant of the considerable infrastructure pooling service
potential that is as of now accessible on request yet hidden inside their
enterprise.
Most infrastructure requires extra spending (Vinotharan, 2014),
EaaS is centred around utilizing accessible assets inside the enterprise
while maintaining the limited resource faced by current MSEs. There is
a pressing interest to make a future survival arrangement yet adaptable
versatility organic infrastructure that develops with the business ex-
ecution of the environment. While EaaS used accessible organic and
flexible localize shared device to shape an integrated grid computing,
there are still untapped options for combination into cloud services.
This test-retest second stage review quantitative research structure
improvement has given a stage to request more broad subjective

Table 5
Research findings summary.

Top management interview Findings summary Expert focus group findings summary Managerial survey findings summary

A1. Current economic turbulence has limited impact on IT
investment decision due to it medium and long-term
deliverables.
A2. Sufficient technology to fulfil operational requirements.
A3. IT infrastructure investments to provide the platform to
differentiate the market player
A4. Slow migration to IaaS due to security and capacity
concerns on shared services.
A5. IT infrastructures are nowadays considered as a Utility
Tool for day-to-day operational support.
A6. Focus mainly on core operation like client service and
manufacturing flow.
B1. Current economic turbulence is a seasonal factor that may
be beyond the work scope of the budgeting process.
B2. IT infrastructure is a medium and long-term planning
where contribution may be experienced during or after the
economic turbulence
B3. Technology edge service is a major differentiation in
technology product competition.
B4. IaaS high baseline charges forcing impractical utility model
for lower range users.
B5. Current market saturation is forcing competitive pricing
war to attract customers.
B6. Technology resource is now available from outsourcing
C1. Continuous IT infrastructure investment
currently
C2. IT infrastructure investment is based on the
pressure from having what competitor have
C3. Technology focuses on day to day
electronic business.
C4. Felt that their organization has over-
invested on ICT
C5. A technology edge is highly dynamic and
evolving.
C6. Lack of internal IT expertise to implement
technology solution

7
P.S. JosephNg
Fig. 5. EaaS logical architecture.
thinking research later on. The blended mode commitment from both
quantitative with subjective will support more prominent inside and
out future research to adjust the information gathered, hence improving
the deliverable of the task.
"The marginal contraction of the Malaysian manufacturing sector
was sustained during March (2017), extending the current run of de-
cline to two years. The latest deterioration primarily reflected an on-
going contraction in new orders, which fell at a slightly faster rate" is a
disturbing marker of the turbulence economy featured by TheEdge
(2016). It a reminder for expedite development towards a manageable
economy as Malaysia manufacturing PMI dropping further and will
keep deteriorating into negative for the following couple of years.
References
Agerfalk, P.J., 2013. Embracing diversity through mixed methods research. Eur. J. Inf.
Syst. 22 (3), 251–256.
AirAsia, 2016. https://www.uber.com/en-MY/ (Accessed on 28/10/2016).
Amazon, 2016. https://aws.amazon.com/websites/?sc_channel=PS&sc_campaign=
acquisition_MY&sc_publisher=google&sc_medium=websites_webapps_nb&sc_
content=web_hosting_bmm&sc_detail=%2Bweb%20%2Bhosting&sc_category=
websites_webapps&sc_segment=116107483888&sc_matchtype=b&sc_country=MY
&s_kwcid=AL!4422!3!116107483888!b!!g!!%2Bweb%20%2Bhosting&ef_id=Vu@
@PgAABcV8lBCi:20161028004946:s.
Bannister, F., Remenyi, D., 2005. Why IT continues to matter: reflection on the strategic
value of IT. Electronic Journal Information Systems Evaluation V8 (I3), 159–168.
Berkeley University, 2016. Boinc Open-source software for volunteer computing. http://
boinc.berkeley.edu Accessed on 22/07/2016.
Bharadwaj, A., Sawy, O.A.E., Pavlou, P.A., Venkatraman, N., 2013. Visions and voice on
emerging challenges in digital business strategy. MIS Q. V37 (I2), 633–661.
Bhatt, G.D., Grover, V., 2005. Types of information technology capabilities and their role
in competitive advantage: an empirical study. Journal of Management Information
Systems Evaluation V22 (N2), 253–277 Fall 2005.
Bloomberg, 2013. Najib Sees Malaysia Escaping Fitch Rating cut Southeast Asia. http://
www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-10-13/najib-sees-malaysia-escaping-fitch-rating-
cut-southeast-asia.html Accessed on 07/11/2013.
Bloomberg, 2016. Where the next crisis will come from. http://www.bloomberg.com/
news/articles/2016-10-20/where-the-next-crisis-will-come-from Accessed on 26/
10/16.
Brown, S.A., Venkatesh, V., Goyal, S., 2012. Expectation confirmation in technology use.
Inf. Syst. Res. V23 (I2), 474–487.
Carr, N.G., 2003. IT doesn't matter. In: Harvard Business Review, May 2003, pp. 41–49.
Carr, N.G., 2005. The end of Corporate IT, Computerworld (May). In: MIT Sloan
Management Review, Spring 2005, pp. 66–73 V46 N3.
Chandio, F.H., Abbasi, M.S., Nizamani, H.A., Nizamani, Q.U.A., 2013. Online banking
information systems acceptance: a structural equation modelling analysis.
International Journal of Business Information Systems V12 (N2), 177–193.
Christensen, Clayton M., 2006. The ongoing process of building a theory of disruption. J.
Prod. Innov. Manag. V23 (I1), 39–55.
Creswell, J.W., 2013. Research designs: qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods
8
Technological Forecasting & Social Change xxx (xxxx) xxx–xxx
approach, 4th Ed. Sage publication, Thousand Oaks.
Edge, 2016. Accelerating High-end Manufacturing. Edge Malaysia, 24/10/2016
Corporate 88.
Focus Malaysia, 2016. SMEs Must Boost Fundamentals to Grow, 2–8 April 2016. Focus
Malaysia, pp. 36.
George, J.F., Valacich, J.S., Valor, J., 2004. Does IT still matter? In: Twenty-Fifth
International Conference on Information Systems, pp. 1039–1048.
Gu, J.W., Jung, H.W., 2013. The effects of IS resources, capabilities and qualities on
organizational performance: an integrated approach. Inf. Manag. V50 (I2–3), 87–97.
Haddon, L., 2008. The Social Dynamics of Information and Communication Technology,
Routledge. (ISBN-10-0754670821).
Joseph, N.P.S., Choo, P.Y., Wong, S.W., Phan, K.Y., Lim, E.H., 2012. Hibernating ICT
infrastructure during rainy days. Journal of Emerging Trends in Computing &
Information Sciences 3 (1), 112–116.
Joseph, N.P.S., Mahmood, A.K., Choo, P.Y., Wong, S.W., Phan, K.Y., Lim, E.H., 2013.
Battles in volatile information and communication technology landscape: The
Malaysia small and medium enterprise case. International Journal of Business
Information System 217–234 , ISSN 1746-0972, V13 N2 2013.
Joseph, N.P.S., Mahmood, A.K., Choo, P.Y., Wong, S.W., Phan, K.Y., Lim, E.H., 2014. IaaS
cloud optimization during economic turbulence for Malaysia small and medium
Enterprise. International Journal of Business Information System V16 (N2), 196–208
(ISSN 1746-0972).
Joseph, N.P.S., Mahmood, A.K., Choo, P.Y., Wong, S.W., Phan, K.Y., Lim, E.H., 2015.
Barebone Cloud IaaS: revitalization disruptive technology. International Journal of
Business Information System 107–126 V18, N1. (ISSN 1746-0972).
JosephNg, Poh Soon, 2018. Exostructure as a Service, Survival and Flexible for MSE
during Economic Turbulence. International Journal of Business Information Systems
(Forthcoming Article).
JosephNg, P.S., Kang, C.M., 2016. Beyond Barebone cloud infrastructure services:
stumbling competitiveness during economic turbulences. J. Sci. Technol. 24 (1),
101–121.
JosephNg, Poh Soon, Mahmood, Ahmad Kamil, Choo, Pen Yin, Wong, See Wan, Phan,
Koo Yuen, Lim, Ean Heng, 2015. Beyond cloud infrastructure service in medium size
manufacturing. In: International Symposium on Mathematical Sciences and
Computing Research (iSMSC), 19–20 May 2015. IEEE Explore, Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia,
pp. 150–155.
JosephNg, Poh Soon, Kang, Chon Moy, Ahmad Kamil, Mahmood, Wong, See Wan, Phan,
Koo Yuen, Saw, Seow Hui, Lim, Jit Theam, 2016a. EaaS: Available yet Hidden
Infrastructure inside MSE. In: 5th International Conference on Network,
Communication and Computing (ICNCC), 17–21 December 2016. ACM International
Conference Proceeding Series, Kyoto, Japan, pp. 17–20.
JosephNg, Poh Soon, Ahmad Kamil, Mahmood, Kang, Chon Moy, Choo, Pen Yin, Wong,
See Wan, Phan, Koo Yuen, Lim, Ean Heng, 2016b. Exostructure services for infra-
structure resources optimization. In: The 4th International Conference on
Engineering and ICT (ICEI), Melaka, Malaysia, pp. 65–69.
JosephNg, P.S., Mahmood, A.K., Choo, P.Y., Wong, S.W., Phan, K.Y., Lim, E.H., 2016c.
Exostructure services for infrastructure resources optimization. Journal of
Telecommunication, Electronic and Computer Engineering V8 (I4), 65–69 (ISSN
2180-1843).
Kun, S.I., Grover, V., Teng, James T.C., 2013. Research note: do large firms becomes
smaller by using information technology? Inf. Syst. Res. V24 (I2), 470–491.
Lee, C.Y., Park, H.J., Park, Y.T., 2013. Keeping abreast of technology-driven business
model evolution: a dynamic patent analysis approach. Tech. Anal. Strat. Manag. V25
(I5), 487–505.
Lucas, H.C., Goh, J.M., 2009. Disruptive technology: how Kodak missed the digital
P.S. JosephNg
photography revolution. J. Strateg. Inf. Syst. V18 (I1), 46–55.
Ng-Poh-Soon, J., Yin, C.P., Wan, W.S., Nazmudeen, M.S.H., 2011. Energizing ICT infra-
structure for Malaysia SME competitive during economic turbulence. In: Research
and Development (SCOReD) IEEE Explore, pp. 310–314.
Reuters, 2013. Fitch Revises Malaysia Outlook for Negative. http://www.reuters.com/
article/2013/07/30/fitch-revises-malaysias-outlook-to-negat-
idUSFit66566620130730 access on 07/11/2013.
Rong, K., Lin, Y., Shi, Y., Yu, J., 2013. Linking business ecosystem lifecycle with platform
strategy: a triple view of technology, application or organisation. Int. J. Technol.
Manag. V62 (N1), 75–105.
Santos, B.L.D., Zheng, Z., Mookerjee, V.S., Chen, H.Y., 2012. Are new IT enable invest-
ment opportunities diminishing for firms? Inf. Syst. Res. V23 (I2), 287–305.
Sen, S., Raghu, T.S., 2013. Interdependencies in IT infrastructure services: analyzing
service processes for optimal incentive design. Inf. Syst. Res. V24 (I3), 822–841.
StarBiz, 2013. World Bank Cuts Growth Outlook as World Enters New Normal. http://biz.
thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2013/6/13/business/20130613085623&
sec=business Access on 13/06/13.
SunBiz, 2013. April manufacturing sales down 5.2%. In: The Sun, pp. 18 12 June 2013.
Tambe, P., Hitt, L.M., 2013. Measuring information technology spillover. Inf. Syst. Res.
V25 (I1), 53–71.
TheEdge, 2016. Malaysia's Manufacturing PMI Falters7 March 2016. TheEdge,
Technological Forecasting & Social Change xxx (xxxx) xxx–xxx
Corporate. pp. 16.
Tong, 2016. Turbulent start to 2016. In: Investing, The Edge, Jan 11–17, pp. 12.
Tsai, K.H., Hsu, T.J., 2012. Linking cross-functional collaboration, innovation perfor-
mance, and competitive intensity: towards a mediated moderation perspective. Asian
Journal of Technology Innovation V20 (I1), 113–126.
Uber, 2016. https://www.uber.com/en-MY/ (Accessed on 28/10/2016).
Venkatesh, V., Brown, S.A., Bala, H., 2013. Bridging the qualitative-quantitative divide:
guideline for conducting mixed methods research in information systems. MIS Q. V37
(N1), 21–54.
Venkatesh, V., Brown, S.A., Sullivan, Y.W., 2016. Guidelines for conducting
Mixed_methods research: an extension and illustration. J. Assoc. Inf. Syst. 17 (7),
435–495.
Vinotharan, K., 2014. IT Spending to Rise for Small Business. Malaysian Reserve, pp. 6 3
September 2013.
Zachariadis, M., Scott, S., Barret, M., 2013. Methodological implications of critical rea-
lism for mixed methods research. MIS Q. 37 (3), 855–879.
Zhang, Y., Shaw, J.D., 2012. From the editors, publishing in AMJ – part 5, Crafting the
methods and results. Acad. Manag. J. V55 (N1), 8–12.
Zhang, D., Cheng, Z., Mohammad, H.A., Qurban, Nault B., 2015. Research commentary –
information technology substitution revisited. Inf. Syst. Res. 26 (3), 480–495.