Software-as-a-Service and Cloud Computing, a solution for small and medium-sized companies

Abstract

Small and medium-sized companies are an important part of today’s world economy, for their ability to offer new jobs but also for their capacity of innovation. At the same time, they are in a constant struggle with larger companies that take advantage of their negotiating power to impose their way of doing business to the SMEs. In an ICT enabled world, most large companies being intense ICT users, the lag of ICT adoption in SMEs may create a strong barrier between SMEs and large companies, promoting an over growing digital divide, the SMEs being in danger of being left out in some economic sectors. This paper aims at finding a possible solution in the Software-as-a-Service and Cloud Computing model, a rather new solution, yet more and more sought off by SMEs but also larger companies, especially considering the global financial and economic crisis, as well as evaluating the European Union’s main views and policies regarding the SAAS – Cloud model.