Cloud computing from the perspectives of small and medium-sized enterprises

This thesis was purposed to combine the information and communication technology (ICT) world and that of the business, by using resources such as cloud computing (CC) and business units such as small and medium-size enterprises. The aim was to bring attention of the present changes brought by the advent of cloud computing to the business world taking into consideration factors of economics of scale, security, adaptability, practicality, friendliness, and more. This thesis was meant to paint the theoretical and practical view of the various types of cloud computing, models, examples, deployments, commercialisation, and security as usage is concern. The aim was to ascertain the advent of cloud computing (CC) provided in today’s lucrative ventures for organisations to outsource their ICT solutions. Small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs), contribute hugely to the gross domestic product (GDP) of many economies around the world, most especially that of the European Union (EU) where they stand as the backbone of economy. Definitions to SMEs were studied and then similarities and differences analysed as they vary with geographical location. The objective of the thesis was to enlighten of what cloud computing (CC) is, especially from the perspectives of SMEs, portray its various kinds, and services offered by the its platforms. The aim was to ascertain the various resources offered by the platforms on cloud computing to businesses and organisations, especially SME’s, and the progress they can achieve when on the cloud. The thesis also includes a study of selected case companies (Foodora, Wolt, Airbnb and Zalando) that started as small enterprises, but have been able to grow substantially by the use of cloud computing based solution. The study was based on the data they had over time provided as to their growth on their respective websites. These cases serve as examples to support the idea that irrespective of the challenges that came as a result of the sizes and resources of SMEs as start-ups, they were able to grow and go global with ease and less cost, thanks to being on the cloud