Cloud strategies for software providers

Within this paper, the fundamental question of the hosting challenge for software providers starting with the cloud business, becoming Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) providers, is discussed. Selecting a hosting provider and consuming Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) is a common and viable solution. Some cooperation-based strategic choices are presented as alternative solutions and compared to the more common approaches. These can hold great potential, especially for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SME) when applied meaningfully. For that, the relevant terms Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) and Cloud Ecosystem are discussed, differentiated and defined with regards to existing definitions and their ambiguities. Following, the outset and challenges are described focussing on the case of SME providers. Last but not least, different strategic choices are presented with their advantages, disadvantages and challenges. These choices are presented in an overview matrix roughly weighted with relative responsibilities as well as ecological and strategic aspects.