A Decision Frameworkon Small and Medium Enterprises to Adopt Cloud Software as a Service

Abstract

Software as a service (SaaS)is the future trend in software services. However, only a few successful SaaS providerscurrently exist. This study investigated how Taiwanese small and medium enterprises (SMEs) can utilize SaaS, giveSaaSprovidersbusiness strategy references, and supply a basis for information system operators to transfer service mode in order to innovate the provision of SaaS. The study is based on survey results obtained from 474 SMEs for a telecom company in Taiwan to determine the reasons SMEs utilizeSaaS. Taking the technology acceptance model (TAM) as the fundamental theoretical foundation, we explored the perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and SaaS system features as external variables. In addition, we analyzed each system characteristic on the Likert scale and found that, in addition to the necessary consideration for cost and convenience, SaaS also provides information and communication technology applications in system characteristics,which are including online sharing services, customer relationship management services, and business operation and orders purchasing services. The fact that SMEs wish to utilize SaaS has a positive and direct impact on business.