Relevance of Cloud Computing: A Case for UK Small and Medium Sized Tourism Firms

Abstract

Cloud computing represents a connection of internet technologies and personal or business computing that is changing the way computing solutions are designed, delivered and managed. This model of computing where all data, application, are hosted over a network is a significant shift from the traditional model of computing where data, software’s resources are hosted on a local computer or the client server model of business computing where resources are hosted on the firms servers and requires specialist staff for implementing and maintaining IT services. For several organizations especially in the case of small and medium-sized enterprise (SME’s), the cloud is an attractive technology solution as it enables them to reduce the total cost of ownership of their IT by passing the demands of maintaining hardware and software to a third party i.e. a cloud service provider thus enabling them to focus their spend on growing the business while developing innovative services. This paper draws on the concept of cloud computing to illustrate the significance of cloud technology to small medium businesses in the UK tourism industry-an industry heavily dependent on the internet for its survival. The study was conducted through an extensive review of academic journals, publications, articles as well as industry white papers and reports. This paper reveals that cloud computing drives small tourism firms to become more customer focused while enabling them quickly respond to tourist needs.