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Procedia Computer Science 00 (2022) 000–000
Procedia Computer Science 00 (2022) 000–000 www.elsevier.com/locate/procedia
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Procedia Computer Science 207 (2022) 3782–3791

26th International Conference on Knowledge-Based and Intelligent Information & Engineering

26th International Conference on Knowledge-Based and Intelligent Information & Engineering
Systems (KES 2022)
Systems (KES 2022)
Perception and evaluation of selected cloud computing factors in the
Perception and evaluation of selected cloud computing factors in the
light of conducted research among small and medium-sized
light of conducted research among small and medium-sized
enterprises
enterprises
Paula Bajdora*
a
Paula Bajdora*
Czestochowa University of Technology, Armii Krajowej 19b, 42-201 Czestochowa, Poland
a
Czestochowa University of Technology, Armii Krajowej 19b, 42-201 Czestochowa, Poland

Abstract
Abstract
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© 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.
© 2022 The Authors. Published by ELSEVIER B.V.
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0)
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© 2022is an
Theopen accessPublished
Authors. article under
byofthe CC BY-NC-ND
ELSEVIER license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0)
B.V.committee
Peer-review under responsibility the scientific of the 26th International Conference on Knowledge-Based and
Peer-review
Intelligent Information & Engineering Systems (KES 2022)of KES
This is an under
open responsibility
access article of
under the scientific
CC committee
BY-NC-ND license International
(https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0)
Peer-review
Keywords: Type under
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keywords here,of the scientific
separated committee
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1. Introduction
1. Introduction

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +48343250395.

E-mail address:author.
* Corresponding paula.bajdor@pcz.pl
Tel.: +48343250395.
E-mail address: paula.bajdor@pcz.pl
1877-0509 © 2022 The Authors. Published by ELSEVIER B.V.
This is an open
1877-0509 access
© 2022 Thearticle under
Authors. the CC BY-NC-ND
Published by ELSEVIER license
B.V.(https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0)
Peer-review
This under
is an open responsibility
access of the scientific
article under CC BY-NC-NDcommittee of KES
license International
(https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0)
Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of KES International
1877-0509 © 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0)
Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the 26th International Conference on Knowledge-Based and Intelligent
Information & Engineering Systems (KES 2022)
10.1016/j.procs.2022.09.440
 Paula Bajdor et al. / Procedia Computer Science 207 (2022) 3782–3791 3783
2 Author name / Procedia Computer Science 00 (2022) 000–000

Cloud Computing (CC) is the result of over five decades of research and development in virtualization, distributed
computing, networks, and solutions and services that have enabled the implementation of services and amenities
offered by this solution. Thanks to its service orientation, flexibility, resource sharing, flexibility, virtualization, and
fees depending on services, CC offers significant changes in the traditional implementation and management of
information systems and results in optimization and cost reduction in the enterprise [1]. As a result, it is currently
assumed that four out of ten enterprises use CC, whose primary goal is to increase efficiency and reduce costs. In
2015, it was predicted that over 50% of expenditure related to ICT would be incurred on third platform technologies,
solutions, and services, built on the technology pillars of mobile computing, cloud services, big data and analytics, and
social networking [2]. The growing popularity of CC in enterprises has also contributed to over 50% of expenditure
on ICT being spent on the further development of technologies, solutions, and cloud computing services. It is also
assumed that the global cloud computing market will grow from $ 40.7 billion in 2011 to $ 241 billion in 2020. And
according to Gartner, by 2020, the corporate "no cloud" policy to be as rare as today's "no Internet" policy [3]. Hayes
B. [4] stated that the future of computing lies in cloud computing, the main goal of reducing the cost of IT services
while increasing the throughput, reliability, availability, and flexibility of processing and reducing processing time.
Therefore, it can be assumed that cloud computing will be as every day as e-mail or website services over time.
All this makes cloud computing an object of scientific research carried out in many areas, including perceiving it
from the perspective of suppliers and users [5], analysis of factors influencing its implementation in the enterprise [6],
integration with management processes in the organization [7], the propensity of enterprises to implement it [8],
resource management in the cloud environment [9], integration of cloud computing with the concept of Internet of
Things (IoT) [10] or identification of technological and service needs necessary for future cloud users [11]. However,
while the above research on the cloud focuses on the entirety of organizations, as economic entities operating on the
market, regardless of their size and activity profile, there is still no research on the use and impact of cloud computing
on a company's management taking into account selected criteria, e.g., size years of operation on the market, business
profile or years of using cloud computing. And taking into account the differences between small and medium-sized
enterprises, the main goal of this article is to investigate whether there are significant differences in the perception and
assessment of selected cloud computing factors. The chosen factors include the motives for implementing cloud
computing, the benefits, and disadvantages of its use, the impact of the cloud on business management, and the impact
of the Covid-19 pandemic on the company's functioning in the market. Thus, the following research question and
hypothesis were adopted:
RQ: Are there significant differences in the perception and assessment of selected factors depending on the size of
the enterprise?
Hypothesis: There are significant differences in the perception and assessment of selected factors depending on the
size of the enterprise.
Depending on the size of the enterprise, there may be different motives for its implementation, the benefits and
disadvantages of its functioning may be perceived differently, and the impact of cloud computing on enterprise
management may be perceived differently. It should be taken into account that there are significant differences between
small and medium-sized enterprises. Small enterprises are companies employing up to 49 people, while medium-sized
enterprises are companies employing up to 249 people (fig. 1).

Figure 1. SME enterprises categories.

3784 Paula Bajdor et al. / Procedia Computer Science 207 (2022) 3782–3791
Author name / Procedia Computer Science 00 (2019) 000–000 3

Large differences resulting from the number of people employed result in differences not only in employee
management but also in all enterprise management processes, determining the emergence of differences in the use of
available ICT technologies, including the CC.
The presented paper is organized into sections. Section 2 presents the literature review on cloud computing; section
3 presents the research methodology, including the research procedure, the descriptive statistics results, and the
Reliability analysis results. Section 4 includes the research results. The final section summarized the primary outcomes
and proposed further research directions in this field.

2. Literature review

Many of the initial cloud computing ideas are not entirely new (in fact, Western Union, as early as 1965, envisioned
the company's future role as a nationwide "information tool" within the company's strategic plans) [12].
In the face of fierce market competition and a dramatically changing business environment, companies are
increasingly trying to integrate business processes with existing IS applications and build Internet-based technologies
to conclude business transactions with trading partners [13]. They are increasingly eager to implement state-of-the-art
IT technologies to improve their business operations and management processes [14][15]. It means that in recent years
an increasingly popular IT solution is cloud computing, which is now recognized as an important area of innovation
and investment in IT [17] [18] [13]. Cloud computing services provide convenience and quality-stable technology
support to develop huge potential demand [19] [20]. In this way, cloud computing allows for flexibility and adaptability
of the enterprise, attracting more recipients of services or products. Currently, cloud computing is perceived as the
convergence of two major trends in information technology [16]:
• increasing IT efficiency, thanks to which the power of modern computers is used more efficiently, possible
thanks to highly scalable hardware and software resources;
• business efficiency, thanks to which IT can be used as a tool whose competitiveness is determined by rapid
implementation of new solutions, business analytics, and mobile interactive applications that respond in real-
time to user requirements.
Cloud computing has spread to the main areas related to information systems (IS) and technologies such as operating
systems, application software, and technology solutions for companies [17]. Cloud computing itself is a type of
computing application similar to e-mail, office software, and enterprise resource planning (ERP) that uses ubiquitous
resources [4].
Research and considerations on cloud computing have been conducted for many years, which resulted in the
creation of many definitions trying to define the essence of cloud computing. However, even though it is not an entirely
new concept, there is still no one universal or standard definition of the cloud [15][21][22][23][5]. Cloud computing
has evolved thanks to recent advances in hardware, virtualization technology, distributed computing, and the provision
of services over the Internet. The American National Institute of Standards and Technology classifies cloud computing
services according to their key features and implementation model, distinguishing between software, platform, and
infrastructure [24]. To maximize the value of delivering cloud services to end-users, it is imperative to understand the
business aspects of cloud computing. Cloud computing is also defined as providing ubiquitous, on-demand,
dynamically scalable, virtualized IT services and facilities based on minimal supplier intervention [5]. Mell P. and
Grance T. [25] defined the cloud as a model for enabling ubiquitous, convenient, on-demand network access to a
shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications, and services) that can
be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction. Rao M.N. [26]
assumed that cloud computing is a kind of Internet-based computing, where specific services are delivered to an
organization throughout the network. According to McFedries P. [27], cloud computing is a delivery model for
technology-enabled services that provides on-demand access via a network to an elastic pool of shared computing
assets (e.g., services, applications, servers, storage, and networks) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with
minimal service provider interaction. In contrast, Ong and Lin [28] consider cloud computing as a virtualized computer
system covering all organizations' software and applications. Cloud can also be seen as a reference to the ubiquitous
availability of computing resources via internet technologies [15][29].
The constant technological revolution also causes companies to increasingly change their approach to general IT
strategies, including implementing cloud computing to use the solutions it offers. It is connected with the need to
 Paula Bajdor et al. / Procedia Computer Science 207 (2022) 3782–3791 3785
4 Author name / Procedia Computer Science 00 (2022) 000–000

increase expenditure on IT. However, on the other hand, enterprises cannot overlook the benefits of computing
efficiency and scalability provided by cloud computing [17][30][19]. With the potential to transform business
processes, lower IT spending, deliver real-time applications, offer ubiquitous storage, unlimited computing power, and
mobilize market intelligence, enterprises are looking for cloud-based solutions to achieve business efficiency [19] [6]
[ 15] [17] [30]. Moreover, cloud-based solutions provide companies and users easy access to enormous computing
power at negligible costs [31]. By moving IT functions such as storage, business applications, and services to the
cloud, organizations have the potential to reduce total IT cost [5] [18] [32]. Cloud computing, therefore, offers financial
benefits that companies can no longer ignore.

3. Research methodology

3.1. The research procedure

The research procedure, i.e., a set of activities denoting individual sequences of subsequent research stages,
included the following steps:
• definition of the research area, and while the general research area was the use of CC in enterprises, a more
detailed research area concerned the characterization of the approach to CC by the studied enterprises in
particular aspects: reasons influencing the implementation of CC in the enterprise, the impact of CC solutions
on the company's operations, the impact of CC solutions on creating a business strategy, the impact of CC on
information technologies in the next five years and the challenges facing CC and the effect of the Covid-19
pandemic of corporate actions with CC. The analyzed enterprises were divided into small and medium-sized
enterprises to identify the similarities and differences.
• conducting a critical analysis of the available literature on the issue of cloud computing and its use in
enterprises,
• creating a research questionnaire, which took the form of a questionnaire consisting of three parts: (1) a record
covering issues such as the year of starting the business, the size of the enterprise, business profile, and the
position of the respondent filling in the questionnaire; (2) part on the use of cloud computing in the surveyed
enterprises: length of use of CC, types, and models of CC and services offered under CC; (3) a part with
questions about the benefits and disadvantages of using CC, the implementation reasons, the impact of CC on
business management and the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on its operation, plus the so-called opening
question in the form of a query about the use of cloud computing in the enterprise. When the respondent gave
a negative answer, the survey was terminated. This question aimed to ensure that the questionnaires were filled
in by companies that use cloud computing.
• identification of the research group consisting of small and medium-sized enterprises, using the solutions
offered under CC in their activities. To determine the minimum sample size, a formula that allows a
predetermined accuracy to be obtained when estimating the structure index from a population:

'( (*+ ∗-(./-))

𝑁𝑁"#$ = = 384
'( ∗1 + 2 *+ ∗-(./-)

where:
Nmin = minimum sample size,
Np = population size,
α2 = level of significance,
e2 = accepted level of the highest error,
f = the structure index

The calculations show that the minimum sample size, with the adopted confidence level of 1-2 = 0.90 and the
maximum estimation error e = 5%, should be 384 questionnaires. This size results from the relationship determining
the minimum sample size used to select the sample using the particular drawing method. Due to the fact that 409
questionnaires were qualified for the research, it can be assumed that this condition was met, and the obtained sample
meets one of the assumptions of the representative method.
3786 Paula Bajdor et al. / Procedia Computer Science 207 (2022) 3782–3791
Author name / Procedia Computer Science 00 (2019) 000–000 5

• conducting a pilot study, the purpose of which was to verify the correctness of the developed questionnaire
in terms of formal and content-related aspects. This survey also eliminates potential inaccuracies that
could raise doubts among the respondents as to the essence of the questions asked. Ten enterprises were
selected for the pilot study, and its effect was the introduction of necessary changes and corrections to the
questionnaire.
• conducting the main study, the implementation of which took place in the period from March to May
2021, using the CAWI method,
• checking the correctness and verification of the obtained research material, which did not reveal any
deficiencies or errors,
• analyzing the obtained results, constituting the primary data that has been subjected to quantitative and
qualitative analyzes, using the Excel spreadsheet and the Statistica statistical package. To carry out the
required analyzes, descriptive statistics, reliability analysis, non-parametric u'Mann-Whitney test, and
multivariate logistic regression were used,
• inference and consolidation of data, enabling the verification of the adopted research hypotheses and the
formulation of conclusions.

3.2. The descriptive statistics results

The respondents were people working in enterprises that use the solutions offered under CC in their activities. As
mentioned before, the first question in the research questionnaire related to the use of CC by the company. If the
answer was negative, the research was terminated. If the answer was affirmative, the remainder of the study was
carried out. Thus the results of descriptive statistics are presented in table 1.

Table 1. Descriptive statistical results.

Categories Classification Frequency % Cumulative %
2000-2004 189 46 46%
Starting year
2005-2010 220 54 100%
Small 231 56 56%
Company's size
Medium 178 44 100%
Transport&Warehouse 175 43% 43%
Trade 93 23% 66%
Administration 30 7% 73%
Services 26 6% 79%
Information&Communication 24 6% 85%
Company's
Culture&Entertainment 18 4% 89%
profile
Construction 10 2% 92%
Professional, scientific and technical activity 9 2% 94%
Education 9 2% 96%
Industry 9 2% 99%
Accommodation&Gastronomy 6 1% 100%
Top management 253 62% 62%
Respondent’s IT employee 119 29% 91%
position Department manager 26 6% 97%
Specialist 11 3% 100%
Up to 5 years 327 80% 80%
The lenght of CC 6-10 years 69 17% 97%
use 11-15 years 9 2% 99%
16 – 20 years 4 1% 100%
Private 234 57%
CC type Public 173 42%
Hybrid 146 36%
IaaS 266 65%
CC model PaaS 89 22%
SaaS 224 55%
File sharing 378 92%
CC services Communication support applications 292 71%
Archiving and storage of data, documents, and 264 65%
 Paula Bajdor et al. / Procedia Computer Science 207 (2022) 3782–3791 3787
6 Author name / Procedia Computer Science 00 (2022) 000–000

databases (backup)
E-mail 263 64%
Websites, company portal based on hosting, content
263 64%
management systems
Applications supporting the management of all
263 64%
processes carried out in the enterprise
Office applications (e.g., Office365) and supporting
237 58%
document flow
Project management applications 209 51%
Antivirus tools and security systems 179 44%
Applications supporting the management of a selected
177 43%
area of activity
Business analytics support applications 29 7%

According to the results from the table above, it is visible that, in general, it can be assumed that young enterprises
took part in the survey, as not one of them started operating before 2000. More than half (54%) were enterprises that
began operating in 2005-2010, and less than a half (46%) of enterprises that started operating in 2000-2005. The
research was conducted among small and medium-sized enterprises, where small enterprises accounted for 56% and
medium-sized enterprises - 44% of the entire group. Enterprises operating in the transport & warehouse sector
accounted for the largest share in the survey (43%), while commercial enterprises were in second place (23%). Other
companies operating in the administration (7%), services (6%), and Information & Communication (6%) sectors are
also listed. On the other hand, enterprises that constituted less than 5% of the total population include Culture &
Entertainment, Construction, Professional, scientific and technical activities, Education, Industry and Accommodation
& Gastronomy.
The respondents were mainly representatives of the top management (62%), followed by IT employees (29%).
Only 9% of the respondents were department managers and specialists. Therefore, it can be assumed that the obtained
data is characterized by high credibility, as people provided the answers with the greatest knowledge about the use of
CC in enterprises.
The overwhelming majority of enterprises (80%) indicated that they used CC for less than five years, followed by
enterprises that used CC for less than ten years (17%). The remaining 3% of enterprises indicated that they have been
using CC for more than ten years. Based on this, it can be concluded that CC is still a "new" solution in the surveyed
companies. More than half of enterprises (57%) use a private cloud, less than half (42%) use a public cloud, and 36%
use a hybrid cloud. Also, more than half of enterprises use the IaaS model (65%), the SaaS model (55%), and only
22% of enterprises use the PaaS model. Almost all enterprises use CC to share files (92%), and nearly a quarter of
them use applications supporting communication (71%). Over 60% of enterprises use CC services in e-mail, websites,
content management systems, and the management of all processes carried out in the enterprise. More than half of
them use CC services in office applications, document circulation applications, and project management applications.
On the other hand, less than half of enterprises use CC services as antivirus tools and security systems and applications
supporting the management of a selected area of the company's operations. Only 7% of enterprises use CC services
to support business analytics.

3.3. The Reliability analysis

Because the nature of the answers to individual questions took the form of single or multiple-choice answers and
answers to the 5-point Likert scale, before starting the analysis of the obtained results, the measurement scale
reliability was analyzed using the Alpha Cronbach statistic for this purpose. This statistic is most often used to measure
a psychometric tool's internal consistency or reliability. It is a factor that tests the reliability of the research
questionnaires used and the interior surface of the tool used. The Cronbach's alpha statistic is based on the correlation
coefficients of all the questions in the questionnaire with the overall score on this scale. Cronbach's alpha can take
values ranging from 0 to 1, and the value of 0.6 is considered the correct and commonly accepted value, although the
aim is for the value of this factor to be 0.9. Table 2 contains the results of the performed descriptive statistics for the
issues included in the research questionnaire.

Table 2. The reliability test results of the total 409 questionnaires.

3788 Paula Bajdor et al. / Procedia Computer Science 207 (2022) 3782–3791
Author name / Procedia Computer Science 00 (2019) 000–000 7

Mean Variance Std dev Cronbach's

Factors
alpha
CC Implementation reasons 2,79 2,58 1,60 0,74
CC benefits 3,33 1,90 1,37 0,71
CC disadvantages 3,36 1,71 1,30 0,69
CC’s influence on company’s management 3,12 1,83 1,35 0,74

On the other hand, the Cronbach's alpha value for all questions included in the questionnaire, measured with the 5-
point Likert scale, was 0.72 (M = 3.15; SD = 1.41), proving that the applied measurement scale is a reliable
measurement tool that characterizes high consistency.

4. Research results

To verify the research hypothesis in the form of "there are significant differences in the assessment of individual
cloud computing criteria and the size of the enterprise, non-parametric U'Mann-Whitney tests, and multi-factor
logistic regression were carried out. The choice of the multivariate logistic regression method was dictated by the
fact that there were dichotomous among the analyzed variables (in this case: Yes = 1, No = 0). On the other hand,
the performance of U'Mann Whitney's non-parametric tests resulted from the fact that some of the analyzed
variables were measured using a 5-point Likert scale.
Because the research covered only two groups of enterprises - small and medium-sized enterprises, comparisons
were made only between these two groups. In the first step, the issues related to:
• motives for implementing CC in the enterprise,
• benefits and disadvantages of using CC in the enterprise
• the impact of CC on the management of the enterprise.

Table 3. The U'Mann-Whitney test results.

Average group
Small(1)/Medium(2)
Factors ratings
Z p 1 2
Benefits of cloud computing
Greater economic efficiency (reduced level of investment outlays) -2,54 0,010 3,13 3,33
Lowering the costs of maintaining and developing IT solutions -3,99 0,000 2,75 3,33
Improving the quality of data processing through the possibility of using
-3,73 0,000 3,63 3,99
technologically advanced IT resources (hardware, software, services)
Higher performance (increase in computing capabilities) 3,14 0,001 3,67 3,26
The ability to quickly launch IT environments -2,28 0,022 4,00 4,17
Better accountability and control of IT resources -6,44 0,000 3,26 4,16
Ease of use of IT resources -9,76 0,000 3,14 4,64
Improving collaboration between employees -7,63 0,000 3,26 4,48
Accelerating the implementation of economic and decision-making processes 2,00 0,045 3,39 3,16
Focus on your core business -6,92 0,000 2,50 3,47
Generating changes in the labor market (mobile work and limiting business trips,
-5,17 0,000 2,95 3,30
increasing/reducing employment, new professions)
Possibility of work and activation of many professional groups -7,20 0,000 2,88 3,84
Increased employee satisfaction with the flexibility of work -7,74 0,000 3,13 4,16
Protection of the environment by reducing the emission of harmful substances 3,95 0,000 3,00 2,52
Disadvantages of cloud computing
Legal problems (different regulations in different countries, unfavorable or ambiguous
2,50 0,012 3,63 3,84
provisions in contracts, lack of standards of conduct, etc.)
Dependence on the quality of the Internet connection (Internet failures preventing the
-3,68 0,000 3,26 2,83
use of IT resources)
There is no appropriate language version -2,13 0,032 3,02 2,70
Cloud computing implementation reasons
Own analysis of documented projects 2,46 0,013 2,87 3,35
CC influence on company's management
Better management of own resources 3,27 0,001 2,99 3,49
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8 Author name / Procedia Computer Science 00 (2022) 000–000

Interpreting the results presented in the table above, it can be stated that:
• Medium-sized enterprises significantly more often indicated many benefits resulting from cloud computing
than small enterprises. These benefits took the form of greater economic efficiency, understood as a reduced
level of investment outlays (Z = -2.54; p = 0.010); reductions in the costs of maintenance and development
of IT solutions, e.g. payment only for the resources actually used, favorable ratio of computing power to
costs (Z = -3.99; p = 0.000); improving the quality of data processing through the possibility of using
technologically advanced IT resources (Z = -3.73; p = 0.000); the ability to quickly launch IT environments
(Z = -2.28; p = 0.022); better accountability and control of IT resources (Z = -6.44; p = 0.000); Ease of use
of IT resources as access to resources at any place and time (Z = -9.76; p = 0.000); improving cooperation
between employees (Z = -7.63; p = 0.000); the ability to focus on your core business (Z = -6.92; p = 0.000);
generating changes in the labor market, e.g. mobile work and limiting business trips, increasing / reducing
employment, new professions (Z = -5.17; p = 0.000); the possibility of performing work and activation of
many professional groups, including the disabled, the elderly, women and other people in a difficult
situation (Z = -7.20; p = 0.000); increase in employee satisfaction with the flexibility of work provision (Z
= -7.74; p = 0.000). On the other hand, small enterprises significantly more often indicated higher
efficiency, understood as an increase in computing abilities (Z = 3.14; p = 0.001); accelerating the
implementation of economic and decision-making processes (Z = 2.00; p = 0.045), and environmental
protection by reducing the emission of harmful substances (Z = 3.95; p = 0.000) perceiving them as benefits
resulting from the use of cloud computing.
• Concerning the motives for implementing cloud computing in the enterprise, a significant difference was
noted only in one case - small enterprises significantly more often indicated that the reason for the
implementation of the cloud into the enterprise was their own analysis of documented projects (Z = 2.46; p
= 0.013) than enterprises medium. One significant difference was also noted in the impact of cloud
computing on enterprise management. In this case, small enterprises significantly more often indicated that
cloud computing enables better enterprise management through better management of resources, e.g.,
improved use of human, material, and non-material resources contributed to an increase in the effectiveness
of undertaken activities and investments (Z = 3.27; p = 0.001).
• On the other hand, in the case of determining the disadvantages resulting from the use of cloud computing
in an enterprise, small enterprises significantly more often indicated legal problems understood as different
regulations in different countries, unfavorable or ambiguous provisions in contracts, lack of patterns of
conduct (Z = 2.50; p = 0.012). On the other hand, medium-sized enterprises significantly more often
indicated disadvantages independence on the quality of the Internet connection (Z = -3.68; p = 0.000) and
the lack of an appropriate language version (Z = -2.13; p = 0.032).
A comparison analysis was conducted using logistics regression analysis in the next step. The analyzes carried out
included issues related to:
• the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on enterprise functioning
• the impact and challenges faced by CC in the field of ICT.
Table 4. The regression analysis results.

Factors B Standard Wald df Significance Exp(B)

error
The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on enterprise functioning
Limitation of economic activity -0,483 ,208 5,415 1 0,020 0,617
Limitation of activities in the field of environmental protection and
lower consumption of resources (e.g., electricity) -0,464 ,231 4,029 1 0,045 0,629
Reduce investment in digital security and privacy protection -0,540 ,259 4,338 1 0,037 0,583
The impact and challenges faced by CC in the field of ICT
All IT systems will be offered in the CC model -2,798 ,756 13,701 1 0,000 0,061
The demand for employees in IT departments will decrease -1,283 ,620 4,280 1 0,039 0,277
Developing standards, patterns and principles in the field of CC 4,781 ,745 41,159 1 0,000 119,275

Among all the examined variables, only the assessment of three of them differs significantly in terms of the size
3790 Paula Bajdor et al. / Procedia Computer Science 207 (2022) 3782–3791
Author name / Procedia Computer Science 00 (2019) 000–000 9

of the enterprise. In the opinion of medium-sized enterprises, the Covid-19 pandemic significantly influenced the
implementation of some activities in the enterprise. They rated significantly higher that the Covid-19 pandemic
contributed to the reduction of economic activity (B = -0.483; p = 0.020), activities in the field of environmental
protection (B = -0.464; p = 0.045) as well as lower resource consumption and reduced expenditure on digital security
and privacy protection (B = -0.540; p = 0.037).
Also, in the case of the challenges faced by cloud computing, among all the examined variables, only the
assessment of three of them differs significantly depending on the size of the enterprise. In the opinion of medium-
sized enterprises, the significant challenges facing cloud computing in the next five years include the fact that more
IT systems will be offered in the cloud computing model and that the demand for IT department employees will
decrease. On the other hand, small enterprises are significantly higher-rated that it will be necessary to develop
standards, patterns, and principles in CC, resulting from the increasing popularization of cloud computing in
enterprises and its role in management processes.

5. Conclusions

The analyses carried out for this article's purposes made it possible to verify the research hypothesis, formulated as
follows: There are significant differences in the perception and assessment of selected factors depending on the size
of the enterprise. Because the conducted analysis allowed to identify substantial differences depending on the size of
the enterprise, it can be assumed that the hypothesis was positively verified. The most differences were noted in the
case of the benefits of using cloud computing. In this case, medium-sized enterprises significantly more often indicated
obtaining specific benefits than small enterprises. In the case of disadvantages, also medium-sized enterprises
significantly more often revealed the presence of several of them than small enterprises. However, concerning the
motives for the implementation of cloud computing and its impact on enterprise management, only one difference was
noted, which indicated that small enterprises significantly more often implemented cloud computing based on the
analysis of documented projects and indicated the impact of the cloud on enterprise management in the form of better
management of their resources than medium-sized enterprises. Significant differences were also noted concerning the
challenges faced by cloud computing; in this case, medium-sized enterprises rated significantly higher that more IT
systems will be offered in the cloud computing model, which will also translate into not reducing the demand for the
number of IT employees.
The research has many implications for both the academic community and the business sector. They may be of
significant importance for enterprises because, based on the obtained research results, they will have the opportunity
to plan further activities, make changes in enterprise management processes or reformulate their own IT strategy,
taking into account cloud computing. In the academic aspect, the conducted research is one of the few that considers
the perception of cloud computing depending on the size of the enterprise. Thus, they are an excellent point to conduct
further, more in-depth analyses of the use of cloud computing by enterprises of various sizes and then, for example,
with a different business profile.

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