Platform as a Service - A Conjoint Study on Consumers' Preferences

Platform as a Service (PaaS) solutions are changing the way that software is produced, distributed, consumed, and priced. PaaS, also known as cloud platform, offer an execution environment based on software platforms. To be competitive on the market, PaaS providers have to be aware of drivers of successful platforms and design or adjust their business models accordingly. Surprisingly, prior research has made little attempt to investigate consumers’ preferences on PaaS that influence developers’ choice on PaaS solutions. This paper examines this understudied issue through a conjoint study. First a comprehensive literature analysis on PaaS has been conducted in order to build the study design on a rigorous foundation. The conducted conjoint survey contained ten attributes together with 26 corresponding attribute levels and has been completed by 103 participants. Based on the results, a prioritized list of customers’ preferences for PaaS has been created.