The Rise of Cloud Brokerage: Business Model, Profit Making and Cost Savings

Cloud computing has succeeded in transforming the ICT industry, making computing services more accessible to businesses. Nowadays, many cost effective solutions are available to users. However, searching for the best provider or the best bundle is not always an easy decision for the client. The cloud broker is a widely known business model derived from this necessity. It is a third-party business which assists clients to make the best decision in choosing the most suitable cloud provider and the most effective service bundle for their needs, in terms of performance and price. Into that context, this paper describes the cloud broker business model and its promising future. It highlights the broker’s vital role and the benefits that arise from the use of its services, explores on the same time the drawbacks that derive from the intermediation of cloud broker. The economic context of the cloud broker model is also examined by reviewing the contemporary literature for the pricing methods that can be adopted by a cloud broker in order to achieve cost savings.