Our society is increasingly entangled with, and reliant on software. Previously, software has mainly been operated on-premises, i.e., installed and ran on a physical computer, manually supported, and maintained by individuals at the location where the software is running. Today, software is often delivered via the cloud using a pay-as-you-go subscription service, hosted, and continuously supported by the vendor, i.e., the organization providing the solution. A collective name for this type of solution is “Software-as-a-Service” (SaaS). SaaS is a popular delivery model amongst software start-ups, who are known to be innovative and create valuable new solutions that benefit society. Hence, it can be valuable to help SaaS start-ups understand how most effectively navigate and reach their first customers. This thesis does this by investigating what buyers find important when buying SaaS from a start-up vendor. Technology and innovation adoption has been extensively studied. Theories such as the “TOE-framework” and “Diffusion of Innovation” attempt to explain how the adoption of new solutions is determined and what factors influence it. Moreover, multiple studies have also investigated what affects the decision to buy SaaS. Finally, studies have examined what buyers find important when buying from a start-up. However, no studies have explored what buyers consider when buying SaaS from a start-up vendor. This thesis aims to fulfill the research gap presented above and to answer the following research questions:   What are the determining factors for adoption of Software-as-a-Service delivered by a start-up vendor? How do these determinants affect adoption? To answer the research questions, the study utilizes a deductive approach with elements of induction. Qualitative data is collected in 8 semi-structured interviews, all with a focus on buying organization's SaaS adoption decision. The interview structure is based on the theoretical framework which consists of four major categories that can affect adoption: “Technology”, “Organization”, and “Environment”, of the TOE-framework, and “Vendor Relationship” which is added by the authors of this thesis based on prior studies that suggested this as an important aspect in for the studied context. Within each major category, determinants of adoption, i.e., factors that influence the decision to adopt, are derived from theories specific to SaaS and start-up adoption. The findings confirm all four of the overarching categories of the theoretical framework as important in the decision to adopt SaaS from a start-up vendor. The confirmation of the vendor relationship category can be considered a key finding of the thesis since it is not present in the original TOE-framework or any of the studies on SaaS and start-up adoption. On a more granular level, the thesis highlights the observed adoption determinants under each of the categories and describes how they relate to each other and to existing theory. By answering the research questions, the thesis provides useful insights that can help SaaS start-ups better understand what factors potential buyers consider in their adoption decision. As a result, start-ups can better align their strategy with the wants and needs of buyers and increase the probability of success. Finally, the thesis contributes to theory by expanding knowledge related to the factors determining the adoption of SaaS, when it is delivered by a start-up vendor.

Scholarly reviews expound that current prevailing on-premise Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems could not be sufficient for enterprises to form highly dynamic units around vibrant requirements of the market. In response to satisfying ever-changing demands of the market, cloud computing has been recently emerged which its basic promise is convergence of IT efficiency and business agility in information technology. Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) is the most common type of cloud service which has been heralded to be a serious alternative for on-premise software. Considering shortages of current on-premise ERPs and high potentiality of SaaS to be as an alternative for on-premise software, this study seeks to empirically understand real advantages and disadvantages of adopting ERP systems served as SaaS from the perspective of SaaS users. "Real advantages and disadvantages" in this study are the ones which are not only certified through literature but also through empirical data. Grounded in literature review and personal communication with two Information Systems (IS) professionals, 19 items were considered as advantages and 12 items as disadvantages of ERP as SaaS adoption categorized in three groups of strategic, financial, and technical. Survey data of 90 responses were collected and analyzed out of 212 contacts with industry experts in different types of business and sizes of the enterprise in Sweden through nonprobability sampling. By application of Non-parametric test, our data analysis revealed that users of ERP as SaaS believed in five real advantages in adoption of ERP as SaaS while they did not agree with any real disadvantages in such adoption. They accepted that adoption of ERP as SaaS a) helps users to run their business more globally, b) enhances users’ business to go mobile, c) reduces large up-front investment of users on resource provision, d) saves technology costs, and e) helps users not to be concerned about management and maintenance of the ERP as SaaS. Moreover, our final results showed that majority of every enterprise size do not have plan of adopting ERP as SaaS in the future. Based on the findings, detailed discussion will be given about social consequences of the results and underlying reasons which could have impact on recognition of few real advantages and no real disadvantages in this study.