Abstract

The article describes a phenomenon of a client becoming dependent on a cloud-based SaaS (Software as a Service) provider. The dependence may be caused by technological, economic or legal factors. As a consequence, the costs of replacing the cloud-based SaaS provider are so high that the client decides to keep the current provider despite frequently unfavourable terms of using the service. In order to prevent or minimize the risk of the above described dependence, before making a decision to sign a contract and start using the service the clients of cloud-based services should analyse selected elements connected with service provision, both those of a technological as well as legal nature, the latter understood as the contract terms for using the service. The article aims at turning the reader’s attention to those elements of a contract with a cloud-based service provider the proper wording of which allows for minimising the risk connected with over-dependence on the terms of using cloud-based services offered by a given provider.