The Paradigm of the Cloud and Web Accessibility and its Consequences in Europe

Abstract

The cloud computing is one of the technologies less known by many organizations and especially users, being a new technology based on the Internet, through which the information is stored on servers and is provided as a pay-for-usage service. The business benefits of the cloud extend to people with disabilities and industry needs to improve access to the cloud by ensuring that their cloud services are not limited to their own ecosystem, but they are following the W3C web accessibility requirements based on WCAG 2.0 and other requirements. The purpose of this paper is firstly to know the current situation of cloud computing and web accessibility from the perspective of the company, reviewing the existing literature. Secondly, we analyze the situation of the accessibility of cloud computing from a double scope: the European Union and, in particular, the situation in SMEs. Finally, the strategic positions of the European Commission about the consequences of the adoption of the cloud paradigm will be reviewed.