1. Cloud computing can reduce the costs of entry in developing countries - implying substantial opportunities for innovation and competition and thus future growth. 2. 48 It provides computing infrastructure (processing - memory - and storage of data) - platform applications - and software services for fi rms with access to the internet.(c)Despite the opportunities - firms' use of digitaltechnologies differs substantially across sectors and countries. 4. Firms can use these services - for a fee - without investing in the underlying hardware or software infrastructure. 5. Cloud computing has significantly reduced the fixed costs of starting a business in the last decade.