Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) increasingly operate within volatile, digitally mediated markets in which cloud computing, data-driven management, and professional consulting services have become inseparable components of sustainable competitiveness. While an expansive body of literature has examined cloud computing adoption in SMEs and a parallel stream has investigated consulting as a driver of organizational transformation, few studies have provided a unified theoretical and methodological synthesis of how cloud-enabled business consulting architectures co-evolve with SME strategy, governance, and performance. This article develops a comprehensive analytical framework that integrates the complex model of business consulting for SMEs articulated by Kovalchuk (2025) with contemporary scholarship on cloud computing adoption, digital sustainability, and internationalization dynamics. By embedding consulting as an orchestrating mechanism that translates technological affordances into strategic and operational value, the study reframes cloud computing not merely as an information technology choice but as a socio-technical system mediated by advisory knowledge, organizational learning, and institutional constraints.

Drawing on a critical synthesis of extant empirical and theoretical studies, the research articulates a multilayered conceptualization of cloud-enabled consulting that spans technological, organizational, and environmental dimensions. The methodological approach adopts an interpretive and configurational logic, informed by the methodological pluralism advocated in international entrepreneurship and digital innovation research, to examine how SMEs assemble bundles of cloud services, managerial capabilities, and consulting inputs to achieve sustainable performance outcomes (Coviello, 2006; Chen et al., 2023). The analysis demonstrates that cloud technologies exert their strongest influence on SME sustainability when embedded within structured consulting processes that facilitate strategic alignment, risk governance, and continuous capability development, an insight that resonates strongly with the complex consulting architecture proposed by Kovalchuk (2025).

The results reveal that consulting-driven cloud integration enhances not only cost efficiency and scalability but also organizational resilience,

environmental sustainability, and international market reach, consistent with findings on digital technologies and competitive advantage in SMEs (Chabalala et al., 2024; Al-Mutawa & Al Mubarak, 2024). At the same time, the study identifies persistent barriers related to cybersecurity, data governance, and managerial cognition that constrain the realization of cloud-enabled value, echoing long-standing concerns in the cloud adoption literature (Alouane & El Bakkali, 2015; Alrababah, 2023). By situating these challenges within a consulting-centered governance framework, the article advances both theory and practice.

The discussion elaborates the implications of this integrated model for scholars, consultants, and policy makers, arguing that the future of SME digital transformation depends on the institutionalization of consulting architectures capable of translating cloud computing into sustained entrepreneurial and competitive performance. In doing so, the study contributes to the convergence of digital transformation theory, SME strategy, and professional service research.

Cloud computing;, Small and medium-sized enterprises;, Business consulting;, Digital sustainability;, Competitive advantage;, Organizational transformation

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