All of the technology and business people I regularly talk to keep telling me cloud computing. But what is it, what is the impact on business and what are the financial and physical upsides?

Cloud means Internet. The computing occurs on the Internet – instead of the software you use being installed on your computer, it’s hosted on the Internet on a server located in a data centre usually staffed by people who are adept in managing technology. This type of “cloud” software is commonly known as “on demand” or Software as a Service (SaaS).

Some best of breed examples of popular Software as a Service are:

Web based CRM Software (Customer Relationship Management) – Salesforce.com pricing around $9 per user/month.
Small business management and accounting software (small business ERP) – Salesorder.com pricing $45 per user/month.
Medium sized business ERP software – NetSuite pricing approximately $99 per user/month.

There are 3 key benefits for every business here:

Time, cost savings and reliability

Businesses don’t require a resident information technology professional to help them choose, implement and look after the systems platform thus pushing down operating expenses and time to get operational. The effort of constantly backing up information is removed as this is almost always an inherent function of the “cloud” software. Cloud software “operators” almost always have stand by systems that can be switched on in minutes should a significant error occur.

Easier selection and wider choice

Through the ubiquitous web browser, businesses now have immediate access to hundreds of software packages they can in most cases immediately try and swiftly work out if the software suits their needs at zero expense. This makes it effective for people in large concerns to circumvent the restrictive information technology purchasing processes and easily assess and prove their business case.

Better user experience

The internet provides instant feedback to application vendors and has driven significant progress in user interface design resulting in easier to use systems thus improving learning times and increasing user satisfaction. This of course means faster adoption and better productivity.