It seems like you can’t read a business or technology blog or any other type of magazine or trade publication without running across a myriad of references to Cloud Computing. In its most simple form, cloud computing means nothing more than browser access to an application hosted on the Web. Cloud computing is most definitely that, but it’s also much more. Today, the cloud makes leading-edge technology available to everyone, including consumers, often at a far lower cost than businesses pay for similar or inferior services. So what is cloud computing? Why would or should you use it? How can your association leverage it? What are the benefits and challenges? Obviously there are as many questions as answers; and as always, the devil is always in the details.

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I’ve been keeping a very close eye on this trend for quite some time and found a really good reference from Information Week that cuts to the chase and will give anybody interested a good foundation to understand the concept. It’s not so much a how-to guide as it is a look at cloud computing from the perspective of the eight leading players in the arena including: Amazon, Google, Salesforce, Microsoft, Sun Microsystems, IBM, Oracle, and EMC. The goal of the article isn’t to provide a look at all of the players, but rather to sacrifice breadth for depth. I think it accomplishes that end quite well.

And for anyone out there doubting how relevant cloud computing is to smaller organizations, I’d recommend taking a look at two articles on how SMB’s Will Rise to Cloud Computing and Cloud Computing’s Strengths Play to Smaller Companies’ Needs because I think each does a good job of building the business case for why and how smaller organizations, especially those “making do with a small, underresourced IT staff trying to emulate the productivity of IT outfits with multimillion-dollar budgets” can now access enterprise-class technology with low up-front costs and easy scalability. However, in order to stay balanced and because cloud computing is not without its challenges, I’d recommend taking a look at their article “Down to Business: Customers Fire a Few Shots at Cloud Computing” which looks at the arguments against cloud computing most notably: cost, scalability and reliability.

As the writers and editors from each of these pieces note, this is just the beginning of the conversation. There is obviously much more to examine, understand and consider in order to determine if cloud computing is right for your organization. However, the one thing that we can be relatively certain about is the fact that it is here to stay. Hopefully these resources will help you make some informed decisions that could ultimately provide your organization with a competitive advantage and translate into greater efficiency and member value creation.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on if your organizations are using (or contemplating) using cloud computing and if you are how it is working out for you. If you aren’t what’s holding you back? What questions are left to be answered? What are your concerns?