If there’s been one theme dominating chatter about computing and small and mid-sized businesses in 2011, it’s been “the cloud”. Whether that means predictions of increasing use of a technology that essentially uses remote servers to do all the expensive heavy lifting, or simply talk of huge cost-savings, the cloud has been rumbling like thunder.

Of course, in practice, the cloud is simply using the internet to turn computers into terminals like those that users sat at in the days of the mainframe – but unlike the mainframe, it allows people to connect from almost any device, via almost any connection.

That means the appeal is as much about potential new ways of working as it is about the fact that costs and upgrade cycles can be improved. With that in mind, it’s medium-sized businesses that are increasingly seeing the benefits of the cloud. As visitors to the Telegraph’s Festival of Business heard in September, this is the same market where agility and speed are so vital, and where employees and owners are even more likely to be working at the breakfast table or on a sofa on Sunday night.

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