I recently participated in an interesting discussion that asked this very question. On the one hand, cloud computing is seen as an issue for large enterprises – the stuff of data centers and organizations debating over private vs. public clouds. But at the other end of the spectrum, I contend there are more than a few small businesses eager to tap in to the cloud for all the new opportunities it provides them.

Thankfully, my position is backed by more than simply gut instinct. I have the good fortune to speak regularly with a group of small business owners who are champing at the bit to take advantage of cloud computing. Now admittedly, this sample is biased in that they uniformly look to technology as a way to drive innovation or competitive advantage within their organization and across a wide array of industries (from agriculture to marketing to manufacturing). While each company is at varying degrees of adoption, they all see that cloud computing has the capacity to make a dramatic difference to how they do business.

Many smaller enterprises have long been tapping into the cloud and availing itself of the various software as a service offerings which have become so mainstream. Everything from CRM to standard office productivity tools are now widely available, security enabled, and very cost effective. Other service-based businesses are leveraging the public cloud to scale their offerings, thereby successfully extending in to new markets.

Of course there are still many companies who recognize that the cloud represents opportunity but are still uncertain how to monetize it. And unfortunately that is a question for which there is no single answer.

Has your business been able to solve this challenge? Do you have best practices or lessons learned that could help other businesses? Please share!