The report, which is based on interviews with more than 350 IT decision makers in UK SMEs, says that a sizeable 53% will never adopt cloud technology.

Interestingly, however, half of the SMEs said they planned to be using cloud technology by the end of 2010 — with 13% already using the cloud today and 37% planning to do so within 12 months.

Larger SMEs — defined as those with 50 or more employees — appear to be the keenest to adopt cloud computing, with 66% already using the cloud or planning to do so within 12 months.

This, says the report, is at odds with the general consensus that it is the smallest companies, with the least IT legacy, that are leading the charge to the cloud.

As you might expect, whilst 35% of respondents said in a similar poll 15 months ago that they believed cloud computing would save them money, this figure has now climbed to 51%.

Similarly, where 35% considered cloud computing as making it easier for staff to work from home at the end of 2008, now 43% consider this to be true.

Although many SMEs, Infosecurity notes, are not enhancing their security to support the cloud, the good news is that more businesses are implementing formal strategies for adopting the cloud; 29% this year compared to 13% previously.

According to Chris Stening, managing director with Easynet Connect, when his firm conducted this research towards the end of 2008, it saw that the cloud was coming for SMEs.

"While not quite as fast as vendors would hope, it was certainly coming. By the end of 2010, half of SMEs in the UK will be using cloud computing in some form or another," he said.

"This is a complete reversal from just over a year ago when nearly the same proportion (53%) said they would never adopt the cloud. Either businesses have changed their minds very quickly or the benefits of cloud computing are more clear than they were," he added.

"I expect it is a combination of both. Either way, this is still a phenomenal turnaround."

Stening went on to say that the next challenge is for SMEs to ensure they have a formal strategy in place for adopting the cloud.

"Whilst today's installations may not be entirely critical to the business, it is only a matter of time before the core business functions, which typically run on off-the-shelf spreadsheets and databases today, are migrated to cloud platforms," he explained.

SMEs, he says, need to ensure they cover all the bases — for example, can their existing internet connection cope with the additional bandwidth demand, and how secure are the cloud services they are using?

Stening concluded that preparation is key for any business undertaking such a radical change to their operations. He noted that you wouldn't, for example, relocate your offices to another country without first checking out the local tax regimes, regulatory frameworks, workforce quality, etc.

"The same is true for businesses migrating to the cloud. If a company is considering the move to a cloud computing environment, what are the main issues to consider when transitioning to the new system and transferring existing data from proprietary software apps?" he said.

Stening argues that SMEs should talk to their software and services cloud providers about what services and guarantees are available when they start moving more of their business into the cloud.

It is, he maintains, important to assess what proportion of your business can be conducted in the cloud before assigning availability to your Internet connection.

SMEs, he said, need to work out how many people will be accessing the cloud services and from where before you negotiate with your ISP or software vendor to move IT services into the cloud.

"Crucially, it is important to assess what the business impact would be if you are unable to access these services," he said.