In these troubled times all the chatter is of cutbacks, redundancies and retrenchment into secure and trusted business dynamics. To some there is no alternative. In the changed financial climate that we now find our self-enduring, the way businesses think has changed.

No longer can a Finance Director plan for future growth to fund strategic IT projects or upgrades to services and or equipment. The plan will invariably lead to a "down size" or the new business buzz word "right size".

All too often businesses shy away from strategic investment in cost saving IT due to fears of not being able to afford it.

"What tosh", says Charles Black CEO of Nasstar the SaaS provider.

"You can afford it and the IT upgrades and enhancements you need to keep ahead of the competition. SAAS frees up the budget and that oh so tight cash flow. Pay on demand with no upfront costs and get the enterprise grade solution that you were always looking for."

IT for most businesses is a business enabler but is not the key business. The embattled FD would rather invest his scant resources in developing his business and emerging from this downturn in pole position to capitalise on his less imaginative peers.

Nasstar's Hosted Desktop is the solution the FD would choose if the cloud had the public acceptance that it should. Why does the cloud still hold fear for some? The answer is probably a mixture of old fashioned thinking and lack of understanding as to what is the cloud.

Nasstar's customers save between 15 to 30% on their IT spend and have no lumpy upfront payments to make and suffer no savage depreciation on the kit they have just bought. Why should they?

Charles Black goes on to say, "To change perceptions firstly there needs to be an education process through the media and exposure to cloud delivery. That many aspects of our daily lives are about to come into contact with the cloud may come as a surprise to some. Who uses Google and Salesforce? Nearly everyone."