The cloud benefits businesses of all sizes, but small and medium-sized businesses are particular beneficiaries of the cloud computing revolution.

That’s because businesses of all sizes can take advantage of features and services that to this point have only been accessible and affordable to the large enterprise.

Smaller organizations do not have the luxury of dedicated departments or personnel for many business functions. With the cloud, however, it is far easier for these small businesses to outsource needs to cloud providers, which means these smaller companies can take advantage of dedicated staff functionally on a time-share basis. Industry-leading solutions and practices can be leveraged by using cloud services that take care of the business function without a lot of investment in resources or personnel.

Scalability is another advantage small and medium-sized businesses can reap from the cloud. Because the cloud is by definition elastic, it can be scaled up or down according to need. With smaller firms, this can be particularly useful; it enables small businesses to easily grow, and it also allows them to scale back as business models change and needs evolve.

There’s no need for large capital investments, and a business doesn’t have to be disrupted due to growth. If the business needs more, it is as simple as paying for more; operations don’t need to be disrupted at all as a business moves from a smaller operation to one that is larger.

Access to features and equipment a smaller firm could not usually afford is another advantage the cloud brings small business. While larger firms are moving from in-house equipment to that hosted in the cloud, for the small firm this is often the first time it has had any form of access to such equipment.

One good example is cloud VoIP, which enables even a two-person business to have a full-featured business PBX (News - Alert) system and automated voice response system that sounds and acts just like those of Fortune 500 companies.

Another example is the patch management and Web protection that even small businesses can get through the GFI Cloud. Whereas larger businesses have software and manpower to stay current on software and security patches, this can be a challenge for smaller organizations. But through the cloud, businesses can take advantage of GFI’s patch management service that offers both patch detection and automatic patch deployment for Microsoft, Adobe (News - Alert), Java, Firefox, etc.

While everyone benefits from the cloud, smaller organizations are particular winners.