Flickr Photo: Tech Writer BoyHere at NTEN World Headquarters, we simply could not live without Cloud computing and Software as a Service (SaaS). We have staff members in three time zones -- and no IT department -- but the Cloud gives us (nearly) maintenance-free infrastructure and real-time collaboration that wouldn't be reasonably possible otherwise.

I've been talking about the cloud a lot lately as I roam the country, forcing audiences to pay attention to me. Since I love the cloud so much, I sort of assumed you all would be behind it, too. To your credit, most of you are. But there is a stronghold out there that is, shall we say, a wee bit skeptical. I'd like to respond to that with a healthy "Get Over It!", but I actually understand where the skeptics are coming from.

Enter Gartner. In another of their always insightful webinars, we got to take a look at where the cloud is now, and where it's headed. I live tweeted a bunch about this, but here are my notes in a reasonable approximation of order:

Steve Wright's PantsSteve Wright is a busy man. I know this from watching his tweets. He's the Director of Innovation at the Salesforce.com/Foundation, and when he's not listening to terrible/cult classic music, unearthing incredible scientific discoveries, or updating us on the status of his pants, he's thinking VERY BIG THOUGHTS.

One of those big thoughts? The fact that more of us are doing our computing in the cloud means a lot more than infrastructure and energy savings for our organizations. It means we have the opportunity to collaborate like never before. As the web opens up, the difficulties in sharing data are dissolving.

In his session at the 2009 NTC, "Cloud Computing: More than just IT Plumbing in the Sky", Steve and his amazing panel of guests will talk about the implications of cloud computing as a means for learning more about our work, collaborating better, and creating more change. Take a listen:

Flickr Photo: Jeff KubinaI spent yesterday at the Salesforce Innovation for Nonprofit Success event in New York. It was a really fun event, and I met a whole host of really interesting people doing amazing work at their nonprofits.

I sat in on most of the sessions yesterday and heard a lot of interesting ideas. What really struck me, though, was that almost every session, including my own, had one theme running through it: the empowerment of nonprofits.

We are moving to a new model of software delivery for nonprofits, and it means more than convenience. Software as a Service is on its way. Google Apps provide just one example you're probably familiar with. Most of the Web 2.0 tools you use also qualify, from your blog software to Facebook.

They are always on, and always available. More importantly, they work the same whether you are Microsoft or Save the Bay. Software as a Service means that we all have access to the same platforms and all they can do for our organizations. It will help bridge the technology gap between nonprofits and the for-profit sector.

There's another benefit...

Johanna Bates, Technology Manager, Community Partners

So, to continue: after we got our free Google Apps account and switched over to Apps Gmail (which is still going swimmingly), we had to ask: How else can Google own us/fix our lives?

The answer: Gcal.

To review, we are six staff, four of whom are part-time. Many of us travel frequently for work and/or work from home on occasion. For years, this has made coordinating our meetings and general communication virtually impossible. When I first started here six years ago, we used a paper calendar on the front desk. Everyone wrote her or his schedule on it. With a pencil. No, really.

Then, there we were, using Google Apps' Gmail, with all its nifty bells and whistles. Why not give the oh-so-integrated Gcal a try?

Convio provides an excellent overview of why nonprofits should consider software as a service. Those who want more detail should take a look at the 3-part Kintera White Paper.

The first part, “Rent or Buy: Why Nonprofits Need Software as a Service” details the “Top Seven Benefits of Software as a Service”, including the low up-front implementation costs (#1) and up-to-date technology (#4). One thing some organizations may have overlooked as a benefit is the ability to access SaaS applications remotely (#6) without having to set up complicated remote access software. Because SaaS products are accessed through a web interface, any staff member with a browser and an internet connection can be productive, anywhere, anytime.

With Google’s announcement extending its free Education Version of Google Apps to nonprofits, charitable organizations are situated better than ever to leverage On-Demand Productivity Tools (a.k.a. SaaS: Software as a Service). By no means is Google the only on-demand office productivity player: Zoho, ThinkFree, and Goowy are also viable contenders. Google, however, is making its services extremely attractive and accessible to nonprofits, not only through their donation of Google Apps to nonprofits a la the Salesforce.com model—underwriting the donation via a sustainable for-profit revenue stream—but by providing tight integration between their products and desktop/offline apps.

The biggest challenge for Google Apps and other on-demand productivity suites is making the case to nonprofits: What is the value proposition making the transition from their current systems and processes a worthwhile investment? Of course there are the cost saving incentives, both in terms of infrastructure and management. There are no doubt both advantages and liabilities over traditional desktop applications, but the beauty of web apps is that they augment rather than replace systems. To that end, let’s take a look at how an organization might use a suite of on-demand productivity tools, in this case, Google Apps, as part of their system.

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IT infrastructure is hard work for any organization. Having worked at a nonprofit prior to coming to Google, I know that the combination of long-standing legacy systems and limited resources certainly doesn't make things any easier. Now that I'm member of the Google Apps team, I spend my time working on simple but powerful communication and collaboration tools for organizations. And so it's with special satisfaction that I share this bit of news: Google has extended the Education Edition of Google Apps to registered 501(c)(3)s.

You may already be familiar with Google's standard suite of free hosted services, including private-label email, calendaring, and online-document sharing. But the Education Edition offers a number of value-added admin features at no additional cost, including email migration tools, phone support for critical issues, and extensibility APIs. (Ads are also optional, in case you're curious.) There's no need to take my word for it, though: if you attended NP.IT recently -- the Google-NTEN midsummer mixer -- you may have bumped into a few nonprofits with their own Google Apps success stories.

At the end of the day, enabling good works through Google Apps -- in any capacity -- both inspires and humbles us. We're excited to offer this worthy sector a low-investment, feature-rich IT choice. Find out more or apply for an account.