Leicester-based advertising agency Rock Kitchen Harris (RKH) likes to see itself as ahead of the curve on most things, including IT. “We were into the idea of cloud computing before it became trendy,” says Paul Sculthorpe, senior web developer for RKH.

“Having services that live on the internet and not having to worry about implementation problems, or the cost of developing things ourselves, buying new hardware and paying for upgrades, is great,” he says.

RKH started using the web-based Google Apps platform – which includes Google Mail, Calendar and Docs – a few years ago for its communications needs, after encountering problems such as spam and loss of service with its Windows 2000 system and MDaemon mail server. “Our old email server was not up to the job. As soon as it broke, we were in a pickle as we lost emails. And everything happens through email,” says Sculthorpe.

The 20-strong company is using the free edition and has no plans to upgrade to the Premier Edition, which is £25 per user per year. “I know it offers better support, but the free version is fine for us. It does the job,” says Sculthorpe.

“There is no need for a fancy server in the office for email or for IT support. The online help with Google Apps is more than enough. Before I had to deal with support problems. Now I am free to create more web sites and make more money for the company.”

Initially there was some scepticism about the consistency of service offered by cloud computing and the safety of personal information.

“The business was apprehensive about not being able to get email because of an internet connection problem, but broadband is much better these days. There were also some reservations about personal emails living at Google, but I am happy for Google to back up email for us and we also keep back-ups on internal servers,” says Sculthorpe.

RKH is also using online project management application Basecamp and online personal organiser Backpack from 37signals.

“We can share files and collaborate with Basecamp. Our clients can log into it and I can be sitting in my pants at home. Both applications are hosted wherever and we don’t need IT support. Cloud computing means it’s all there and just by visiting the web page you always get the latest version, so you’re not having to spend money on upgrades two years down the line,” says Sculthorpe.