I recently sat through a presentation by the owner of a small software firm who was busy pitching a new cloud-based computing offering to sporting clubs.

The sales patter highlighted some key benefits: smoother administration, reduced book work, easier tracking of membership details and faster collection of fees.

The presentation was warmly received by a number of club leaders who were obviously tired of dealing with exactly these kinds of issues.

While many were not sure exactly what cloud computing might be, the benefits it seemed to offer had them queuing for more information at the end of the session.

As I watched, it struck me that this is where a huge growth wave in cloud computing services is going to emerge - micro businesses.

While the IT managers in large, mid-sized and even small businesses are well aware of the benefits of the cloud, there are tens of thousands of micro-businesses that stand to gain just as much from the concept.

Software and service providers that spot this trend stand to make some healthy profits. Sure, each sale is going to be relatively small, but multiply small by 5000 and the number gets interesting.

Have you come across any cloud-based applications aimed at micro businesses? I'd be interested to hear about them.