To an interesting roundtable lunch with Microsoft integrator and consultancy Avanade, the joint venture in which Accenture has a majority stake.

The meeting was to launch the UK results of a recent worldwide cloud computing survey, for which Avanade spoke to 500 C-level executives – only a small number of whom were in the UK, however.

While the research suggests many businesses believe cloud computing can have a positive impact on the bottom line, it found that most have no plans to integrate it into the enterprise in the next 12 months. It's a viable business model, said Avanade, but security concerns override the benefits in many respondents' eyes.

The meeting was interesting for a number of reasons: first, because defining cloud computing seemed to be a challenge. They eventually agreed that it meant software as a service (SaaS), infrastructure as a service, and application development as a service: all hosted externally and delivered over the internet.

There was nervous laughter when I shared a comment from a US cloud computing CEO that the term was invented to give large consultancies something to sell to global enterprises. Renting out your MIPs is hardly a new idea... but I digress.

From Avanade's report, however, most of the executives surveyed equated the cloud primarily with SaaS. Of the companies using cloud computing, 60% said it was within business applications, such as CRM; 40% for HR services; 33% for wikis and other collaborative tools; 33% for webmail, and 20% for social media and networking.

But in terms of the overall response, by a five-to-one ratio executives said they trust bespoke, on-premise systems more due to perceived security risks and a loss of control over data and systems when using hosted services.

Among early adopters, however, cloud computing investments are increasing after reported upfront cost reductions and improved responsiveness.

With the UK being a longstanding outsourcing market for potential providers, Avanade also found present and future implications for outsourcing. Avanade's Kamran Ikram said that the UK is lagging behind the US in cloud uptake partly because of existing long-term, large scale outsourcing deals.

Introducing cloud models internally can disintermediate the benefits of tradtional outsourcing and vice versa, suggested Avanade – which implies that it's 'either, or' for many customers. And it's not just a matter of introducing cloud models when existing contracts run out, as customers still have to drive the payback from those earlier investments.

If you ignore the view that the term was invented to baffle people so companies like Accenture can explain it to you, cloud computing is also a threat to traditional consultancy. "Who has the skill to intermediate between cloud providers?” asked one Avanade executive. Indeed. And this from a consultancy!

In the UK, organisations are more risk-averse than in the US, the survey found. Forty-eight percent of UK organisations said they are keen to adopt new technologies that will save them money, but 65% said they tend to wait until technologies are tried and tested before adopting them – against two-thirds of US companies who describe themselves as early adopters.

That said, 78% of UK respondents said they are familiar with cloud computing concepts, compared with 61% worldwide.

Breaking out the UK findings, the report reveals a mixed picture of IT decision-making in the recession: existing internal IT systems take too long to upgrade, said 42% of respondents, with 45% describing them as too expensive.

However, of the companies that solely use existing bespoke or on-premise IT systems, 75% said that the downturn has not spurred their interest in cloud computing models, with the remaining 25% saying it had actively decreased their interest.

So you can all sleep easy. For now.