.floatimg-left-hort { float:left; } .floatimg-left-caption-hort { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:300px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatimg-left-vert { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right:15px; width:200px;} .floatimg-left-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; font-size: 12px; width:200px;} .floatimg-right-hort { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px;} .floatimg-right-caption-hort { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px; font-size: 12px; } .floatimg-right-vert { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px;} .floatimg-right-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; font-size: 12px; } .floatimgright-sidebar { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; border-top-style: double; border-top-color: black; border-bottom-style: double; border-bottom-color: black;} .floatimgright-sidebar p { line-height: 115%; text-indent: 10px; } .floatimgright-sidebar h4 { font-variant:small-caps; } .pullquote { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 150px; background: url(http://www.dmbusinessdaily.com/DAILY/editorial/extras/closequote.gif) no-repeat bottom right !important ; line-height: 150%; font-size: 125%; border-top: 1px solid; border-bottom: 1px solid;} .floatvidleft { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatvidright { float:right; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} Some people can’t keep their thoughts out of the clouds, and Dave Arringdale counts himself among them.

Arringdale is a hands-on entrepreneur. Now age 54, he has rummaged through business ventures rooted on solid ground during his career. But since the late 1990s, he has been drawn to the Internet, and that fascination has led him to cloud computing.

Along with his son, Chris, 28, Arringdale has launched ReviewSNAP, a software application that allows companies to evaluate job performances through a Web interface. The software and data it generates churn away on servers at DWebware in Urbandale, even though the job review may concern a company in Barbados.

ReviewSNAP is part of a burgeoning business enterprise software market called Software as a Service (SaaS) that is expected to generate $16 billion in annual sales by 2013, according to research firm Gartner Inc., after racking up $6.3 billion in sales in 2006.

It’s a safe bet that the Arringdales have examined all segments of the market, but for the time being they are focused on job evaluations, providing a mechanism for employees and human resources managers to fill out and submit forms that avoid a shuffle of papers.

Not only are the job reviews virtual; so are training and demonstration sessions for clients who use the software.

“We didn’t want to have something so complicated that they had to go through hours of training or to bring us on site to do hours of training,” Dave Arringdale said.

He has worked as a management consultant, and job evaluation was an area he found lacking in many companies.

“For years, I was worried about the way companies did their performance reviews,” he said.

In picking out a market, the Arringdales decided to focus on small to medium-size companies and nonprofit organizations, operations that couldn’t afford fees of several hundred thousand dollars to buy static software that was a “what you see is what you get” purchase. The software could not be customized or upgraded without extra expense.

Reviews can be carried out while traveling, at home or in the office.

ReviewSNAP does most of its business in the United States, but also has clients in Australia, Barbados, England, South Africa, India and Canada.

Of the roughly 1,100 clients using the software, several hundred have purchased it and the others are using it on a trial basis.

Orders grew 300 percent in 2009, and some of that growth might have been triggered by the recession, with companies wanting to get a better handle on job performance and areas that might need improvement.

ReviewSNAP has four employees and partnerships with another 100 organizations that have their own client bases. Chris Arringdale, whose specialty is in Web marketing, works from home, where he puts in a 60-hour week, including weekends. He is an account manager, conducting online training and demonstration sessions, and he markets the company.

Dave Arringdale said he is driven to go into the office every day. That office is in Clive at another of his businesses, Consumer Safety Technology Inc., which manufactures and distributes breath-alcohol ignition-interlock devices.

Still, the limitless potential of the Internet is what excites both men. In addition, Web businesses can be the darlings of venture capitalists.

“One of the ways I gauge how attractive a business is, is how much attention you garner from venture capital, people wanting to buy your business. … I get at least one phone call a week,” Dave Arringdale said.