Thursday, 3 September 2015 Blog ehdf

Public Sector Adoption of the Cloud

Over the last few years, ‘Cloud’ has become the buzzword amongst businesses and IT professionals alike. Migrating data and applications to the cloud can help any organization save costs, improve business processes, and enhance overall efficiency and productivity. More and more organizations are exploring the potential benefits associated with the cloud and are ready to make the shift. Hence, Gartner’s prediction that cloud computing will become the bulk of new IT spend by 2016 comes as no surprise. Today, cloud computing is transforming the way business is done across verticals and government organizations have also begun to capitalize on this trend.

Top reasons for the growth of cloud in the public sector

Regional governments are aspiring to become smarter and sustainable cities over the next decade. Cloud computing is, in fact, instrumental in lending the ‘smart’ quotient to local IT and infrastructure networks.

Regional ICT developments are also driving cloud adoption. According to the Ericsson Networked Society Index 2014, Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Muscat are high up on the list, and are adopting smart technology practices towards innovation and productivity. Recently, Saudi Arabian government said that they would spend $9 billion in cloud-based services. Several companies are targeting their managed cloud to the public sector. This trend is directly related to the IT sector growth, which, according to IDC, is expected to reach from $11.5 billion in 2014 to $14.2 billion in 2017.

Aspiring to offer smarter services and efficient systems, we will see more government agencies gravitating towards the cloud in the next few years and leveraging its many benefits. Governments, after all, are responsible for the smooth functioning of national focus areas such healthcare, education and hospitality. Cloud will help government entities simplify its operations, safeguard data, and ensure better communication amongst themselves and the citizens.

Benefits of cloud computing for the government sector

1.Financial benefits: Cloud, being a ‘pay-as-you-go’ service, offers government entities immediate as well as long term cost-savings and frees up government funds for other purposes. While moving to the cloud, government organizations not only save on upfront costs involved in buying IT equipment, but also on its depreciation over time.

2.Security benefits: Even though cloud security is a major concern for government organizations, the technology is being touted as the best delivery model in times of trouble. By enabling the decentralization of critical computer functions, data storage and applications, cloud computing helps the government organization withstand the damage in the event of a disaster by preventing any data being lost, damaged or outraged and also helps in the recovery process later.

3.Development and innovation benefits: Cloud enables government departments to become more innovative in their internal projects as they are able to make the most of the latest technologies. Also, working with a cloud services provider ensures that the systems are up to date with the newest technologies and solutions in the market, allowing the government entity to focus on its core business and operations. This frees up their IT staff and lets them focus on developing and delivering innovative services to citizens as well as concentrate on broader IT initiatives for the city such as Smart City, Smart Government initiatives, Big Data, etc. Cloud, being scalable in nature, also allows government entities to quickly launch new applications for its citizens.