final thought
PUBLIC DUTY
Paul Todd of Outsourcery explains why cloud providers need
to do more to highlight cloud benefits for the public sector.
D
espite the healthy
progression of cloud
adoption across UK
government in some
form or other, many
public sector organisations are yet
to make cloud a significant factor
for their core services. One of the
biggest hurdles to the adoption of
cloud in local governments is in
communicating the full business
benefits that a cloud hosted solution
will deliver, and how it can deliver the
best value for money.
Historically, public sector CIOs
have contracted legacy IT services
to a limited range of suppliers over
long periods of time, so it is not
surprising that many have felt most
comfortable remaining with their
traditional suppliers when moving to
cloud. While this may look like the
most convenient course of action on
the surface, government bodies are
still missing out on the innovative,
flexible and cost effective solutions
that individual cloud providers
offer. To ensure public sector
organisations are made more aware
of these benefits, cloud service
providers (CSPs) need to play a
major part.
It’s crucial that CSPs effectively
promote the benefits of standardised
services, namely how they can
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provide a high quality, scalable cloud
service at a reasonable price, which
likely represents better value than
sticking with their traditional supplier.
Here, cloud specialist SMEs can
bring real innovation and agility,
setting them apart from hyper-scale
cloud providers.
The current cloud market is a
diverse one in terms of the number
of service providers in operation. By
taking advantage of this diversity, the
public sector can be assured that
cutting edge, constantly evolving
technologies will always be at their
disposal. By sticking with existing
suppliers because they are familiar,
they risk missing out on this wider
range of options.
Public sector organisations
are suffering from a culture of
dependence, and the perception of
increased risk in moving away from
older suppliers. As a consequence,
supplier and technology lock-in
is much more common in public
sector bodies than in their private
sector counterparts. To increase
efficiencies and address skills gaps
in some public sector teams, these
constraints need to be removed.
Cloud, if used correctly, can be a
great catalyst for this.
It remains the prime responsibility
of public sector bodies to address
this skills gap and educate
themselves on what CSPs can offer.
However, this is still a new field
for many organisations and with
a dynamic range of companies in
the marketplace, it can be hard for
public sector buyers to differentiate
between the CSPs and their range of
service offerings. CSPs themselves
can make a difference here.
The government and Cloud
Industry Forum (CIF) must also
offer their assistance in educating
public sector buyers, not only on
the benefits of cloud, but also
in helping them make the right
choice of provider to suit their
needs. The work of Government
Digital Services and G-cloud has
played a key part here in central
government, so efforts should be
redoubled in order to replicate this
success in local government and
other agencies.
To solve the problem of sluggish
public sector uptake of cloud
services, all parties must play their
part. Awareness of the benefits is
key, and this is where cloud service
providers, the government and CIF
really need to make their mark.
Only then will more public sector
bodies fully embrace change and
begin to harness the full benefits
that cloud provides.