What will Hinder Collaborative Cloud Deployment?
A recent survey of IT decision-makers across Asia/Pacific excluding Japan (APEJ) found that 59% of public sector respondents are confident in the ability of their internal IT departments to deploy private cloud environments. The survey findings were released today, April 11.
However, IDC Government Insights cautions that high levels of private cloud adoption may not bode well for a collaborative and citizen-engaging government and pre-emptive measures should be taken for collaboration to take place across organizational boundaries.
Frank Levering, research manager for IDC Government Insights Asia/Pacific observes, “An efficient and productive internal IT department is definitely a good to have in any organization, private or public. However, a department that is highly confident in running its own private cloud environment may run the risk of not reaching out to other internal departments to collaborate on cloud opportunities.”
[ Also Read: After Microsoft, SAP Sings the Cloudy Jobs Song ]To counter this possibility, IDC Government Insights recommends that whenever possible, governments should consider cloud-based collaboration services rather than independent private cloud solutions.
To optimize the benefits of cloud services in the public sector, IDC Government Insights offers the following recommendations to governments across APEJ:
Evaluate all aspects of cloud computing. Read everything you can get your hands on. Most suppliers will have recognized that the key to their long-term success is their short-term role as an educator. Since security is a big concern, develop security profiles for all suppliers being considered.
Service-oriented architecture (SOA) first, then cloud. The right SOA needs to be in place to facilitate a smooth connection to external cloud services. Government agencies needing to build a robust SOA require a plan that tackles the transition in bite-size pieces while solidifying long-term migration to the shared services architecture.
Remove the key barriers to cloud computing. Challenges like security concerns and decentralized data storage will be blocking issues until they are acknowledged and appropriately addressed. Many of the more complex scenarios, like customer/citizen relationship management and inter-department collaboration will depend on a government’s ability to get the basics right.
Know your current environment. An inventory of the current environment should provide a good indication of whether systems contain sensitive data, including taxpayers’ personally identifiable information and/or mission-critical data and (legacy) applications. This will provide an excellent start to planning for cloud.
International Data Corporation (IDC) is a leading global provider of market intelligence, advisory services, and events for the information technology, telecommunications, and consumer technology markets.
