Cloud for public sector: what’s next?

Every business utilises cloud computing in one way or another.

There are also more cloud services to choose from as well as better cloud-based business solutions and apps to use.

A few years ago, we published a piece regarding whether cloud computing is the future for businesses.

In recent years, cloud computing has become the norm for government agencies and departments along with the public sector as a whole. Of course, the implementation of cloud and cloud-based solutions isn’t as straightforward as it was for businesses.

The G-Cloud initiative changed that. The initiative was meant to streamline the procurement process of cloud-based solutions and other IT related services. It had a rocky start, but it paved the way for more use of cloud solutions by government bodies.

The Digital Marketplace

For industry players and businesses that provide cloud-based solutions, the G-Cloud initiative was hugely beneficial. For starters, there are better standards and a more straightforward set of regulations that businesses can follow to enter the public market sector.

The National Cyber Security Centre now certifies qualified service providers such as UKCloud, giving communities and public sector entities access to reputable service providers without the usual complex screening process they need to do themselves.

At the same time, the G-Cloud 10 commercial agreement was put in force by the Crown Commercial Service. Infrastructure, platform, software and specialist cloud service providers can enter a digital marketplace where they can connect with government bodies and the public sector as a whole.

The result is an ecosystem that works really well for both the government bodies and service providers. In the case of UKCloud, the company offers multi-cloud services and other solutions with the public sector and its requirements in mind.

Faster Growth and Innovation

We cannot look at the future of the public sector cloud without acknowledging the rapid growth of cloud integration today. It is like seeing a floodgate being opened all of a sudden. Government bodies are appreciating the expanded access to cloud infrastructure and solutions.

Customised solutions are used to perform specific tasks. Emphasis on data protection and information security becomes the highlight of public sector cloud. New security measures are added to ensure public safety. All of these advancements are happening at an incredible pace.

More innovations are coming too, especially with top industry players like Microsoft and Google now making their own public sector cloud services available. Rather than trying to offer the same cloud solutions to government entities, there are now Azure Government and Government Solutions by Google Cloud, both designed to deliver added benefits to public sector users.

The business sector is benefiting from this rapid growth too. With money from the public sector funding more cloud-based R&D programmes, new features and added benefits that are now available to public sector users are becoming equally available to business and personal users.

Consumers Are Benefiting the Most

It is also worth noting that end users and individual customers are the ones benefiting from these advancements the most. As more government agencies and bodies adopt the cloud technology, services they deliver to the general public become more reliable.

At the same time, government agencies and communities can operate in a more effective and efficient way. They can rely on the same big data analysis and additional resources that were only available to big businesses. Combined with the might of the UK government, G-Cloud is quickly turning into an empowering programme.

So, what’s next for the public sector cloud? Will we see big leaps in the way cloud computing is used in various government bodies? If history is anything to go by, we will be talking about how the public sector cloud changed everything in a future article.