In the information technology world, few buzzwords are more mystical than “cloud computing.” Sure, we use the cloud to access email, health records and work files, and to do online shopping, but most people don’t consider the details of what’s happening behind the scenes to give us anytime, anywhere access to data and services. We simply expect it to work.
At its core, that’s what cloud computing is all about. It’s a model for enabling ubiquitous, convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of resources, whether they’re networks, servers, storage devices, applications or services, according to the National Institute of Standards and Technology. IT workers can rapidly provision and release those resources with minimal management effort or service provider interaction.
Although the concept of cloud computing isn’t new, the government’s growing commitment to buy IT as a service is fairly new. Today, about 8.5 percent, or roughly $680 million, of the government’s IT spending goes to provisioned services such as cloud computing.
But there’s still a lot of confusion around cloud procurement, implementation and security that the public and private sectors are working to clarify. That makes it more important than ever to understand how to implement and benefit from cloud computing at your organization.
That’s why GovLoop has created this Cloud Fundamentals Course.
By taking this course, you will learn about:
- What cloud computing is and its history
- How cloud has impacted government at all levels
- Interesting ways government is using cloud technology
- The best ways you can use cloud to benefit your agency
