There’s no denying that cloud computing is transforming the way government agencies consume information, deliver services and carry out their unique missions.
Over the past few years, agencies have gradually shifted from owning the hardware and software that support these functions to buying access to IT infrastructure and applications as a service. Early adopters of cloud have reported cost savings and IT efficiencies because they have far fewer assets to manage and greater flexibility to adopt innovative services that can be accessed more broadly from various devices.
Governmentwide efforts such as the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program, or FedRAMP, have played a key role in speeding adoption of secure cloud services. The program brought much-needed standards to cloud security by providing a common baseline by which agencies can determine if a cloud product or service is secure for government use.
For vendors, FedRAMP provides common, government-wide standards they can build to and use to show their solutions are fit for government use. Although FedRAMP launched as a federal program in 2012, a growing number of state governments are using the standards to vet security of cloud offerings.
But as with any new way of doing business, there are a few challenges. When it comes to adopting cloud services, there are three obstacles in particular that agencies can attest to: budgeting, procurement and organizational challenges.
First off, organizations have to budget for a cloud service much like a utility service, and agency buyers expect to pay only for the services they use. Second, agencies also have to navigate the challenges of buying services as opposed to assets. Then there’s the organizational impact of moving to cloud, especially when it comes to roles and responsibilities for the agency and contractors.
These are just some of the common issues agencies face. There’s also the challenge of deciding if your agency is ready for the cloud, which deployment model to use and how to develop a thorough migration strategy.
To help agencies answer these three key questions, GovLoop sat down with Rob Davies, Executive Vice President of Operations at ViON, an IT Enterprise Solutions Provider. In this report, we’ll explore these questions and provide best practices for overcoming common challenges.
