Cloud Adoption within Public Sector is Accelerating – but why?

Keith Martin, Phoenix Director of Public Sector, takes a look at the progress of cloud in the Public Sector:

“You may be surprised to hear that 47% of government organisations are already actively using cloud services. Delivering services efficiently and achieving cost savings are the key drivers of cloud adoption in the Public Sector and Gartner foresees double-digit growth in government use of cloud services, with spending forecast to grow on average 17.1% per year over the next three years.

Many areas of the Public Sector are looking at ‘cloud first’: take ‘Blue Light’ organisations such as the Police – they are looking at technology that is being run on Azure that is improving services that are supporting the frontline. Some examples of this technology are:

• Police forces across London have stepped up the fight against crime by using Microsoft’s Azure cloud service to store and review millions of hours of footage filmed on officers’ body cameras
• Mobile GIS technology can even deliver intelligence out to officers, where and when they need it, so they can quickly make the right decisions that need to be made

This fast pace change is one step closer to a digital world.

Why increased cloud adoption in 2018?

When I think of Health and Social Care in 2017, I automatically think of the WannaCry attack and the impact that had. With the introduction of new Security Officer posts following the attack, more things had to change to ensure security in 2018 and that announcement was made recently.

Indeed, the announcement made on 19 January 2018 will see Health and Social Care cloud adoption accelerate due to new clear guidance. This clarity is so important and will enable organisations to completely rethink how they enable modern, integrated services across Health and Social Care in a cost effective, secure way. This is exciting news for 2018 and, in my opinion, will fast-forward them into the digital world.

Concerns with cloud adoption?

Yes, there are a lot of concerns – but the one concern I have heard the most is how can you control cost? While cloud adoption does, in most cases, save money over a data centre, expenses can still add up quickly or be higher if the proper options for your situation are not chosen. This can be linked back to having a team with the necessary cloud experience and expertise to choose the proper cloud provider and to make use of the proper features to help ensure costs are kept to a minimum.

If this is a concern of yours, then there is no need to worry anymore – we can support you with our Cloud Management Tool

If Azure is on your roadmap, please check out our on-demand webinar ‘Azure – where to begin?’.