G-Cloud an increasing mystery for too many in local government

Cloud Services Provider (CSP) Outsourcery argues that in order to increase the number of public sector bodies procuring services from the G-Cloud, there should be more knowledge shared in the wider industry. Last month, in a speech at the THINK Cloud for Government expo, Home Office Chief Technology Officer and former G-Cloud Head, Denise McDonagh, stated that she would like to see more education from the Cabinet Office to people who need to architect and buy solutions from the G-Cloud. This comment was made after G-Cloud’s current Head, Tony Singleton, said that approximately 90 per cent of local authorities in the UK have yet to procure a service from the G-Cloud.

“While take up figures may be low, there is real potential for the numbers to increase. Furthermore, there should be a focus on education across the entire cloud computing industry in order to grow the success of the initiative”, comments Piers Linney, Co-CEO of Outsourcery.

Linney continues: “Cloud education should be a priority not just for the Cabinet Office, but for all in the cloud industry if we are to see an increase in public sector companies making the leap to the cloud. Just as central government should make it a priority to educate local government, CSPs like ourselves, along with resellers, should focus on teaching end-users not just about the benefits of the solutions, but importantly the intricacies of the offerings and how they fit with existing infrastructures.

“Whether this means being more transparent about product and service offerings or taking the time to encourage end-users to ask more questions, the more widespread knowledge about cloud computing becomes, the more potential there is for public sector departments to make a well-informed, confident step towards the cloud. At Outsourcery, we’re taking our own steps to encourage confidence in cloud computing within the public sector. We’re currently working to design and deploy a high security IL3-compliant cloud platform for the UK government and we hope that knowledge of projects like this will increase confidence amongst public sector organisations, making G-Cloud the first port of call when public sector bodies consider IT changes or upgrades.”