GovLoop recently published a resource on how cloud computing is transforming government agencies, and is a critical technology shaping the agency of the future. You can read the report below or Download PDF. This post identifies 8 reasons why your agency must consider the cloud, and how cloud is changing the role of the government professionals.
8 Reasons to Adopt the Cloud
In our report, we asked our experts to describe the diverse benefits of the cloud. Their insights show the power of the cloud to radically redefine how you are doing business. The cloud presents a great opportunity for your agency to build the agency of the future. As you read, consider how these eight compelling reasons to adopt the cloud impact your agency:
- Meets increasing citizen and organizational demand at a lower cost.
- Delivers improved services to citizens more rapidly and efficiently.
- Sends information safely and securely to military personnel.
- Leverages the pooling of computing resources.
- Provides computing capabilities to increase or decrease computing power based on business needs.
- Removes government’s burden of paying for powering and of cooling IT centers.
- Reduces your agency’s carbon footprint.
- Promotes device of choice by user (smartphone, laptop, tablet).
These reasons provide additional evidence of the opportunities that cloud holds for your agency. The cloud can be a game changer for government agencies, and as we explore in our next section, it’s changing your role as a government employee.
View Online Below or Download PDF
How the Cloud Leads to New Opportunities for Government Employees
It’s clear that the cloud is having an impact on our organizations, but what’s the impact on the government employee? How is this changing your job function and making your job easier? Clearly, the cloud is creating a more effective and efficient workforce. In doing so, the cloud is allowing you to focus on mission critical and essential programs. The cloud is facilitating telework and mobile solutions, and the deployment of applications to increase availability and accessibility to information. Our experts have identified four overarching trends that are impacting the cloud and your career.
- New Roles and Responsibility Require New Training Methods: As is the case with many IT initiatives, the cloud is changing the way your agency provides training and develops workflows. As Tony Celeste said, “The cloud is requiring the adaptation of roles and responsibilities. This transformation will take place over time. It requires new training approaches, but will ultimately transform the Federal IT professional’s role into one more directly supporting the agencies mission. The Federal IT professional will support mission requirements with IT bringing new innovative services and application more rapidly to market.”
- More Efficient Workforce: One of the major impacts of the cloud is that it is allowing you to be more efficient in your day-to-day tasks. The cloud is facilitating mobile work, access to information anywhere, anytime, and on the device of your choice. All of these changes have dramatic impacts on the workforce, and agencies are beginning to create policies to reflect these new dynamics. “Cloud computing is giving the workforce an opportunity to run a more efficient and optimized IT model. This approach, in some cases, allows users a higher level of support and flexibility while enabling the operations staff to spend more time on growing and scaling the business, rather than troubleshooting and servicing older more complicated resources,” said Wallo.
- Supports Additional Technology Trends: The cloud is also essential to related trends such as big data, analytics and cybersecurity. Celeste notes, “At this unprecedented time where budget pressures are great and agencies are being asked to do more with less cloud will play a significant role enabling new mission applications and technological solutions for government in the areas of mobility, big data, and cyber security.”
- Collaboration Between Agencies: The cloud has also made the sharing of information and data between agencies easier than ever before. Now, information can be housed in a single repository, giving access to many agencies that may find the information valuable.
We cannot emphasize enough that the cloud is transforming operations and the way we work. Cloud is facilitating telework, mobility and creating new norms for the workplace. In such a fast paced world, you must create new and innovative policies to match this new kind of environment. As we explore in the following section, this means focusing on crafting the right kind of cloud policies and strategies as you embark on a journey to revolutionize your business systems.
Related Resources
- Agency of the Future: Cloud Computing
- GovLoop Report Finds 78% Cite Information Sharing as Leading Cloud Benefit
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Achieving agency missions becomes harder and more complex every minute. But with less money in the budget, many agencies are stuck between the need to deliver new services and the cost of supporting old infrastructure. To break the cycle of dependence on proprietary systems and endless service contracts, agencies need simpler, widely compatible network infrastructure that empowers IT and accelerates mission performance. |
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