Huddle's Blog

Silver lining: The cloud is transforming government IT

Posted on 21. Oct, 2011 by Pauline in Huddle, Out and About

Last week, Huddle held its inaugural government cloud computing event, in partnership with FutureGov. The great and good came together from across UK government to discuss how cloud computing is transforming government IT.

As our all-star cast of presenters gave their opinions on the cloud and provided some examples of how cloud tools and services are being used within their or others organisations, some of the highlights from the presentations during the day include:

• IT departments don’t have a choice over the cloud – people are already using it so IT needs to establish how they can support people and help them use the cloud securely
• The cloud isn’t new – we have been using cloud services, such as Gmail and Facebook, in our personal lives for years and now the cloud is bleeding into the corporate world
• Fear is the key barrier to public sector cloud adoption. Security is technically easy, but has become a big business issue
• The cloud can enable public sector to be more efficient, agile and productive, and drive down costs
• The cloud is breaking down the communication silos that have developed in and between government departments
• The G-Cloud should make procuring cloud services easier, simpler and faster. You’ll simply buy the cloud when you need it
• By getting onto the cloud framework, SMEs will make the central government ICT market, which is dominated by big tech suppliers, more diverse and entrepreneurial. It will be a market again
• If IT doesn’t help users to solve their problems, they will find their own solutions and bypass corporate IT

And the quote of the day comes from Mark O’Neill, head of innovation and delivery at the Government Digital Service, who insists that leaping to the cloud needn’t be a mission:

 “We could replace all guidance with just four words: Don’t be a muppet! ”

Over the next few weeks, we’ll be sharing some of the presentations and videos from the event.

Below you’ll find the presentations from Jonathan Hyde, ICT Lead at the National Audit Office, and Mark O’Neill, Head of Innovation and Delivery at the Government Digital Service.

Enjoy and watch this space for the full videos.

Tags: cloud computing, Government cloud conference, ICT, National Audit Office