Making Transformation Happen with Public Cloud...The Tipping Point

Three drivers of change

Public Cloud’s time has come! The convergence of three driving forces have given it ‘tipping point’ momentum for the public sector to enable its accelerated uptake:

1. The much-awaited publication of the GDS Digital Transformation Strategy is a bold paper which deserves to drive success, and has added considerable weight to two other government agendas…

2. The move from a Cloud First to Cloud Native agenda. While recent policy guidance from the government does state that alternatives to cloud will be allowed if they offer value for money, there’s no ambiguity about the government’s preferred route: “The primary benefits for government come when we embrace the public cloud. Departments are encouraged to initially consider Software as a Service models, particularly for their enterprise IT and back office functions.”

Where it gets really interesting is in the confidence with which it talks about Cloud Native: “Cloud Native is not just about considering cloud before other options, it’s about adapting how we organise our work to really take advantage of what’s on offer and what’s emerging.”

In other words it’s not just about how we work, but about how we think (and, implicitly, how we think about how we work…). The government wants, in practical terms, to help this change of mind-set take root and calls for flexible, open and brave management and security practices to “empower everyone in an organisation to help us become more effective in technology by letting any staff member trial new SaaS applications”. This is a bold statement, a challenge that strongly deserves to be taken up by government departments, not ignored...

3. “The Internet is OK.” A government private network (GSi then PSN) has for many years provided assurance for a wide range of public sector services. Now however, with government blessing, a journey away from this model has officially begun. A recent GDS blog contained the following interesting statement, which I found all the more intriguing for its open simplicity and straight-to-the-point brevity. “At a recent meeting of the Technology Leaders Network, we reviewed our position and it was clear that everyone agreed we could just use the internet.” In other words, the internet is officially ok for public sector. It’s time to embrace public cloud.

Four challenges, four opportunities

The pace of cloud-uptake is accelerating in the business and consumer worlds and we need to make sure public sector keeps pace. This means absorbing new developments into how we work, and encouraging staff to identify opportunities for cloud innovation and uptake. Moving to the cloud should be easy and quick, but inevitably there are challenges and obstacles, I’ve identified just four such challenges to look at briefly.

1. One of these is a skills & knowledge gap for successfully navigating the movement to and implementing of cloud. There are many different cloud offerings and selecting the right cloud for the right requirement is critical, not all clouds are built the same and not all software is suitable for the cloud. Over time all of public sector will gain the skills and some have started along that path already, but it takes time and that’s not necessarily something we can afford to wait upon.
2. Another challenge (albeit associated with the above) is the idea of a ‘culture clash’. Cloud is not just a technological evolution but also a new business model for engaging both internally and externally. It’s a journey many areas of industry are undertaking both in terms of getting buy-in and understanding before, change management during, and new ways of working after. 
3. Our third challenge is the principle of Integration, how will the users interact with a cloud solution and how does it communicate with other systems. There have been great strides from some public cloud providers in enabling network connectivity, yet systems still need to communicate at the data level and the solution needs to embrace all types of end users.
4. The final challenge (the last one I want to focus on - there are more) is the scale and duration of single vendor contracts. In an effort to break free of tightly constrained multi-year contracts that have hindered more than helped many public sector organisations, we have seen an explosion in the use of contract disaggregation. The principle is to not only reduce the control and influence a single supplier has on the business, but to increase the businesses flexibility and improve supplier competition. However this brings its own challenges: has public sector been provided ample time to adapt to the new way of contracting?

The specialist imperative

The best course of action for public sector departments to address the above challenges is to work with organisations that specialise in cloud migration and delivery services. Organisations that have a deep understanding of the pitfalls and processes involved, have the speed and capabilities to deliver today because they do this every day, rather than for the first time. 

In addition, to address the scale of the job at hand and to embrace contract disaggregation, Public Sector needs a new breed of supplier. One whose focus is to complement existing skills, embrace knowledge transfer, drive innovation, work flexibility and collaboratively. The specialist should have the capabilities to address large or small requirements, work with 3rd parties and embrace SMEs, to complement any element of the requirement, from a minor system enhancement through to a full migration and integration solution.

As the desire to embrace cloud accelerates, it requires buyers and suppliers to adapt to a new ways of working. Cloud is not just a technology, it is leading a fundamental shift in the way we engage both at the individual and at the organisation level.

Make it happen

The internet is ‘OK’ and the government has declared itself ‘cloud native’. Now the public sector just needs to get on with it. With shrinking budgets yet requirements and expectations escalating, cloud is no longer a nice to have and is now a critical must have.

The transition to cloud won’t happen overnight, but it will and must happen, many parts of the public sector have already started on the journey but we need to accelerate its adoption or risk being unable to deliver for the future.

I’d love to hear your thoughts…

About: CACI is a global technology organisation, a leading integrator of cloud solutions and transitional services. CACI is currently involved with programmes right across public and private sector, assisting our customers to consume and deliver cloud services