California State is one of the most technologically advanced states in America. When the state's second-in-command publicly lashed out at public sector cloud computing, it sounded a wake-up call.
"Do not underestimate the local gap, both federal and state governments lag behind in ' calculation '," said the deputy governor of California, Gavin Newsom, at a High-tech conference in Silicon Valley earlier this year, "We must be aware of new realities." ”
What
Newsom called "new reality" means cloud computing. Cloud computing provides a common way for government agencies at all levels to address various technical issues related to cost, human resources and rapid responsiveness to voter needs. Many government agencies are doing this, albeit with limited scope, such as e-mail and data center integration.
But overall, progress has been slow: Federal agencies are still trying to follow the US government's "cloud first" directive, while state and local governments are lagging behind because of often inadequate funding.
in February, at the TechAmerica meeting on public Sector cloud computing, CIOs and technology providers pointed out that the cloud allowed government agencies to lower their costs and deploy systems more quickly-a good side. In the private sector, cloud computing allows public entities to devote less resources to day-to-day tasks. In this way, they can focus on more important things, such as improving service and promoting innovation
But when it comes to public sector cloud computing, the reality is not perfect, there is a bad side, and the ugly side. The current and former public-sector CIO said that dragging government agencies (using cloud computing) was a problem. It remains to be seen whether government CIOs can convince politicians and bureaucrats that cloud computing is the antidote they are looking for to solve the financial and technical problems.
How far is the public sector from cloud computing?
A March 2012 survey by
, a government administration magazine and Cisco Systems, found that government agencies were significantly behind the private sector when it comes to cloud deployment.
The survey's findings are based on responses from 429 Government administrators in 10 countries to the survey and 808 private sector managers. Only 12% of the government executives who responded to the survey said their institutions had allocated more than 10% of their annual IT resources to the cloud in 2011. Although the researchers predict that this percentage will increase by the end of this year, even doubling does not mean any significant move to the cloud.
also has more optimistic data. According to Red Shift research, in 2011, Cloud Computing's penetration in the public sector was 23%, compared with 42% in the private sector.
no matter which of the above findings is more reasonable, Thom Rubel, an analyst with IDC, a market research firm, agrees that government agencies use cloud computing at a lower rate than the private sector.
He says this is because government departments must comply with stricter security and privacy requirements. In addition, Rubel believes that government departments are still in the "Data classification" process, that is, they are trying to find out what type of information can enter the cloud. "Right now, you can put 311 (non-emergency Municipal Services) information services into the public cloud, and the tax and revenue data you want to keep in the private cloud. "In the next three years, he predicts, we will see government agencies finding the best way to play the Cloud's edge."
Public sector cloud computing ugly side
Public-sector CIOs have no hesitation in discussing the ugly side of government cloud computing. For them, this is an indisputable fact. They face challenges from their own egos, capital, politics and management, and more controversy is about how to make progress, especially when it comes to cloud computing.
one of the biggest difficulties is the Long-held belief that the needs of any particular sector are special and must be dealt with in a specialized (and often isolated) way.
"The state government is not entirely an entity," says California State, CIO Carlos Ramos, "some departments are subordinate to administrative branches, some are constitutional bodies, and therefore they are different." He says the government is reluctant to give up control, even in public-sector colleagues. Just as some people do not trust the government, "sometimes the government does not even trust the government." "he added.
"People pay more attention to best practices than to use a common system to meet their needs." Douglas Cotnoir, deputy director of Maine State, said, "when the government interprets the rules there will be group differences, and the interpretation of one group is different from that of another group." It depends on who your constituents are. ”
This may be true, but the problems will become more and more casual. For example, a single government department in Virginia State may need to be accountable, but does that mean that the state needs 94 separate e-mail systems?
resistance to change is one of the biggest hurdles for state and local governments to adopt cloud technology, said Andrea Di Maio, a professional analyst at Gartner Public sector projects, "depending on the maturity of the organization, our customers with outsourced experience can easily migrate to the cloud." ”
Another obstacle is the regular turnover of power, either in the governor's office or in the city Council. "Every newly elected official comes to the stage and wants to do something," says Steven Fletcher, a Utah State CIO. "But new officials don't think about developing new businesses, they think more about educational and economic development plans." They do not value service delivery in the most efficient way, which makes it difficult for CIOs to provide this service. ”
Sometimes, rules can make things worse. When John Letchford, Massachusetts CIO, decided to try cloud computing and move the state's e-mail system to a cloud service provider, he faced an unexpected challenge.
"may be naïve, we think email is very simple," Letchford said, "but we find that we must stick to the rules because every business function you touch is in a certain situation." It's like a boiling ocean. "The Demand for mail movement specification has not yet been published, and it must comply with the IRS publication 1075th (Federal, state and local agency tax Information security guidelines) and the Social Security Administration's 1128E (health care fraud and misuse data collection program)." In addition, there are more than 100 provisions of the state.
Letchford, who has worked in the IT department of Procter and Gamble for 10 years, is surprised by the apparent polarization of cloud computing in the public domain. "Some people in the government see it as a threat and some as a solution." But I've never met anyone who doesn't have a point of view. ”
May 9, 2012: "America" http://www.computerworld.com/
Compiling: China ccpit electronic Information Industry Branch Jiang Dao Hui
(Responsible editor: The good of the Legacy)
