Informed CIO: Government Clouds
The Business Case for Government Clouds
Federal IT pros are being inundated with information on the benefits of cloud computing, and 2010 will indeed be ayear when some of the barriers to cloud computing in the federal market are lowered. It's time for CIOs in government agencies to begin developing business cases for cloud environments.
This report is the first in a four-part series intended to help government IT pros get started on the path to elastic, on-demand computing. In this report, we assess variables that factor into the decision of whether, and how, to implement cloud computing in federal environments. We explore usage scenarios where the business case for clouds is strongest, as well as some of the barriers.
The business case for cloud computing is related to an agency’s commitment to driving down costs: 64% of federal IT pros responding to an InformationWeek Analytics survey say that loweringthe cost of IT operations is a key business driver of cloud computing. Applications that areutilities areprime candidates to be offered from a cloud environment. Federal agencies stand to see considerable savings in getting their e-mail, collaboration, CRM, and other utility apps from a cloud.
One of the major benefits of cloud computing is the ability to procure what you need based on current requirements and scale up or down on demand. Cloud services can be accounted for as operational expenses, reducing the need for capital investment in the data center.
Security is the number one barrier to cloud adoption in the federal market. Look for incremental ways to move services into a cloud that are low in risk. Guard against putting critical data in the cloud until there's been a bit more advancement of the security framework.
Table of Contents
3 Author's Bio
4 Executive Summary
5 Assessing Cloud Options
5 Can my agency benefit from the cloud?
6 Figure 1: Business Drivers of Cloud Computing
7 Which cloud option is best for my agency?
8 How important are remote and mobile workers to my agency?
9 What training is required to use agency applications?
9 How much of our IT budget goes to utility applications?
10 Do we have flexibility in our IT contracts?
11 How is billing different?
11 Can we move ahead given cloud computing's security challenges?
13 What’s being done to lower barriers to the cloud?
14 Is cloud computing a real option now?
15 How do we get started?
15 Figure 2: Steps to Advance Cloud Strategy
About the Author
Michael Biddick is CEO of Fusion PPT and an InformationWeek Analytics contributor. He has worked with hundreds of government and telecommunications service providers in the development of operational management solutions. Most recently he has supported the Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Department of Defense in the deployment of ITIL-based processes that are utilized to make their organizations more transparent and cost effective. Certified in several ITIL life cycle service areas, Michael is also able to leverage over a decade of operational tool design and implementation experience with service desks, network management systems and consolidated management portals in making enterprise architecture decisions.
Prior to joining Fusion PPT, Michael spent 10 years with a boutique consulting firm and Booz Allen Hamilton, developing enterprise management solutions for a wide variety of both government and commercial clients. He previously served on the academic staff of the University of Wisconsin Law School as the director of information technology.
Michael earned a Master of Science from Johns Hopkins University and a dual bachelor's degree in political science and history from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. As a contributing technology editor to InformationWeek and Network Computing, he has authored more than 50 articles, including reports on cloud computing, government IT strategies, SaaS and IT process improvement.
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